Term
| What was Darwin’s favorite example of artificial selection and why is artificial selection a useful tool to look at natural selection? |
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Definition
Pigeon. Artificial selection allows the experimenter to control the selection pressures and observe before and after.
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Term
| Describe the molecular explanation for why domestic tomatoes are so large. |
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Definition
| Tomatoes with mutant fw2.2 alleles have a LOF for the protein that represses cell division à larger fruit. Mutant alleles were kept as farmers planted seeds of large tomatoes. |
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Term
| What is Darwinian Fitness and describe the origin of the term? |
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Definition
| The ability of an individual to survive and reproduce in its environment. |
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Term
| When did Darwin write his first draft of his theory of natural selection? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are the most attractive aspects of the Darwin-Wallace theory of evolution? |
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Definition
Each of the 4 postulates and their logical consequence can be verified independently. The theory is testable. |
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Term
| Describe how Jones and Reithel independently verified Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. |
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Definition
| They started w/ a pop of snapdragons of varying color. The color of snapdragons is dictated by 1 gene with 2 alleles. Bumblebees were released and pollination was monitored. Distinct reproductive rates among the colors was seen. White flowers reproduced more successfully than yellow flowers. The next generation had a higher proportion of white flowers. |
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Term
| Describe how Galapagos finch beaks vary. (Three axis and why important) |
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Definition
| Beak depth, length, and width. Important because it shows change from common ancestor over a short time. Still dynamic. |
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Term
| What species of Galapagos finch did Peter and Rosemary Grant study and why was this species ideal for studying evolution? |
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Definition
| Geospiza fortis (Medium Ground Finch). It’s ideal b/c there is little migration, and the population is small enough to study thoroughly. |
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Term
| What type of seeds do finches with large beaks eat? |
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Definition
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Term
| How did the Grants test postulate 1 for finch beaks? |
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Definition
They identified and measured all individuals on the island and found great variation in beak depth.
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Term
| How did the Grants test postulate 2? |
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Definition
| Peter Boag measured heritability by examining beak depth of parents and offspring. He found a high correlation suggesting that beak depth is heritable. |
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Term
| Why did Boag urge some caution in the interpretation for the test of postulate 2? |
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Definition
Environment, maternal effects, conspecific nest parasitism, misidentified paternity can exaggerate or underplay heritability
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Term
| What genes did Clifford Tabin discover that controlled beak morphological variation and how did he discover these genes? |
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Definition
BMP4 is a protein that shapes the beak width and depth. He discovered it by staining mRNA in embryos of the 6 finch species. Species w/ larger beaks had earlier expression of BMP4. Chickens were used in BMP4 study. Increasing expression of BMP4 in embryonic chicken beaks by inserting a virus w/ BMP4 (expression vector) resulted in a deeper wider beak. Calmodulin affects beak length. Similar experiments were done on chickens to test affect of calmodulin.
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Term
| What happened in 1977 on Daphne Major, how did it change the characteristics of medium ground finch population? |
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Definition
A bad drought happened, 84% of Geospiza fortis died on the island. The population that survived were able to eat the large seeds of a surviving plant, therefore large beaked finches survived in a higher proportion.
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Term
| If all 4 postulates are true has a population evolved? |
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Definition
Only if the allele frequency changes.
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Term
| What happened after the 03-04 drought on Daphne Major in terms of beak size? |
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Definition
| The population evolved toward a smaller beak due to competition with the large ground finch. |
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Term
| Do individuals evolve why or why not? |
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Definition
No, populations evolve. Evolution happens when population allele frequencies change.
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Term
| Does natural selection act on genotypes or phenotypes? |
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Definition
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Term
| Is natural selection forward-looking? |
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Definition
No, the environment is constantly changing.
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Term
| How can new traits evolve even though natural selection acts on existing traits? |
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Definition
| Mutations produce new alleles, and recombination produce new genotypes. |
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Term
| Using Mosquito fish explain why evolution does not always lead to perfection. |
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Definition
| Males with a larger anal fin are more attractive to females for reproduction, but are more easily caught by predators because they move slower. |
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Term
| Why did Darwin regret using the phrase “naturally selected"? |
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Definition
Some took it to mean that an entity had a conscious choice in the process
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Term
| Is Evolution progressive? explain your reasoning. |
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Definition
No, sometimes a simpler form is better suited for the environment.
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Term
| Is it ok to use the terms of ‘higher’ and ‘lower’ evolution in the terms of progressive evolution? |
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Definition
| No, all organisms have had equal opportunity to adapt to their environment. |
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Term
| Do individual organisms perform actions for the good of the species, is there altruism? |
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Definition
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Term
| What were the three serious problems with the theory of evolution when Darwin initially proposed it? |
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Definition
Darwin did not know how variability was generated in populations, he had no idea how variations were passed on to offspring, the estimated age of the earth at that time was incompatible.
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Term
| Re-state Darwin’s 4 postulates using the terminology from the modern synthesis |
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Definition
1) As a result of mutation creating new alleles, and segregation and independent assortment shuffling alleles into new combinations, individuals within populations are variable for many traits
2) Individuals pass their alleles on to their offspring intact
3) In every generation, some individuals are more successful at surviving and reproducing than others
4) The individuals that survive and reproduce, or who reproduce the most, are those with the alleles and allelic combinations that best adapt them to their environment.
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Term
| What was a result of the Scopes trial of 1925? |
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Definition
The evolution teacher lost, but Creationists looked to be inconsistent regarding the time period for each “day”
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Term
| Describe the difference between Darwinian natural selection and intelligent design. |
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Definition
NS has occurred over billions of years since the earliest life forms and has produced numerous forms from a common ancestor. Intelligent design claims that species are independent from one another.
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Term
| Describe how complexity can arise by the process of evolution by natural selection |
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Definition
| The generation of variation in a population is random, but the selection of those variants is nonrandom. Increased fitness sometimes corresponds with increased complexity. |
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Term
| Does Darwinian evolution violate the second law of thermodynamics? (entropy) |
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Definition
No, the law is only true for closed systems. Organisms live in an open system. Energy input overcomes degradation.
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Term
| What did pope John Paul say about Darwinian evolution in 1996? |
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Definition
Darwinian evolution was a firmly established scientific result and stated that accepting Darwinism was compatible with traditional Christian understandings.
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