BIO 120 Lectures 1 + 2 and Lab 1 Reading

Arthro

Joint

Pod

Leg

Evolution

Change in inherited atributes of populations across generations

Arthropod

Animals with jointed legs

Number of identified species

1.9 million

Number of unidentified species

5 to 11 million

Adaptation

A trait that contributes to the fitness of an indivudal by improving their ability to reproduce and survive.

Adapt (noun)

The physical trait of an individual that allows for better fitness due to increased survivorship (ex. wings on a bat)

Adapt (verb)

Evolutionary process of how these traits come to be (ex. Bats aquired wings through adaptation to their enviroment or Bats adapted to their enviorment by evolving wings)

Natural Selection

Heritable variation in fitness causing certain traits to be selected for or against in a population, due to the ability or lack there of to support an individuals survivorship and ability to reproduce. Thus these genes become more common or less common in the gene pool of the population depending on how desirable they are to survival, and to increasing the fitness of individuals.

Mutations

New changes to nucleotide sequences of DNA that may or may not change the phenotype of an individual

Recombination

The mixing of genes through sex

Fitness

The number of offspring an individual produces relative to other individuals in the population

Evolution

The process of change over generations in the proportion of individuals with a certain trait.

Phylogeny

The evolutionary history of an species and their relationships to other species

Viability

A type of adaptation that helps improve an species sucess in survival and aquisition of food

Empirical evidence

Data from direct observation or experimentation

Tolerance to ambient conditions

Being able to tolerate droughts or warm or cold weather

Viability selection

a form of natural selection in which traits that improve a species ability for locomotion, predator or parasite avoidance, food aquistion, shelter construction

Camouflage

Physically resembling the enviornment to make them less visible to predators Ex. Blue winged grasshoppersn blend in with stones and sand to avoid predation

Aquatic adaptaion

Organisms have adaptions that support their ability to live in water, specifically to help with locomotion in water like how backswimmers have oar like hind legs

Feeding

• Adaptations that help organisms to particular diets 

  • Ants have powerful manidbles that allow them to bite and tear 

  • Mosquitos have stylet (tube)  for piercing and sucking

  • Butterflies have long tongues to lap up nectar from flower

Adaptations for Viability

camoflage, aquatic adaptations, feeding adaptation

Sexual Selection

Natural selection from variable mating

Adaptation for Competition for Mates

Intrasexual competition and Mate choice

Intrasexual competition

• Males fight with each other to access females in many species 

• Those that win are more likely to reproduce because ehtye ar with the female 

• Males may have more adaptations for fighting like tusks, modified mandibles or horns 

• Ex. male european earwings have large forceps (projections on the abdomen) which they use to fight over females, while the females have smaller forceps 

Mate Choice

• Organisms may be choosy with who they mate with as this could incresas or decrease their fitness 

• Therefore more fit mates are more attractive 

• Attractive individuals haven more mates - produce more offspring 

• Adaptation in animal populations to these preferences has occurred to pander to the opposite sex 

  • Ex. elaborate colours, courtship displays and colour patterns, as well as structures, that demonstrate health 

  • Widow skimmer females prefer males that have large white and brown patches on their wings 

Butterflies

• Order Lepidoptera  - part of it

• Undergo complete metamorphosis throughout their life 

• Eggs hatch into larvae (catepillars) which will grow and feed on vegetation 

• After reaching full size they become dormant and immobile in a form called a pupa 

• This helps it to develop into an adult, which after maturation it breaks out and dries its wings 

• Now they can reproduce and feed on nectar unlike the larvae 

Water Strider

• Live on the surface of water, small pools , stremas or the options 

• Part order hemiptera 

• Have fine hairs surrounding their body and legs helping them to move over water 

• Females engage in pre matting struggles with males, which only some can surmoutn in order to mate 

• Catches prey (small insects) with the help of the surface tension of water 

• Have great eyesight to find prey

Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches

• From order Blattodea 

• Have over 3500 species - most not associated with humans 

• Native to forest areas of madagascar, where they feed on vegetable matter on the forest floor

• Males have a protective prominent bump on the dorsal prothorac (anterior part of the thorax)

• Often larger than females 

• May defend territory by lunging at rials and pushing them away

• Will hiss when pursued or handled 

• Predators : other insects, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals 

• Adult males can be aggressive defending their territory around many females and hiss during courtship and mating rituals 

• Females have an ootheca or an egg pouch to carry eggs around until the hatch

Beetles

• Order Coleoptera - largest insect order which maks up 20% of all species on earth 

• Stag —-- are known to lived in decaying wood as larvae and as adults 

• Male in some species use their mandibles in combat with other males 

• Another species Rhino — beetles can also be collected in vietnam alongside stag —---

Stalk Eyed Flies

• From order Diptera - large insecdt order 

• Colelcted in Gombak, Malaysia for research on sexual selection and matting behavior 

• Mate on exposed root hairs of plants and aggregate 

• Feed on decomposed vegetable matter 

Giant Water Bugs

• Part of order Hemiptera 

• Found in Otario 

• Aquatic 

• Prey on insects, crusteceans, tadpoles and fish 

• Some species females will deposit eggs in the back of the male who will carry them until they hatch - form of paternal care over maternal are 

Praying Mantids

• From order Mantodea 

• Use a sit and wait method to prey on their prey (insects) who feed on vegetation 

• Females during mating may sit on the head and thorax of the male 

• Females after this deposit an ootheca where many small mantids emerge

Ootheca

Egg sac

Crypsis

• The reduction of signal to noise ratio perceived by predators 

Masquerade

• Resemblance of a prey of an inedible object to their predators 

Viscid

Sticky or glutinous

Rostrum

a beaklike projection, especially a stiff snout or anterior prolongation of the head in an insect, crustacean, or cetacean.

Apterous

Wingless

Macropterous

Fully developed wings

Homology

Speicies that look similar due to

Silent substitution

A mutation in which one nucleotide is substituted for another, however the codon will still express the same amino acid, not altering the protein produced

Microevolution

Evolutionary patterns and processes observed within species

Macroevolution

Evolutionary patterns and process observed among species

Compatible trees

Two phylogenetic trees arranged so that if you took one organism from one tree that is not on the other and inserted it into the timeline of evolution, the relationships illustrated would be the same

William Paley

Believed that there was a grand designer, who designed all living things on earth. He thought that living things that had traits that helped them in their lives (aka adaptations) for example a girrafes long neck, was due to