Bio330 - Final Exam - Concordia University

Bio330 taken with Dr.Nicola Smith in W2025. Non-cumulative exam so this is just notes and terms from after the midterm.

Pygostyle

Fused vertebrae at the end of the tail (body plan for flight)

Coracoids

Helps pectoral girdle resist pressures on chest by wings (body plan for flight)

Calamus

How feathers are anchored to skin

short tubular base

Passeriformes

Perching birds (all songbirds)

What is the main characteristics of the two types of muscle in birds?

Dark muscle: contains myoglobin - high capacity for aerobic metabolism

White muscle: does not have as high capacity for aerobic metabolism

Birds are ______parous

Oviparous

What does precocial young mean?

Young birthed are relatively mature and mobile from moment of birth

What does Altricial young mean?

Young birthed are undeveloped at birth and require parental care

Viviparous

Placenta nourishes young

What is a way to describe marsupial parental care/young?

very immature young are raised in pouch

What describes placental parental care/young?

both altricial and precocial young, shorter lactation period

What kind of teeth do herbivores have?

Hypsodont (high crown) teeth - grazing teeth

What features do myrmecophagous skulls have?

Nectar feeder or ant/termite eaters

elongated jaws, reduced or absent teeth, enlarge salivary glands, elongated tongues

What are the two types of stomachs herbivores can exhibit

Hindgut - monogastric digestion; enlarged large intestine and cecum

Foregut (ruminant): 4 chambered stomach; cud returns to mouth to be chewed again

What are the differences between hindgut and foregut herbivores?

Hindgut - can handle low quality food as long as it is plentiful

Foregut - can handle low quantity of food as long as it is high quality

What are the 3 groups of fully aquatic mammals?

Cetacea - whales, dolphin, porpoises

Sirenia - manatees, dugong

Carnivora - walrus, sea lions, seals

What are the advantages of social behavior in humans?

defend against predators

reproductive ease

alloparental care - care of young by non-parents

What is demographic stochasticity?

random chance of population size caused by probabilistic nature of individual births and deaths

What is environmental stochasticity?

random fluctuations of weather have an impact on a population of animals

What is genetic stochasticity?

Randomness and unpredictability of the biological process can effect the population of a small group of mammals through genetic drift and inbreeding

What is inbreeding depression?

Occurs when individuals within a population breed with close relatives leading to a decrease in fitness — expression of deleterious recessive traits

What is an ectotherm?

relies on external sources of heat to raise body temperature

What is an endotherm?

Relies on internal sources of heat to raise a body temperature

What is the lower critical temperature?

point at which an animal must increase its metabolic heat production to balance its heat loss

What is torpor?

temporary drop in body temperature

conserves energy and prolongs survival at expense of homeothermic advantages

reduced metabolism and energy use

reduced heart rate

What is ecological speciation?

Divergent natural selection on traits between populations inhabiting contrasting environments leads to the evolution of reproductive isolation

What are pre-zygotic isolating mechanisms?

prevents formation of hybrids between populations

What are post-zygotic isolating mechanisms?

divergent selection arising from contrasting environmental features directly reduces the fitness of hybrids

What is allopatry?

evolution of reproductive isolation occurring in separate non-overlapping geological areas

What is sympatry?

Evolution of reproductive isolation occurring in the same geological area

What is the littoral zone of a body of water?

plant filled area of water near the shore

What is the benthic zone of a body of water?

The lowers level of a body of water

What are ecomorphs?

species specialized to use particular microhabitats (same species)

What is anadromy?

migrations involving a breeding phase in freshwater and an adult feeding phase in seawater

What is catadromy?

Fish that grow mainly in freshwater rivers and lakes, migrate to sea, spawn, and die

What is amphidromy?

migrations between freshwater and saltwater habitats but not for breeding

What are flyways?

flight paths used by large numbers of birds while migrating between their breeding grounds and their overwintering grouns

What is Zugunruhe?

migratory restlessness - restless behavior around migratory period

What is critical habitat?

Habitat requirements for a species that are essential for its survival

must include both ends of migration route for migrational species

What are prosimians?

Lemurs, bush babies, tarsiers

What are anthropoids?

Monkeys, apes, gibbons, humans

Where was the first Neanderthal found?

Neander valley in Germany

What was the first hominin that exhibited delayed tooth eruption?

Homo Erectus

What is Hominopediea?

Apes and humans have structures that promote upright balance

What animals are in the Sauropsid group?

Reptiles, Birds

What animals are in the Synapsid group?

Mammals

What is unique about bird muscles?

larger hearts with high rates of blood flow

pectoral muscles are 20% of body mass

In bird muscles, what is the supracoracoideus used for?

powered upstroke

is larger in species that hover or need fast, steep takeoffs

In bird muscles, what is the pectoralis used for?

forceful downstroke

In perching birds, what are anisodactyl feet?

3 toes extend forward, 1 extends back

In perching birds, what are zygodactyl feet?

2 toes forward, 2 toes back

Convergent evolution

Appearance of similar characteristics in WIDELY SEPARATE evolutionary lineages

Parallel Evolution

Appearance of similar characteristics in lineages that have been separated RECENTLY

In birds, what is the crop?

enlarged portion of esophagus used for temporary food storage

What are the two stomach chambers in birds?

Proventriculus - secretes acids/digestive enzymes

Gizzard - posterior muscular stomach; mechanical processing of food; small stones help muscular walls grind food

Social manogamy

male and female share responsibility for clutch of eggs but do not demonstrate fidelity

Genetic Monogamy

male and female share responsibility for clutch of eggs and do not have extra pair copulations

What animals are in the Sauropsid group?

reptiles + birds

What animals are in the synapsid group?

Mammals

What are the major evolutionary trends of mammals?

Respiration with diaphragm

hair

high metabolic rates

teeth with complex surfaces

mammary glands

viviparity

What happened during the Pleistocene glaciations?

many large mammals and large birds became extinct at end of pleistocene

What is the point of having a larger temporal fenestra?

larger volume of jaw muscles

greater surface area for jaw muscle insertions

What is the point of mammals having a bowed out skull bone?

greater space for masseter muscle

more effective food processing

What are the 3 types of mammals?

Monotremes, Marsupials, Placentals

What animals are in the monotreme group?

Platypus + Echidna

egg laying toothless mammals

What is a shared trait in all mammals?

Lactation - all females feed young by producing milk

Outbreeding depression

occurs when individuals from different populations or genetic backgrounds are bred together and the resulting offspring exhibits reduced fitness compared to parents

How do arctic bottom fish species keep from freezing?

absence of nucleating agents in blood to prevent flash freezing

How do arctic surface fish species keep from freezing?

Synthesize antifreeze substances which lowers freezing point of body fluids

How are the two ways that amphibians adapt to cold environments?

bury oneself deeply in the soil and hibernate - does not get exposed to sub-freezing temperatures

Bury oneself close to the soil surface and freeze but do not die - freezing occurs in extracellular body fluids but not within cells

What is the limnetic zone of a body of water?

open water area of a lake or pond

Why did bipedality evolve?

Improved predator avoidance

freeing hands for carrying objects

improved thermoregulation (smaller surface area to sun’s rays)

energy efficiency of locomotion

What are the ‘human’ characteristics that evolved to become homo sapiens?

Bipedality

larger brain size

speech and language