1. Explain the mechanism for evolutionary change proposed by
Charles Darwin in On the Origin of Species. Correct Answers -
Decent with modification was the mechanism for evolutionary
change. He said all organisms came form a common ancestor,
over time they accumulated diverse modifications, or
adaptations, that fit them to specific ways of life.
1. Explain the statement "It is the population, not the individual,
that evolves." Correct Answers -This means that the individual
can not evolve. Evolution ahs to do with reproduction and
passing on the formatable traits though reproduction. Therefore
an individual can not change what traits they have, so the
offspring are the ones who gain the traits to survive in their
enviorment . Generations and populations can evolve the
individual can not.
1. List the characteristics that combine to define animals.
Correct Answers -Animals are multicellular, heterotrophic
eukaryotes with tissues that develop from embryonic layers.
1Briefly describe the unifying themes that characterize the
biological sciences. Correct Answers -new properties emerge at
each level in the biological hierarchy-> emergent properties,
limiatations of reductionism, system biology.
-Organisms interact with other organisms and the physical
environment
-life requires energy transfer and transformation
-structure and function are correlated at all levels of biological
organization
,-the cell is an organisms basic unit of structure and function
-the continuity of life is based on heritable information in the
form of DNA
-feedback mechanisms regulate biological systems
2. Define evolution and adaptation. Correct Answers
Evolution- decent with modification, a phrase Darwin used in
proposing earths many species are decendants of ancestral
species that were different from the present day species. It also
can be defined as a change in the genetic composition of a
population from generation to generation.
Adaptation- inherited characteristics of organisms that enhance
their survival and reproduction in specific environments.
2. Describe the role of Hox genes in animal development.
Correct Answers Hox genes regulate the formations of the
anterior-posterior (front to back) axis, as well as other aspects of
development of both flies and humans. It is a versatile "toolkit"
for regulating development.
2. Explain how Mendel's particulate hypothesis of inheritance
provided necessary support for Darwin's theory of evolution by
natural selection. Correct Answers -Thi is because mendel
wrote a paper on how genes were transmitted by parents to
offspring. It set the stage for how genetic differences based on
evolution occur.
2.Diagram the hierarchy of structural levels in biological
organization. Correct Answers -the biosphere, ecosystems,
communities, populations, organisms, organs and organ systems,
tissues, cells, organelles, molecules.
, 3. Compare and contrast Aristotle's scala naturae to Carolus
Linnaeus' classification scheme. Correct Answers Scala nature
- viewed species as unchanging. Recgonized certain affinities
among organism and concluded that life forms could be
arranged on a ladder of increasing complexitiy. Each form of
life, perfect and perminant, had its own place on the ladder.
Carolus Linnaeus - adopted a nested classification system,
grouping similar species into increasingly general categories.
Grouped in genus, family, etc. Didn't ascribe to the
resemblences among species to evolutionary kinship, but rather
their patterns of creation
3. Describe the evidence that suggests animals may have first
evolved over a half billion years ago. Correct Answers The
common ancestor of all animals shows to be around 800 million
years ago. Choanoflagellates are the clostest living relative of
animals.
3. Explain how quantitative and discrete characters contribute to
variation within a population. Correct Answers -they contribute
to variation in a population by the discrete characters being
determined by a single gene locus with different allels, to
produce different phenotypes. Quantitative characters vary along
a continuum ithin a population. Resulting in two or more genes
acting on a single phenotype giving more variation.
4. Describe the evidence of animal life in the Neoproterozoic
Era. Correct Answers The evidence of animal life were
macroscopic fossils of organisms with similar animal embryos
of present day. Also fossils were found of soft-bodied