Evolution Module 4 and 5 Quiz

Module 4 - The Pattern of Evolution

• Define microevolution and macroevolution, understanding the relationship between microevolution, speciation, and macroevolution.
• Microevolution: Species change over time, observable small-scale changes.
• Macroevolution: Large-scale changes over long periods (mya), not directly observable.
• Change through time: Contemporary evolution example, foxes bred selectively for human friendliness, becoming more dog-like. Peppered moths decreased with pollution, then black moths survived better, reverting when pollution decreased.
• Speciation: Recognize how stickleback examples support different degrees of speciation, including single variable populations, distinguishable but interbreeding populations, and reproductively isolated populations.

Module 5 - Darwinian Natural Selection and Adaptation

• Darwin's four postulates: Define and explain how examples (like beak shapes in Galapagos finches) address each postulate.
• Variation continues with generations and is heritable.
• Some birds survived droughts, with different beak shapes.
• Lighter-colored beach mice thrive in sandy areas due to variation in coat color. Color variation is inherited.
• More individuals are born than will reproduce (predation), some variants survive and reproduce at higher rates than others.
• Populations evolve, not individuals.
• Selection occurs for individuals, not the good of the species.
• Variation and heritability are crucial for selection; if a trait is heritable, it will be selected for if beneficial.
• Selection is not forward-looking; it only acts on current conditions, not future ones.
• Selection is non-random, but not progressive.
• Longer fishtails increase mating but also affect predation rates, not perfect.
• Selection has constraints on the amount of genetic variation available; oil content of corn kernels, number of eggs laid by geckos (limited).
• Selection acts on the individual.

Module 6 - Estimating Evolutionary Trees

• Ability to read evolutionary trees, identifying landmarks (nodes, branches, etc.).
• Defining nodes, branches, roots, sister taxa, and terminal nodes/tips.
• Understanding the scale on evolutionary trees represents the amount of change.
• Defining ingroup and outgroup.
• Phylogenies are hypotheses based on data analysis.
• Convergent evolution.
• Parallelism.
• Reversals.
• Understanding homology and analogous traits (homologous=shared ancestry) and ancestral and derived traits.
• Ability to identify synapomorphies (shared derived characters) for groups.
• Defining monophyletic, paraphyletic, and polyphyletic groups.
• Defining homoplasy (convergent evolution and/or reversals).
• Methods of estimating phylogenies (distance methods, maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, Bayesian).

Module 7 - Variation

• Types of variation (genetic, environmental, genotype-by-environment interactions).
• Genetic variation is important for evolution.
• Understanding the importance of mutations for variability, they are random.
• Understanding the importance of paralogy, which refers to homologous genes that arose from duplication.
• Duplicated genes can accumulate different mutations, which may inactivate one and create new functions.
• Understanding whole-genome duplication can create additional sets of chromosomes, referred to as polyploidy, which may be beneficial, especially in plants.
• Describing mutation rates and how they vary and their role in evolution.

Module 8 - Population Genetics I

• Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium assumptions; this is a null hypothesis (what happens if there's nothing going on in a population, what happens in ideal circumstances).
• Allele and genotype frequencies predictions when there is no evolutionary force acting on a population.
• Selection, selection coefficients, and fitness effects.
• Calculating selection values given different relative fitness values, selection coefficient values.

Module 9 - Population Genetics II

• Genetic drift and its effects.
• Drift as a random process; not driven by adaptation or direction.
• Relationship between population size and genetic drift.
• Founder effect and its effects on genetic diversity.
• Bottlenecks and their effects.
• Recognize that nonrandom mating can cause a shift in allele frequency.
• Inbreeding and its effects.
• Inbreeding depression=reduced fitness.

Module 10 - Evolution at Multiple Loci

• Linkage disequilibrium and factors that cause it.
• Mechanisms that restore linkage equilibrium.
• Sexual reproduction.
• Adaptive significance of sex.
• Two-fold cost of sex.
• Mueller's ratchet and Red Queen hypothesis.

Module 11 - Social Selection

• Sexual selection, its relationship with natural selection.
• Understanding Bateman's principle, related to parental investment.
• Differences in parental investment and their effects on selection pressures.
• Male-male competition, sperm competition, and female choice.
• Examples of sexual selection in different animals.

Module 12 - Speciation

• Defining species concepts.
• Morphospecies concept, biological species concept, and the unified species concept.
• Identifying each species concepts strengths and weaknesses.
• Speciation mechanisms: allopatry, peripatry, parapatry, and sympatry.
• Adaptive radiation, and examples.

Test your knowledge on the patterns of evolution, including microevolution and macroevolution concepts. Explore Darwinian natural selection and how adaptations occur in species, using examples like Galapagos finches. This quiz will help reinforce your understanding of speciation and the mechanisms driving evolutionary changes.