Biological evolution

What connects fossil artiodactyls to whales in fossil evidence?

Key traits like the astragalus.

What does phylogenetics examine?

Relationships among fossil species, whales, and other mammals.

What is artificial selection?

Human-driven trait selection, such as in domesticated animals.

What is an example of natural selection?

Antibiotic resistance.

What does comparative analysis study?

Traits across different species.

What ancient views influenced evolutionary thought before Darwin?

Aristotle’s ladder of life, Linnaeus’ taxonomy, and Cuvier/Buffon’s fossil studies.

How did geology influence the theory of evolution?

Hutton and Lyell’s uniformitarianism.

What did Lamarck propose?

Inheritance of acquired characteristics.

What was Charles Darwin's background?

He studied geology and was influenced by uniformitarianism.

What did Darwin observe during the Voyage of the Beagle?

Fossils, environmental change, and species divergence in the Galápagos.

What is the core concept of natural selection according to Darwin?

Overproduction, competition, heritable variation, and survival of the fittest.

Who independently conceived natural selection alongside Darwin?

Alfred Russel Wallace.

What is a key example of artificial selection?

Dog domestication.

What is convergent evolution?

When similar traits evolve independently in different species.

What are constraints and trade-offs in evolution?

Adaptations have limits, such as vision versus other senses.

What gene adaptations were studied in beach mice?

Genes like mc1r and asip are linked to color adaptation.

What are trade-offs in life history evolution?

Offspring size versus number and early versus late reproduction.

What do guppy experiments demonstrate in evolutionary biology?

Predation affects evolutionary traits, tested via transplantation and common garden experiments.

What is the debate surrounding units of selection?

Individual vs. group selection, debated by Wynne-Edwards and Maynard Smith.

What is multilevel selection?

Examples include competition among ants and yeast-mitochondria.

What are examples of eusociality evolution?

Ants, termites, and bees.

What hypotheses explain the evolution of eusociality?

Haplodiploidy, monogamy, and ecological drivers.

What is the trade-off hypothesis in disease virulence?

Balances transmission rates and host mortality.

How did Paul Ewald contribute to our understanding of disease virulence?

He proposed that waterborne diseases like cholera evolve high virulence.

What is the earliest evidence of life?

Fossils and chemical signatures.

What are the two main hypotheses for the origin of life?

Heterotrophic and chemoautotrophic origins.

What is the RNA World hypothesis?

It suggests ribozymes and self-replication were key in the transition to DNA.

What characterized major evolutionary transitions?

Loss of individual reproduction, specialization, and efficiency.

What factors promote conflict and cooperation in evolution?

Genetic factors.

What is endosymbiosis?

The theory that mitochondria evolved from engulfed bacteria.

What do experiments on yeast and slime molds show about multicellularity?

They illustrate cooperation and the dynamics of cheating.

What are types of mutualism?

Reciprocity (vampire bats), partner fidelity (clownfish), and partner choice (yucca and moths).

How is cooperation maintained in mutualistic relationships?

Through punishment and coercion.

How does natural selection operate in cancer?

Tumor cells evolve within hosts.

What is Peto’s Paradox?

Large animals like elephants and whales resist cancer through TP53 gene duplications.

What are the tree basics in phylogeny?

Clades, monophyly versus polyphyly, and rooting trees.

What inference methods are used in phylogenetics?

The parsimony principle and distinguishing homologous versus analogous traits.

What is an example of warning coloration in comparative evolutionary studies?

Poison frogs.

What are vestigial traits?

Remnants of limbs in snakes.

What is studied in the phylogenetic relationships of big cats and domestic cats?

Their evolutionary connections.