*macroevolution

Question 1

An organisms ability to multiply depend largely on what?

Answer 1

• availability of resources (food, water, shelter, and space).
• as population size increases, access to resources decreases, and the environment will ultimately prove inadequate.

Question 2

Define adaptive radiation

Answer 2

a process in which organisms diversify rapidly into a multitude of new forms, particularly when a change in the environment makes new resources available, creates new challenges and opens environmental niches.

Question 3

A species, or group of species, will diverge into as many variations as two factors will allow. what 2 factors?

Answer 3

1) its adaptive potential

2) the adaptive opportunities of the available niches

Question 4

The rapid expansion of placental mammals during the late Mesozoic and throughout the Cenozoic(hominids) is an example of what?

Answer 4

adaptive radiation

Question 5

Why was the worldwide major extinction event at the end of the Cenozoic a good thing for small-bodied, mostly nocturnal mammals?

Answer 5

The extinction left thousand of eco niches vacant as the dinosaurs became extinct, with no competition the small mammals were free to move into the previously occupied habitats.

-example of major adaptive radiation

Question 6

Explain generalized characteristics and specialized characteristics

Answer 6

these two terms refer to the adaptive potential of a particular trait.

• a trait that’s adapted for many functions is said to be generalized.
• one that’s limited to a narrow set of functions is said to be specialized.