Evolution exam 3 terms

Muller’s rachet

Accumulation of deleterious mutations in asexual organisms to the extent that genetic load increases to the extreme

Gentic load

Amount of mutations

Mutational meltdown

Crashing of a population (eliminates population)

Coevolution

process in which two or more species reciprocally affect each other's evolution over time

Red queen hypothesis

posits that species must continually evolve, not just to gain reproductive advantage, but also to survive against the evolving threats posed by other species, such as predators, parasites, and competitors.

Gonochorism (dioecy in plants)

Seperate male and female individuals

Hermaphroditism (monoecy in plants)

Male and female on same individual

Promiscuity

when a species breeds with multiple partners during a season

Lek

Particular location for breeding

Polygamy

Mate multiple times with different individuals

Polygyny

1 male, multiple females

Polyandry

1 female, multiple males

Mongamy

faithful association (1 male and 1 female mating)

Social monogamy

two individuals co-habitating, maintaining a sexual relationship, and sharing basic resources such as shelter, food, and parenting responsibilities

Biological monogamy

A mating system where a male and female are exclusively mated and produce offspring that are genetically related to both parents

Anisogamy

Differential investment in gametes between sexes

Intersexual selection

a process where organisms compete to be chosen by a member of the opposite sex

Intrasexual selection

a type of sexual selection where members of the same sex compete for access to mates

Honest signaling theory

Reflection of traits (more costly) cannot be fueled by lower quality males

Runaway sexual selection

a mechanism whereby a secondary sexual trait expressed in one sex becomes genetically correlated with a preference for the trait in the other sex

Altruism

behavior of an animal that benefits another at its own expense

Reciprocal altruism

a behavioral strategy where an organism acts in a way that temporarily reduces its fitness to help another organism, with the expectation that the other organism will act similarly in return

Kin selection

Selection can favor traits that affect individual fitness if they increase the fitness of their relatives

Group selection

Sacrfice yourself for the good of the group

Eusocality

Sacrifice reproductive success in the long term (no reproductive over lifetime)

Haplodiploidy

Females are diploid and males are haploid (example: bees)

Prisoner’s dilemma

A scenario in game theory where two individuals may not cooperate, even if it’s in their best interest. It involves two prisoners who can either betray each other or remain silent, affecting their sentences based on their choices.

Supersisters

Sisters in haplodiploidy that share a higher genetic relatedness than typical siblings, influencing cooperative behaviors

Bourgeois

Social strata in which as an individual progresses through life they act in a certain way when there is gain or loss of resources

Sacrifice survivorship

where individuals may give up their own potential to survive or reproduce in order to increase the chances of survival and reproductive success of others, often seen in cooperative species where helping relatives or group members enhances the overall genetic fitness of shared genes

Dynamic strategy choice

Social selection for most fit decision-making process

Evolutionary stable strategy (ESS)

Strategy, that if adopted by all members of the population, will prevent any other strategy from entering the payoff matrix

Life history traits

Traits related to an organism’s schedule of reproduction, and explain broad features of an organism’s life cycle

Sexual maturity

Age at which organism can reproduce

Fecundity

number of offspring

Semalparity

Reproduction strategy where an organism reproduces once in its lifetime.

Interoparity

Reproductive strategy where an organism can reproduce multiple times throughout its life.

Lack clutch

the optimal clutch size that maximizes the number of surviving offspring based on environmental conditions.

Mean egg mass

Compromise between competing selection pressures on mother and offspring

Senescence

The gradual deterioration of functional characteristics in an organism as it ages, leading to decreased reproductive success and increased mortality.

Rate of living hypothesis

As organisms have breakdown of repair capabilities later in life there is a decrease in survivability

Mutation accumulation hypothesis

The idea that aging results from the accumulation of mutations that have deleterious effects later in life, which are not effectively selected against.

Antagonistic pleiotropy hypothesis

The theory that some genes may have beneficial effects early in life but harmful effects later in life, contributing to aging and decreased survivability.

Evolutionary artifact effect

Natural selection has not caught up to the age of modern humans so menopause happens because early humans usually died around age 45-50

Grandmother effect

The hypothesis that the presence of grandmothers can enhance the survival of grandchildren by providing additional care and resources, thus influencing reproductive success.

Antigenic shift

Pathogen makes “jump” from one organism to another. Can also be caused by simultaneously infecting host (confection) with two types of influenza

Braykinin storm

Innate immune respsonse that makes blood vessel “leaky” by dilation. Mainly causes pulmonary edema but can effect muscles, brain, and heart disorders

Virulence

Measure of the negative effect of pathogen on host

Vertical transmission

From host to offspring (ex. wolbachia)

Horizontal transmission

Among hosts. Through direct contact (STDs) or vectors (mosquitos, air, or water)

Herd immunity

refers to the protection from infectious diseases that occurs when a sufficient proportion of a population is immune to the disease, either through vaccination or previous infections.

Epizootic

A widespread outbreak of disease in animal populations, similar to an epidemic in human populations, which can lead to significant mortality and impact on ecosystems

Behavioral fever

A phenomenon where ectothermic animals (like reptiles and amphibians) engage in thermoregulation behavior by seeking warmer environments when infected

Hominoids

a primate in the superfamily Hominoidea, which includes modern apes and humans, as well as some extinct ancestors and relatives

Great apes

gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and orangutans

Apes

a member of the Hominoidea, comprising lesser apes (gibbons) and great apes (orang-utan, gorilla, chimpanzee, and, in some usages, human)

Hominids/hominins

In subfamily homininae. Comprises homo genus which includes humans

Multiregional hypothesis

H. erectus evolved into “archaic” forms in Europe, Africa, and Asia then evolved into modern humans

African replacement hypothesis

Archaic forms were still created in Africa, Europe, and Asia but modern humans evolved in Africa first. These archaic forms were then replaced by the moderns humans that evolved in Africa.