Evolution

Question 1

Are humans special?

Answer 1

1. use of tools - gorillas and honey, dolphins with sponges
2. art - elephants can paint, birds make nests look aesthetically pleasing to attract a mate
3. farming - leafcutter ants feed termites to make them grow, jellyfish grow algae
4. morality - dogs
5. language - waggle dance

Question 2

Trait

Answer 2

any aspect of an organism that is heritable

Question 3

Communication modes

Answer 3

• olfactory
• auditory
• visual
• tactile
• electrical

Question 4

Ways to communicate

Answer 4

• vocal communication

- stridulation - rubbing together body parts

Question 5

Descent with modification

Answer 5

• Gregory Mendel
• discovered hereditary principals
• chromosome is a packaged structure of DNA
• gene - a discrete unit, a factor of inheritance
• genes can be turned on or off

Question 6

Natural selection

Answer 6

• Charles Darwin
• variation causes some individuals to survive, and others to reproduce
• slow, gradual and a non-random process
• natural selection is predictable
• leads to an underlying genotype
• e.g. English peppered moths, spotted guppies, bird

Question 7

Clade

Answer 7

• a group of species that descended from a common ancestor
• a taxonomic group of species with a common ancestor
• some organisms have traits evolved from different ancestors

Question 8

Mutations

Answer 8

• permanent changes in a DNA sequence
• rate influences by environmental factors
• specific mutations are independent of environment
• gene flow
• gene shuffling
• non-random mating

Question 9

Processes introducing variation

Answer 9

• mutation
• non-random mating - traits chosen as mates
• gene flow - aka. migration
• gene reshuffling - introducing a new gene

Question 10

Processes reducing variation

Answer 10

• natural selection

- genetic drift

Question 11

Pangenesis

Answer 11

• what we do in our life changes our hereditary particles

- modified particles travel in our blood to our reproductive organs/cells, so can therefore be inherited by offspring

Question 12

Hayes (1951)

Answer 12

• Vicki is a chimp

- developed almost like a human but no vocal communication

Question 13

Tomasello (1999)

Answer 13

• TOM - mirror recognition
• gaze detection
• seeing is knowing