NEW Dr. Wood Evolutionary Biology Final Card Deck (Accumulated Exam Answers)

THIS IS NEW ONE

Theory

In science, a well-substantiated, overarching explanation of some aspect of the natural world. It is based on large amount of data and is presented as a cohesive argument that explains this data in a mechanistic manner

Law

In science, statement of an order or a relation of phenomena that semm invariable under a given set of conditions

Fact

An observation that has been repeatedly confirmed. For example, there are 23 pairs of chromosomes in human cells.

Hypothesis

A testable statement about the natural world that can be used to build more complete inferences and explanations. It explains why something occurs.

Uniformitarianism

School of geological thought assuming that geological phenomena were the product of a consistent set of natural forces operating on the planet over very long periods of time

unchanging

the dominant view of species prior to Darwin's work was that species were

Induction

In the logic of science, the process of reasoning from a part to the whole, or from particular instances to greater generalities

Pangenesis

Darwin's hypothesis of heredity was termed

4.0 billion years

Approximately how old is the earth?

minister

Darwin graduated from college as a....

environment

Darwin felt that the ultimate source of variation in organisms was caused by

Principle of segregation of unit characters

When a diploid organism that is heterozygous at a particular gene locus undergoes meiosis 50% of its gametes will carry the other allele.

fitness

The following is a definition for which of the terms listed below? "The ability of an individual or a population to leave viable progeny in relation to the ability of other individual or populations

transcription

stage of gene expression in which an RNA copy is synthesized from a DNA template

gene

a set of nucleotide sequences that encode the amino acid sequence of an enzyme or other type of protein

True

Only mutation in germ cells are heritable

spandrel

A roughly triangular space; usually found in pairs, between the tops of an arch and rectangular frame, between the tops of two adjacent arches, or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently filled with decorative elements

adaptationist program

the process of breaking an organism into unitary traits and proposing an adaptive story

Dr. Pangloss

Who said, "Everything is made for the best purpose? Our noses were made to cry spectacles, so we have spectacles. Legs were clearly intended for breeches, and we wear them

Anagenesis and Cladogenesis

Evolutionary history is composed of a series of speciation events. This history of speciation involves two fundamental elements. What are they?

Karl Popper

Wrote the Logic of Scientific Discovery and provided one of the most influential and controversial view on the 'problem of induction'?

No

Are all questions relevant to scientific inquiry?

Ultraviolet Radiation

Based on our discussions in class, pyrimidine dimers are formed by which of the following mutagens

Frame shifts

Slipped mispairing in the middle of a codon is thought to give rise to which class of mutations.

Wallace

Who is credited, along with Darwin, as the co-discoverer of 'natural selection'?

Gould and Lewontin

Who wrote the paper we read in class that was a critique of the 'adaptionist program'?

Translocation

The process in which a segment of one chromosome becomes a part of another chromosome

Species

What is the highest level of biological organization at which the evolutionary process occurs?

Pine forests in Nova Scotia

Which of the following places did Darwin not visit on his five-year voyage on H.M.S. Beagle?

No

Did most people (as in the majority of humans) during Darwin's time believe in evolution?

Allele

One or more alternative states of a gene

27.9%

Upon sampling a population of darters from the Meramec River, you find the following gene frequencies. What is the frequency of the "a" allele?

AA: 34 Aa:17 aa:8

10.24%

Consider question 2, 3, and 4 in light of this data Upon sampling a population of darters from the Meramec River for a single locus with two alleles, you find the following allele frequencies. A=32% a=68%

If the population were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, what would you expect the frequency of the "AA" genotype to be.

43.52%

A=32% a=68%

If the population were in Hardy Weinberg equilibrium, what would you expect the frequency of the "Aa"

genotype to be

38.37%

A=32% a=68%

If the population were in Hardy Weinberg equilibrium and you had initially sampled a total of 83 individuals, how many individuals would you expect to have the "aa" frequency

29.20

Upon sampling a population of darters from the Osage River for a single locus with two alleles, you find the following genotype array. AA=37 individuals Aa=23 ind. aa=40 ind.

Given your analysis of these data in light of hardy-weinberg expectations, you expect the following genotype array. AA: 23.5 individuals Aa: 50 ind. aa: 26.5 ind. What is the approximate value of chi square for these data?

No

Is the population of darters sampled in question 5 in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?

Not change

If all the assumptions of the hardy Weinberg model are met, after one generation of random mating genotype frequencies will...

There is random mating

When a given individual has an equal probability of mating with any individual of the opposite sex within the population, we can safely say that...

The condition of having more than a single allele at a gene locus

Choose the best response. In a population of diploid organisms, polymorphism is best defined as...

A. Infinitely Large population

B. Random Mating

C. Low rate of migration

D. Low level of selection

E. Two of the Above (correct answer)

Which of the following is not an assumption of the Hardy-Weinberg model?

Most individuals are heterozygous for at least a few bad alleles

What is the primary reason that "Everyone knows that close inbreeding is bad."-Unknown

Larger

As a population departs from an infinite size (gets smaller), the contributions of genetic drift to the evolutionary process become:

No

Do proponents/advocates of the Neutral Theory maintain that natural selection does not occur?

Directional Selection

The two graphs at the right depict a population at Time 0 and the same population at Time 100 after 100 generations of a particular type of selection. Which type of selection is represented by the changes in the two graphs

Stabilizing selection

The two graphs at the right depict a population at Time 0 and the same population at Time 100 after 100 generations of a particular type of selection. Which type of selection is represented by the changes in the two graphs

Intermittent Drift (bottle neck)

Population bottlenecks (as in the cheetah, which is hypothesized to have shrunk to a very small population and then re-expanded) are most closely associated with which type of drift?

Infinitely large population, random mating

What are two of the most unrealistic assumptions of the Hardy-Weinberg model?

High mutation rate

Which of the following can be considered a destabilizing force?

False

Mutations occuring in somatic cells are thought to have a strong impact on the evolutionary process

True

Natural selection is thought to provide the overall "directional force" in the evolutionary process.

False

A silent substitution is an amino acid substitutiohn at the third codon position

Percent Heterozygosity

A measurement of the number of individuals in a population that possess more than one allele at a single locus

Dicot Angiosperms, Monocot angiosperms, gymnosperms

In terms of plants which is the correct order of polymorphism from lowest to highest?

False

If an organism is a heterozygote at a protein coding locus, each form of the protein (each allele) has been shaped by natural selection to give that organism an advantage in nature

True

Kimura's summation of the Neutral theory of Molecular Evolution maintains that at the molecular level, most evolutionary change and most of the variability within a species are not caused by selection, but by random drift of mutant genes that are selectively equivalent

False

The evidence that evolutionary rates are highest in non-transcribed DNA, in relatively functionless polypeptides, and for third codon position of coding regions are data that are considered to be inconsistent with the neutral theory of molecular evolution

It generally fails to detect changes at the third codon position

Why is protein electrophoresis considered to underestimate the true level of genetic variability within a population

Homozygosity

Genetic drift tends to drive populations toward

True

The paper we discussed in class by Allen Place and Dennis Powers (PNAS, 1979) on protein electrophoretic variation in the Mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus) demonstrated that the allele common to cooler, northern waters coded for a protein with a higher rate of enzymatic catalysis at a cooler temperature. The allele common in southern waters coded for a protein with a higher rate of enzymatic catalysis at a warmer temperature.

False

The paper we discussed in class by Allen Place and Dennis Powers (PNAS, 1979) on protein electrophoretic variation in the Mummichog proved that if a protein coding locus is polymorphic within a species, each alternative form of the protein exists due to natural selection and is therefore an adaptation under the normal environmental conditions in which the organism lives

Fst=1

If two populations are fixed for different alleles at a single locus

Sea urchin

Based on the notes and our discussions in class, which type of organism has a higher level of polymorphism?

There are numerous studies that have sought to demonstrate the role of natural selection and the adaptive significance of many traits but a large portion were flawed by one or more common errors

Based on the notes and our discussions in class, which of the following statements would you judge to be most correct.

By measuring reduction in heterozygosity

How do we make the effects of inbreeding quatitative? (What are we measuring?)

F=0

When there is no inbreeding, which of the following is true at a polymorphic locus?

a. F=0

b. F=1 *

c. the population contains only homozygotes *

d. two of the following (correct answer)

When there is complete inbreeding, which of the following is true at a polymorphic locus

Intermittent Drift

A large population may occasionally shrink to a small size. At this point in time tremendous sampling error may be introduced. What do we call this?

The census size of the population

What does the symbol N represent in the equations we have been considering recently?

Selection

Which of the following evolutionary forces is thought to provide the overall "directional force in the evolutionary process"?

False

The evidence that evolutionary rates are highest in non-transcribed DNA, in relatively functionless polypeptides, and for third codon positions of coding regions are data that are considered to be inconsistent with the neutral theory of molecular evolution

It generally fails to detect changes at the third codon position

Why is protein electrophoresis considered to underestimate the true level of genetic variability within a population?

True

A cornerstone of the theory of evolution by gradual change is that the rate of evolution is absolutely limited by the amount of genetic variation in the evolving population

Mutation and extinction

The neutral theory of molecular evolution asserts that most intraspecific variability at the molecular level is maintained by a balance of which two factors?

when all mutations are neutral

According to Kimura when are the highest rates of evolution achieved?

Selection

Which of the following evolutionary forces is most powerful when 4N_es>>>>>>>>>>1?

A theoretical genotype

In the adaptive landscape, what do each of the infinite numbers of points on the theoretical terrain represent?

large population

In which type of population is a mutation with a slightly advantageous effect most likely to increase.

small population

In which type of population is a deleterious allele most likely to increase?

drift followed by selection

Which combination of evolutionary forces is most likely to drag a population off of one adaptive peak and onto another higher adaptive peak?

Fitness

In the adaptive landscape, what does the relative height of the peaks represent?

A large number of local races spread over a large portion of the adaptive landscape with low levels of gene flow connecting them

Which of the following conditions, according to Sewell Wright, is most likely to result in increased adaptation of a species to its environment?

Individual fitness

A type of fitness also referred to as viability

Relative fitness

The type of fitness typically referred to by evolutionary geneticists?

Absolute fitness

The type of fitness that is usually assigned to a genotype

In a one locus, two allele system, where one allele (A_2) is less fit than another allele (A_1), s=1-w2

How is the selection coefficient related to fitness?

Secondary theorem of natural selection

If a trait strongly covaries with relative fitness, it will change a lot from one generation to the next. If it does not strongly covary with relative fitness, it will not change a lot. Which of the following two terms does this statement define?

Fundamental Theorem of natural selection

The mean relative fitness of a population either increases or does not change under natural selection. Which of the following two terms does this statment define?

False

The neutral theory of molecular evolution denies the existence of natural selection and maintains that all evolutionary change is the result of genetic drift

True

Most population geneticists support the idea that the shift of co-adapted gene complexes from one adaptive peak to another is faciliatated by large population size

Fisher

Who developed the fundamental theorem of natural selection?

A. The vast majority of substitutions that occur at the molecular level are caused by random fixation of neutral mutations

B. Most intraspecific variability at the molecular level is selectively neutral

C. While advantageous mutations may occur, they are so rare that they can be ignored in quantitative considerations

D. All of the above (correct answer)

The neutral theory of molecular evolution holds which of the following statements to be true?

Founder effect

When a few individuals or only one reproductively competent individual start a new population, and this population differs in allele frequency from the parent population, we refer to this as which of the following?

Sewall Wright

Who was Motoo Kimura's idol when he was growing up?

Macroevolution

The observation that big evolutionary changes usually result from exploitation of a new ecological niche is referred to by Kimura as "liberation from selective constraint." Kimura goes on to state that this is a major cause of which of the following processes in evolution?

No

According to Fischer, can selection as an isolated evolutionary process act to reduce fitness?

Serial Homology

At position 1138 of the cytochrome b gene, most fish possess a C nucleotide residue, while humans possess a G residue. What type of homology do these two character states exhibit?

Synapomorphy

At position 1139 of the cytochrome b gene, rainbow darters and orangethroat darters (which are sister species) both possess a C nucleotide residue, while all other species of darters possess a T. What type of homology does the C nucleotide residue represent for Rainbow and Orangethroat darters?

Paraphyletic Group

A group that contains an ancestor and some but not all descendent taxa is best known as which of the following?

The genealogical relationships among populations and species may be recovered (discovered) by grouping the organisms based on overall similarity of appearance

Which of the following was not one of Willi Hennig's five basic ideas that began a major revolution in phylogenetics?