Evolution and Biodiversity flashcards

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What is a fossil?Evidence for Common Ancestry: A preserved trace or remain of past life.
What is relative dating?Evidence for Common Ancestry: Determining which layers or events are older or younger.
What is radiometric dating?Evidence for Common Ancestry: Estimating age from radioactive decay in suitable material.
What is a transitional feature?Evidence for Common Ancestry: A trait combination informative about change among lineages.
What is homology?Evidence for Common Ancestry: Similarity inherited from a common ancestor.
What is analogy in evolution?Evidence for Common Ancestry: Similarity due to independent evolution rather than shared origin of that feature.
What is convergent evolution?Evidence for Common Ancestry: Independent evolution of similar features in different lineages.
What does vestigial mean?Evidence for Common Ancestry: An inherited feature with a reduced or altered ancestral role.
What is molecular evidence for ancestry?Evidence for Common Ancestry: Shared informative patterns in homologous DNA or proteins.
What is biogeography?Evidence for Common Ancestry: Study of organism distributions across space and time.
What is a homologous sequence?Evidence for Common Ancestry: A sequence related to another through shared ancestry.
Does one sequence have a universal mutation rate?Evidence for Common Ancestry: No; rates vary across genes and lineages.
What is natural selection?Natural Selection: Change in heritable variants associated with differential reproductive success.
What is heritable variation?Natural Selection: Differences that can be transmitted genetically.
What is differential reproduction?Natural Selection: Some variants leave more descendants than others in a context.
Does an individual genetically evolve during a lifetime?Natural Selection: No; evolution refers to populations across generations.
What is evolutionary fitness?Natural Selection: Relative contribution to later generations in a specified environment.
What is an adaptation?Natural Selection: A heritable feature shaped by selection in its historical context.
What is a tradeoff?Natural Selection: An advantage paired with a cost under some conditions.
Is evolution a ladder toward perfection?Natural Selection: No; it is branching change under constraints.
What does an allele-frequency graph track?Natural Selection: The proportion of copies of a specified allele over time or groups.
What is a selection hypothesis?Natural Selection: A proposed link between heritable variation and reproductive differences.
Why use controls?Natural Selection: To distinguish a proposed effect from alternatives.
Does a frequency trend alone prove selection?Natural Selection: No; multiple mechanisms may produce trends.
What is allele frequency?Population Change: The share of sampled gene copies bearing a specified allele.
What is genotype frequency?Population Change: The share of individuals with a specified allele combination.
In a diploid sample of N, how many autosomal gene copies are counted?Population Change: 2N under the standard model.
What does p + q equal for two alleles?Population Change: 1.
What is genetic drift?Population Change: Random change in allele frequency from finite sampling.
What is a founder effect?Population Change: Frequency change when a small subset establishes a new population.
What is a bottleneck?Population Change: A sharp reduction in population size affecting genetic composition.
What is gene flow?Population Change: Transfer of alleles between populations through reproduction.
What is Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?Population Change: A baseline genotype-frequency model under stated simplifying assumptions.
What is expected heterozygote frequency?Population Change: 2pq in a two-allele Hardy-Weinberg model.
What is expected aa frequency?Population Change: q² in that model.
Does deviation identify one mechanism?Population Change: No; several causes can produce deviation.
What is speciation?Speciation and Phylogeny: The formation of distinct evolutionary lineages.
What is gene-flow reduction?Speciation and Phylogeny: Less exchange of alleles between populations.
What is reproductive isolation?Speciation and Phylogeny: Barriers limiting successful genetic exchange between lineages.
What is a species concept?Speciation and Phylogeny: A defined set of criteria for grouping organisms into species.
What is a phylogenetic node?Speciation and Phylogeny: A modeled common ancestor at a branching point.
What are sister groups?Speciation and Phylogeny: Lineages sharing an immediate common ancestor in a tree.
What is an outgroup?Speciation and Phylogeny: A lineage used to help root a tree.
When does branch length carry a quantity?Speciation and Phylogeny: When a scale for time or change is specified.
What is a clade?Speciation and Phylogeny: An ancestor and all descendants in a tree.
What is a shared derived trait?Speciation and Phylogeny: A homologous feature arising in an ancestor and inherited by descendants.
What can convergence do to a tree?Speciation and Phylogeny: Make unrelated lineages appear close when using one trait.
Why can gene trees differ from species trees?Speciation and Phylogeny: Different genes can have different histories.
What is taxonomy?Classifying Biodiversity: The naming and organization of biological groups.
What is binomial nomenclature?Classifying Biodiversity: A two-part species name using genus and specific epithet.
What is a genus?Classifying Biodiversity: A named group containing one or more species.
Are taxonomic ranks equal units of time?Classifying Biodiversity: No.
What are the three commonly taught domains?Classifying Biodiversity: Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya.
What is a prokaryote?Classifying Biodiversity: An organism whose cells lack a nucleus.
What is a eukaryote?Classifying Biodiversity: An organism whose cells have a nucleus.
What is endosymbiosis?Classifying Biodiversity: A long-term cellular association implicated in origins of some organelles.
What is species richness?Classifying Biodiversity: The number of species in a defined area and sample.
What is evenness?Classifying Biodiversity: How evenly individuals are distributed among species.
What is genetic diversity?Classifying Biodiversity: Variation in genetic material within a group.
What is phylogenetic diversity?Classifying Biodiversity: Breadth of evolutionary history represented by lineages.