Final Exam Study Questions
In addition to Study Questions 4-x , and SG-4, you should be able to respond to the following:
1. Describe, with examples, three lines of evidence that Darwin used to argue that that evolution had
occurred.
2. Describe Darwin’s model for evolution by natural selection.
3. Define or describe:
¾ Natural Selection
¾ Sexual Selection
¾ Fitness
¾ Genetic Drift
¾ Anagenesis
¾ Cladogenesis
¾ Outgroup Comparison
¾ Altruism
¾ Meme
4. Be able to name the five Geologic Eras and give a brief summary of the major evolutionary events
within each era.
5. How are anagenesis and cladogenesis each part of the process that has produced the "tree of life?"
6. How do sexual reproduction and polygenic inheritance interact to produce faster evolutionary
responses to environmental change than would be seen with asexual reproduction.
7. Be able to give an example of something that looks like altruism that can be explained as the product
of gene selfishness.
8. Why should individual selection (based on fitness differences among individuals) generally be
preferred over group selection (based on fitness differences among groups of organisms) as an
explanation for the evolution of a trait?
9. Consider a single gene trait with two alleles (A and a) that is selectively neutral and found in a large
population. Why don’t the frequencies of phenotypes in populations correspond to those expected
according to Mendel’s Laws ( e.g. 3:1 or 1:2:1)? What ratios are expected in natural populations?
Why?