Study questions
The following
questions are intended as a guide to help you focus your studying. You
must, however, do more than memorize the answers to each of these questions.
You need to understand the material and be able to discuss the concepts
in your own words. Use active study techniques as much as possible (i.e.,
you must do more than just read over your answers many times). I also recommend
that you take advantage of the learning resources at the end of each chapter
in the textbook, including the associated exercises on the textbook website
(www.essentialbiology.com).
back to Study Aids
Chapter
13: How populations evolve
1. What
is evolution? What does the theory of evolution explain? How is evolution
different from the fixed species concept?
2. Be able to discuss the following influences on Darwin: the Voyage of
the Beagle, Lamarck, Lyell, Malthus, and Linnaeus.
3. Be able to list and discuss evidence to support the theory of evolution
from the following areas: biogeography, the fossil record, comparative
anatomy, comparative embryology, and molecular biology.
4. Be able to define the following terms, and discuss their role in providing
evidence for evolution and determining evolutionary relationships: homologous
structures, analogous structures, vestigial structures, convergent evolution.
5. Be able to describe the main steps/components of natural selection (i.e.,
overproduction of offspring, competition for limited resources, heritable
variation, and differential survival and reproduction) and give a real-world
example of each.
6. Define population.
7. What is the biological species concept?
8. What is a gene pool? Give an example of how local populations may have different
gene pools.
9. Define allele frequency.
10. What is the difference between microevolution and macroevolution?
11. Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is a theory that states that allele
frequencies in a population will not change from one generation
to the next if certain conditions or assumptions are met. These
assumptions are: infinite population size, no migration (no gene
flow between populations), no mutation, and no
natural selection. Be able to define and discuss these assumptions.
Explain why violating these assumptions would cause allele frequencies
to change, resulting in evolution-- that is, violations of these
assumptions are agents of evolutionary change (e.g., genetic
drift, gene flow, mutation, and natural selection).
12. How do biologists define reproductive fitness?
13. Be able to explain and give examples of the three modes of
natural selection—directional selection, stabilizing selection,
and diversifying selection.
14. Be able to explain why the misperceptions about evolution listed
in the powerpoint for Chapter 13 are incorrect.
