Bio1B 2010 Evolution Review

1) What is evolution?
- change species undergo over time.
2) Who were the people that influenced Darwin and Wallaces theory of evolution? What did
they contribute?
Aristotle: fixed species that were part of a great chain of being . scalae naturale
- hierarchy of organisms
Buffon, Lamarck, Erasmus Darwin: the concept of species' ability to change
Hutton, Lyell: gradual geographic change and uniformitarianism (processes today are
the same as the processes in the past)
Linnaeus: taxonomic classification and hierarchy
Cuvier: well studies fossils and extinct species
Humboldt, Hooker: biogeography and distribution of species
Malthus: economic perspective: population pressure and depletion of resources occur
before reproduction stops.
Fitzroy: captain of the HMS Beagle?
3) What is the theory behind natural selection?
- Natural selection is the mechanism of evolution
- 3 conditions
- variation: individuals in a population have different traits/phenotype.
- inheritance: offspring inherit a mixture of traits from both parents.
- competition: more offspring are produced than can survive, so offspring with traits better
matched to the environment will survive and reproduce more effectively than others
With these 3 conditions, a population will accumulate the traits that enable more successful
competition.
4) What arguments did Darwin use for evolution through natural selection?
Artificial selection: used as an analogy for natural selection. He used it to prove that
natural selection occurs by using breeding as an example. Natural selects for species just
as we select traits we want to see in our domesticated animals.
Biogeography: nested geographic distribution. Species on island are often related to
species on the nearby mainland. (Adaptive Radiation for island evolution.) This
eventually lead to the idea of descent with modification.
Population pressure: a term coined by Malthus. population growth requires resources.
fossil record: the fact that fossilized species no longer existed contributed to the idea of
extinction and enabled species to be organized in a time series(strata)
embryology/comparative anatomy: developing embryos are identical at certain stages.
The longer they are similar = the more closely related they are. A factor of homology.
5) In phylogenetics, what is monophyly, paraphyly, polyphyly?
- monophyly: relationship in which all entities descend from the same common ancestor.
(clade = a monophyletic group)
- paraphyly: either some but not all tax are from a common ancestor.
- polphyly: when the taxa independently evolved analogous traits.
6) What advances were made to the theory of evolution AFTER Darwin, and who?

Mendel: pea genetics (15 years after Origins of Species) and theory of inheritance
Haldane, Fisher, Wright: Mathematical models for population genetics
Mayer, Huxley, Dobzhansky: NeoDarwininan Synthesis
Watson, Crick: DNA structure and function (after NeoDarwinian synthesis)
Kimura, Jukes: Molecular evolution and theory: large scale mapping of Human
Genome.
6) What were Mendels discoveries?
- Alternate forms of genes/alleles
- offspring inherit two copies of parents' DNA (diploid!)
- if possible genes differ, one may be dominant and mask the other phenotype
- two alleles for a heritable trait segregate during meiosis independentally of
other traits.
- Codominance: red plus white = pink
7) What are the 5 assumptions to Hardy-Weinberg? If all assumptions are met in HardyWeinberg, what is the expectation for allele and genotype frequencies?
p2 +2pq+q2 = 1
F(A) = p2+.592pq) =p(p+q)
Assumptions: random mating, no gene flow. no mutations, no natural selection, large
population
Expectation: next generation will in theory have the same gene frequency as that of the
parents.
Inheritance alone does not cause frequencies of allees to change between generations.
Null hypothesis!
8) When an allele is rare, which genotype is it mostly present in? (understand graph)
- heterozygotes
9) What is the effect of these events to the genetics of a population?
Inbreeding- genes are limited, the frequency of homozygotes increases and the
frequency for heterozygotes decreases.
Small population size random error in allele frequencies (genetic drift), loss of
polymorphism. Population bottlenecks can lead to a divergence and a new species
forming. Founder Effect (We descended from Africans because they had the most
genetic diversity.)
Mutation: dominant source of variation is the human genome. Changes the gene pool
Somatic cell line: cells that make up your body so they are not passed
onto the next generation.
germ line: in gametes: passed on so they can be inherited
Migration: changes the gene pool/ gene flow.
10)
What are the 3 different kinds of mutations that can occur?
- Point mutation: alternation in the nucleotide coding sequence
- gene regulation: region regulates genes and alters expression.
- Gene copy Number error: gene is copied more times than it should be.
- Chromosome number and structure: error occurs during meiosis (down
syndrome, plant polyploidy

11)
What are the different ways you can affect a genotype (besides mutations to the
gene, what other mutations can cause changes in a phenotype)?
- Codominance, incomplete dominance, etc.
- genetic drift, gene flow
12)

What is the relationship between genetic drift and gene flow?

- Gene flow opposes the effects of genetic drift.
13)
What is a cline, and how is one created?
- when there is a population distributed across a habitat and gene flow happens across it.
14)
What is fitness?
- individuals ability to produce viable and fertile offspring
-environmentally dependent.
15)
What are the three different types of selection that can happen on a population?
understand the graphs and how variation is affected.
Directional: shifts: a range of phenotype
Left have a lower fitness.
Curve pushes to the right and the right is more advantages
Disruptive: Middle individuals are selected against. The genes on the extremes go on
and reproducte. If the next generation produces randomly, the original curve will return.
However, disruptive generally leads to speciation.
Stabilizing: both phenotypic extremes do not do well so the middle phenotype
increases in frequency. Maintains genetic variation even with genetic drift. Both genes
remain in the population.
16)
What are the genomic signatures of natural selection?
Candidate gene approach: targets genes known to cause a certain effect
Genome scan: sequences an entire genome and searches for regions of very low
variation
17)
What is co-evolution?
- reciprocal selection: when a species affects the fitnesses of phenotypes in
another species.
Mutualistic: both species benefit. can become an obligate trait.
-Antagonistic: when species interact negatively. Host and pathogen
(MHC)
18)
What are the advantages and disadvantages of sexual reproduction?
-Disadvantages:
- requires two separate genders and expends resources
- requires mating = spending energy, time, and risk
- sex breaks down good gene combos.
+ Advantages:+ variation through random mating
+advantage in variable engiroments
+adaptation
+slows the acumulation of mutations
+brings together good genes
+produces
genetically
variable
offspring
can use more resources, adapt, and have the
increased ability
to evade
pathogens
and who
parasites.
19)
Understand chart of variation within and between populations due to the influence
of mutation, drift, migration, stabilizing selection, directional selection.

20)

What is sexual selection? intrasexual? intersexual?

- competition for mates or fertilization
- Intrasexual: male-male competition for females
- body size sexual dimorphism

-Intersexual: males show themselves to be genetically attractive to females.

21)
What is the relationship between sexual and natural selection? (long-tailed
widowbird)
- sexual: attractiveness won over so that caused, natural selection for
shorter tails because that was the genotype.
22)
Why is it beneficial for a female to be picky about a mate?
- direct benefit to female's own fitness. (Share resources)
- indirect benefit to offspring
- Good genes hypothesis - physical traits = better adapted genes.
23)
What is altruism and explain how it can be evolutionary beneficial?
- Altruism: behavior that promotes an individual to make sacrifices to help
other
- increases the fitness of close relatives who share your genes by descent.
24)
What is Haldanes rule? Hamiltons kin selection theory?
- Sibling = 50% genes
-Cousin = 12.5% genes
- Hamilton's Kin Selection Theory:
- altruism will be favored if r*B>C
r= relatedness
B= benefit
C= cost
25)
What is a species? What are the different ways we diagnose a species?
-typological view: species are considered to be fixed entities
-evolutionary:
- Discontinuous: (darwin)descent with modification combined
with extinction, dicontinuous phenotype, morphological
distinctiveness.
- Phylogenetic: Systematist -shared-derived monophyletic traits
and how they relate to each other
-biological- NeoDarwinists, emphasizes reproductive isolation
26)

What are pre- and post-zygotic isolation?

Pre-zygotic: occurs before mating and fertilization and prevents the
formation of a zygote.
- habitat:
-timing: mating seasons that dont correspond
-behavior : rituals
-mechanical: repro organs dont fit.
Postzygotic isolation: refers to factors affecting reproductive success of hybrids
- viability: deleterious traits not well adapted to the environment
-fertilility: hybrid may be viable, but may be sterile or unable to reproduce.
27)
What is the general lineage concept for species reproductive isolation?
-with the amount of tine since the separation of two populations.

28)

- groups that have been reproductively isolated and grown phenotypically divergent
across a span of time.
What is a ring species?
- make a loop of gradual transition with RI at the terminus
- salamanders, classification problems

29)

What are the geographic modes of speciation?

Allopatric: geographical barrier arrises so that a population is separated. Most dominant
form of speciation.
Parapatric:adjacent diverging population, needs divergent (disruptive selection) and nonrandoming mating to be speciation.
Sympatric: populations overlap and have divergent selection. Also has pre-zygotic
isolation.
Peripatric: islands. founderlike-species in which small group brake off.
30)
What is an adaptive radiation?
- rapid proliferation of species driven by ecologically-mediated
divergent selection.
31)
What is secondary contact? What are some potential outcomes of secondary
contact? = meeting your long lost relatives. , no hybridization and then those 4 below
Reinforcement : selective pressures to avoid mating. hybrides are inviable or infertile
-- leads to no hybridization.
Fusion: both lineages mate, forming hybrid with normal fitness
Stability:each lineage maintains its own range separate of each other save for some
areas of overlap. In areas of overlap, hybrids have reduced fitness and zone is maintained
by immigration from adjacent parent populations.
Hybrid species: if the hybrids are diploid and have same chromosome # of parents, but
are ecologically different, leading to prezygotic isolation. (opposite!) - new hybrid taxon
has another set of chromosomes and will be sterile (mule? )
32)
What is microevolution? macroevolution? What process connects the two?
- micro ------speciation----> macro
- fossil record
33)
What are the approximate dates for the major transitions in the Earths history?
Some major transitions in earth history
Earth and Solar System formation 4.5
Earliest prokaryote fossils 3.5
Increase in oxygen implies photosynthesis 2.7
Single-celled fossil eukaryotes 2.1-1.2

Complex metazoan (multi-celled animals) 0.5 - Cambrian

Explosion
Hominids (apes and humans) 0.005

34)

35)

36)

What is a mass extinction?

- large peaks in extinction rates - Premian-Triassic, and
Creataous/Paleogene (dinosaurs)
-1 extinctio per million species per year
What did Luiz and Walter Alvarez discover?
- K/T boundary explanation
- darlk silt between fossils of organisms between Cretaceous and
Paleogene
- huge spike in iridium ==== comet impact
comet ejected sediments in the air, halting photosynthesis and
changing raw material of planet
10,000 year to recover
What is a transitional form?
- "missing links" - human construct to explain the jumps in

phenotypes.
37)
How do we evolve novel characters? Exaptation - co-opting structure from one fuction to another
Duplicated genes (reprogramming of developmental pathways) - one copy is kept
and the other is used for new functions.
38)
What is deep homology?
- very different structure that have a common site of developmental genes
39)
Why is the fossil record important? What data can we gather from the fossil
record?
-provides evidence of the evolution of the hominin line
- molecular clock by Sarich and Wilson- chimpanzees hominis around 7mya
- increasing cranial case, allowing for bigger brain and decreased sexual dimorphism
relative to their ancestor
- more terrestial behavior
40)
Humans were previously hypothesized to have evolved on which two continents?
Why? Which has proved to be correct and why?
- Africa - homo habilus - and larger brain size
- Multiregional
- Indonesia - Java Man
41)
What is the migration history of Homo sapiens?

160 kya: Homo sapiens in Ethiopia

100 kya: migrates out of Africa into the Middle East and across South Asia
80 40 kya: migration from India to Australia, possibly interacting with Homo erectus in
Indonesia
40 kya: migration into West Europe and across the range of Homo neanderthalensis (dont go
further north, because further north is covered by a glacial sheet)
35 11 kya: 1 or 2 migrations across the Bering land bridge
3.5 1 kya: Polynesian migrations (pacific isles, Australia, New Zealand, Maori)
42)
What are some lines of evidence that there is continued evolution in humans?
43)
How can evolution help us in the development of medicines and vaccines?
44)
Why is the prevalence of diabetes, cancers, and autoimmune diseases increasing
in humans?