Evolution Exam 1

____ is the change in heritable properties of a population over generations

evolution

_____ is a group of organisms of the same species that occur in a particular geographical area at the same time

biological population

______ is the proportion of variation in a trait that is attributable to genetic factors

heritability

Evolution involves heritable change, which usually means changes in ______

DNA sequence

________ is the ability of organisms with the same genotype to produce different phenotypes depending on environmental conditions

phenotypic plasticity

_____ is a comprehensive, coherent body of knowledge based on reason and evidence that explains some aspect of nature

theory

True or False: A theory is also known as an idea or guess

false

______ is an informed conjecture of what might be true

hypothesis

_______ is a simple confirmed observation

fact

_______ is spread from animals to humans after evolving

zoonotic disease

True or False: The great chain of being organized living organisms on a scale from complex to simple

false

Humans were towards the ____ of the scale of the great chain of being

top

Before ____, people thought species were created as they are and don’t change

Darwin

______ owes the complexity of nature to God, and holds that nature is for humans and must be studied to understand God’s creation

natural theology

_____ created the binomial nomenclature system before Darwin’s classification system, which classified life’s diversity

Linnaeus

_______ believed Earth was formed due to the laws of physics and chemistry

Buffon

______ believed that observable processes produce small changes that accumulate over time and that the landscape was molded by these processes, which indicated that the Earth must be old

Hutton

______ posed uniformitarianism, which is the idea that observable natural processes are responsible for past events

Lyell

_______ believed that fossils resemble but aren’t exactly the same as modern species, and that many past species went extinct

Cuvier

______ believed that human populations grow faster than food and other resources can be produced, leading to poverty

Malthus

______ believed that complex life is derived from simpler organisms and that simple organisms continually generate spontaneously

Lamarck

Lamarck argued that adaptation occurs through the inheritance of ______ changes that occur over an individual’s lifetime

acquired

Lamarck argued that life was constantly arising and species that were ____ complex arose more recently

less

Darwin argued that all species were connected to an ancient common ____, forming a branching tree of life

ancestor

True or False: The phenotype of an organism can change over their lifetime in a way that is best suited for their environment

true

True or False: Phenotypic plasticity results in permanent, heritable change

false

Adaptation is based on _____ changes passed on through generations through DNA changes

heritable

Darwin believed in descent with ______ from common ancestors

modification

Darwin argued that _______ was the major cause of modification

natural selection

_____ is the idea that organisms change over time

transmutation

True or False: Darwin came up with the idea of transmutation

false

______ found phenotypic differences in similar organisms within the same area, similar to Darwin’s ideas on evolution

Wallace

_____ is the idea that offspring are the intermediate between parents and that characters are inherited like fluids

blending inheritance

The blending of inheritance theory was problematic because it results in a loss of ______

variation

_____ formulated the theory of particulate inheritance, which is the idea that inheritance is based on particles passed unaltered from generation to generation, allowing variation to persist

Mendel

______ postulates that variation that arises is directed towards fixed goals, so species evolve in a predetermined direction through an internal drive

orthogenesis

_______ is based on the idea that inheritance of modifications is acquired during an organism’s lifetime

neo-Lamarckism

______ postulates that new discrete phenotypes can arise by mutations and that new mutant forms are new species

mutationist hypothesis

Goldschmidt argued that mutations of large effect that reorganize the whole genome are necessary for the origin of higher ______

taxa

According to Goldschmidt, evolution occurs by _____, not gradually

leaps

_______ is the idea that adaptive evolution is caused by natural selection acting on particulate (Mendelian) genetic variation

evolutionary synthesis

According to evolutionary synthesis, mutation is the ______ on which natural selection acts

raw material

True or False: According to evolutionary synthesis, the evolution of higher taxa occurs through the same processes acting within species

true

The universe is about ______ billion years old

14

The earth is about _____ billion years old

4.6

Life originated on earth about _______ bya

3.5-3

An aggregation of molecules is alive if it can capture ____ from the environment, use it to replicate itself, and evolve

energy

All living organisms descended from the ______

LUCA

_______ and basic metabolism evolved from the LUCA

genetic code

Genetic code is the machinery of _______ and protein synthesis

replication

During the _____ era, major cellular innovations occurred, prokaryotes diversified, eukaryotes appeared, sexual reproduction and multicellularity evolved, the genetic toolkit evolved, and Edicarian fauna appeared

Precambrian

True or False: Early life was anaerobic

true

Sexual reproduction allows for advantageous ______ that have evolved in different individuals to be combined in new offspring, greatly accelerating adaptation

alleles

Stromatolites formed by ______ is the oldest evidence of life on Earth

cyanobacteria

The genetic toolkit is the basic genetic machinery for the ______ largely conserved across animals

body plan

During the _____ era, animals and plants greatly diversified in oceans and on land, the Cambrian explosion occurred, chordates appeared, insects and arthropods diversified, and the largest mass extinction in the history of Earth occurred

Paleozoic

During the Cambrian explosion, most living ______ phyla appeared suddenly, and it was the most dramatic adaptive radiation in the history of life

animal

During the ______ era, Teleosts evolved and diversified, gymnosperms dominated on land, angiosperms appeared and began to dominate, insects diversified, terrestrial species diversity surpassed oceans, the diversity of terrestrial vertebrates exploded (especially reptiles), dinosaurs diversified and dominated on land, mammals appeared and evolved, and the K/T (K/Pg) extinction occurred

Mesozoic

True or False: Reptiles were overshadowed by mammals during the Mesozoic era

false

During the _____ era, the modern world took shape, fish and marine mammals diversified, insects and angiosperms diversified, mammals and birds experienced explosive adaptive radiations, human-like primates appeared, continents shifted to the modern position, extreme changes in sea level and precipitation patterns occurred, and a major mammal mega fauna extinction occurred

Cenozoic

The Mesozoic era was the age of _______

reptiles

The Cenozoic era was the age of ______

mammals

The evolution of human lineage is associated with the transition of hominins from rainforests to ________

grasslands

The first main stage of human evolution was the appearance of the earliest ______

hominins

The second main stage of human evolution was the appearance of _______

Australopithecus and Paranthropus

The third main stage of human evolution was the appearance of the genus ____

Homo

The fourth main stage of human evolution was the appearance of ________

Homo heidelbergensis and modern humans

The gap between humans and ______ is an artifact of the extinction of other hominins

chimpanzees

Hominins display a ______ of advanced and primitive traits, making it hard to resolve relationships

mosaic

When did the genetic toolkit evolve?

635-541 mya

When did the Cambrian explosion occur?

541-485 mya

When did the End-Permian extinction occur?

299-252 mya

When did the K/T (K/Pg) extinction occur?

66 mya

When did anatomically modern humans evolve?

200,000 ya

When did the major mammal mega fauna extinction occur?

2.58-0.01 mya

When did the earliest hominins appear?

4-7 mya

When did Australopithecus appear?

4 mya

When did Paranthropus appear?

2.7 mya

When did the genus Homo appear?

1.8-2.5 mya

When did Homo heidelbergensis appear?

800,000 ya

____ is a characteristic that enhances the survival and/or reproduction of organisms that bear it relative to alternative character states

adaptation

Adaptations are products of ______

natural selection

Darwin thought that evolution is _____

slow

Darwin thought that evolution is on ______ time scales

geological

______ is evolution on a time scale capable of being measured, within the last few hundred years

contemporary evolution

True or False: Adaptation to human alterations of the environment is rare

false

Natural selection is any consistent difference in ______ among different classes of biological entities

fitness

Natural selection is a systematic _____ in which individuals survive and reproduce

bias

______ is the number of offspring an individual leaves in the next generation

biological fitness

Individuals in a population have ____ that vary

traits

Many traits are ______

heritable

True or False: More offspring are produced than survive

true

______ in nature is inevitable

competition

Species are typically extremely well _____ for their lifestyle

adapted

_____ is selection by humans of a deliberately chosen trait in a population

artificial selection

Artificial selection is usually selecting for useful features in _____ species

domesticated

True or False: Artifical selection was relatively unknown during Darwin’s time

false

True or False: Most domestic animals and plants we use are greatly modified

true

Mutations are ______

random

Natural selection is ______

non-random