08 Oct Natural Selection and Artificial Selection Discussion

Natural Selection and Artificial Selection Discussion

1. Compare and contrast natural selection and artificial selection. Give an example of each type of selection.

 

2. A large community of rattlesnakes, from El Paso, Texas, is separated into two groups, Group A and Group B. Group A is taken 46 miles northwest to Las Cruces, New Mexico. Group B goes 712 miles north to Estes Park, Colorado. Which of the two groups, Group A or Group B, will undergo more adaptive changes to survive? In your own words, explain your choice (i.e., your answer).

 

3. What are adaptations?

 

 4. Describe three requirements for natural selection to occur.

 

5. Compare and contrast analogous characteristics (features) and homologous characteristics (features). Give an example of each type of characteristics.

 

6. Over evolutionary time, many cave-dwelling organisms have lost their eyes. Tapeworms have lost their digestive systems. Whales have lost their hind limbs. How can natural selection account for these losses?

 

 7. Both ancestral birds and ancestral mammals shared a common ancestor that was terrestrial. Today, penguins (which are birds) and seals (which are mammals) have forelimbs adapted for swimming. Which process (i.e., homology or analogy) best describes the relationship of the bones in the forelimbs of penguins and seals, and which process (i.e., homology or analogy) best describes the flippers of penguins and seals? Explain your answers.

 

8. Currently, two extant elephant species (X and Y) are placed in the genus Loxodonta, and a third species (Z) is placed in the genus Elephas. Assuming this classification reflects evolutionary relatedness, which of the following is the most accurate phylogenetic tree? Explain your answer.

 

 A) B) C) D)

 

9. If organisms A, B, and C belong to the same class but to different orders, and if organisms D, E, and F belong to the same order but to different families, which of the following pairs of organisms would be expected to show the greatest degree of structural homology? Explain your answer.

 

A) A and B B) A and C

 

C) B and D D) D and F

 

10. What are sister taxa? Give an example to support your answer.

 

11. What is convergent evolution? Give an example to support your answer.

 

12. Which kingdom has been replaced with two domains? Give an example of each resulting domains.

 

 13. Why don’t similar genotypes always produce the same phenotype?

 

14. Which of the following consistently improves the degree to which organisms are well suited for life in their environment? Explain how this process or mechanism works.

 

 A) adaptation B) natural selection

 

C) gene flow D) genetic drift

 

15. What is a population in biology? Give an example of a biological population.

 

16. What is the founder effect? Give an example of this evolutionary process.

 

17) Explain the process of speciation. Give an example of this process.

 

 18. Compare and contrast sympatric and allopatric speciation. Give an example each type of speciation.

 

19. Why are sedimentary rocks considered the most abundant source of fossil evidence?

 

20. Why is the addition of oxygen considered an event that stimulated the rapid development of eukaryotes?

 

21. Which life form has been present on Earth the longest? Give an example of this life form.

 

22. What is exaptation? Give an example of an