Two ways to study for exam
1) Leapfrog, lecture week 1 and read for detail, compare weeks 1 and 2 and so on looking
for relationships, similarities and differences
2) Storytelling: pick a concept and understand how its affected by each set of lectures
3) Bloom's taxonomic level 3-4-5-6 multiple choice questions on chat GBT, verify it is
correct information
Unifying Themes and Hierarchy
1) Differences between research questions and hypotheses
a) Research question: guiding research question for when you don't know enough to
make a hypothesis
b) Hypotheses: specific testable and rejectable statement
c) Theory: larger concept to explain several related phenomena and unifies many
demonstrated hypotheses
i) Consists of pattern and process
(1) pattern: general observations of repetition one sees in a system,
observations
(2) Process: mechanism by which the pattern occurs
(a) Can be proximate: occurs short term
(b) Ultimate: longer time frame
2) Cell theory: all organisms are made of cells and all cells come from preexisting cells
3) Evolutionary theory: change in allelic frequency in a population over time. Process is
natural selection
a) Evolution explains variation in populations and what happens if environmental
conditions change
b) All species are related through common ancestry and individuals have been acted
on by natural selection but evolutionary change occurs at the population level
4) Biological hierarchy
a) Emergent properties: collection of units at one level take on a trait that is greater
than the sum of its parts and defines the next level of the hierarchy
i) Set of phenomena that can only be explained by looking at the entire
hierarchical level, different subdisciplines of biology
Intro to Evolution
1) Lamarck: species change through time via acquired characteristics: individuals change
due to environmental pressures and pass those traits onto offspring
a) This is incorrect because there is no heritability
2) Darwin's evolutionary theory by natural selection
a) Variation along with environmental pressure is the way to understanding why
species change
, i) All species share a common ancestor
ii) All species show changes in characteristics through time
iii) All species show changes in characteristics in different environments
3) Requirements of Natural selection (the process by which allelic frequencies change
within a population over time)
a) Trait variation in a population allows traits to be selected for and against
b) Traits need to be passed on through genes, where acquired characteristics does
not prove true because changes during the lifetime dont change genetics
c) Differential survival: of the individual to reproductive age because of the trait or
of the trait through genes across time in a genetic line of the population
d) Differential reproduction: because of a trait, individuals are more fit and have
more breeding offspring that pass that trait onwards
i) Greater survivorship and fitness means naturally selected in relation to
other members of the population
2) Adaptations: phenotype/trait that is selected for in a population, a heritable trait that
increases the fitness of the individual with that trait
a) A process by which individuals acquire adaptations to increase their relative
fitness, an ultimate look at evolution. Implies the formation of a fitness enhancing
trait rather than the operation of selective agents
3) Artificial selection: another mechanism where humans are the selective agent for
evolution. Traits are adaptive in captivity because they are desired
4) Evidence for evolution
a) Three conclusions from evolutionary theory
i) macroevolution: that change of one major taxonomic group into another,
the creation and extinction of species. Ultimate process
(1) Species are related
(a) Evidence
(i) Geographic proximity of similar and non
interbreeding species
(ii) Homology: traits shared between different species
due to a shared common ancestor
1. genetic: similar gene sequences
2. Developmental: similarities in morphology
of embryos
3. Structural: similarities in structures of body
parts of different species
(2) Species and species diversity changes over time
, (a) Fossil record. Not all species exist at the same time,
extinction has occurred, transitional forms exist. Increase in
species complexity
(b) Vestigial traits: all individuals of a species have that have
little to no function
(i) atavism: vestigial trait only some have
ii) Microevolution: change in population over generations that makes
populations genetically distinct. proximate
(1) Evolution should be seen in the short term, like in bacteria colonies
5) Evolutionary trends from macroevolution
a) Multicellularity
b) Complexity
c) Efficiency of energy capture
d) Adaptations to deal with the environment
e) Snowball increase in diversity
The imperfection of life
1) Adaptations are compromises: tradeoffs based on what selective pressure is most
important to adapt to in order to survive
a) Natural selection is pressure and adaptations are the response
2) Environments change through time: natural selection preserves alleles that are successful
in the parents generations, so adaptations lag behind causing them to potentially seem
maladaptive
a) Individuals with generalistic traits succeed in more than one environment
3) Adaptations are limited by historical constraints: trait/genetic variation are what allows
selection of more adaptive ones. As such, only slight variation exists and causes them to
be better adapted but not perfectly. Structures modify imperfectly
4) Contrivance vs exaptation
a) Exaptation: the ancestral condition of a particular adaptive trait for the ancestral
environment that is modified in descendants for the descendant environmental
conditions and selective pressures. Adaptation of an ancestor that changes over
time
i) Can continue in a different genetic line
b) Contrivance: adaptation that is a modification of an original adaptive trait, it has
been evolutionarily modified through natural selection from generation to
generation
5) Homology vs homoplasy
a) Homology: shared trait between different species due to shared common ancestor
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