BIO 181 Fall 2013
Lamphere
Lecture objectives
Lecture 2

Understand scientific inquiry and the culture of science

Become familiar with the scientific method, and explain why it’s circular rather than linear

Understand the difference between discovery science and hypothesis-driven science, and the
relative strengths of each.

Describe the differences between the two main approaches to hypothesis-driven science:
observational and experimental studies. Given a research hypothesis, be able to design a study
to test it using each approach.

Learn the difference between predictions, hypotheses, theories, and laws in science.

Learn how to identify dependent and independent variables.

Terminology: control group, treatment group, replication, null hypothesis, alternative
hypothesis
Lecture 3

Describe the distinction between “microevolution” and “macroevolution,” and provide an
argument why the two terms aren’t so different.

Describe how evolutionary fitness differs from the non-science term “fitness,” and explain why
that distinction matters.

Explain how previous scientific thought influenced Darwin’s thinking. Give an example of an
earlier idea that conflicted with Darwin’s ideas, and an example of an earlier idea that supported
his hypothesis.

Distinguish Lamarck’s hypothesis of evolution via acquired characters from Darwinian evolution
via innate characters. Design an experiment that would test whether a trait exhibited
Lamarckian or Darwinian evolution.

List the lines of evidence Darwin used to support his hypothesis of evolution through natural
selection.

Terminology: trait, variation, artificial selection, natural selection
Lecture 4

List Darwin’s 4 postulates and explain how they result in evolution by natural selection (ENS)
BIO 181 Fall 2013
Lamphere

Identify the important structures on a chromosome and describe how they transmit genetic
information: allele, locus, gene, DNA, nucleic acid

Explain why Mendelian inheritance, rather than blending inheritance, of traits is essential for
evolution through natural selection to occur.

List three or more common misconceptions about evolution, and explain how each is mistaken.

Terminology: homologous, homozygous, heterozygous, dominant, recessive, evolutionary
tradeoff
Lecture 5

Explain how the absence of one or more of Darwin’s postulates would affect a population’s
potential to evolve via natural selection

Discuss how evolution might occur in the absence of selection, and how selection might occur
without causing evolution.

Explain how new genetic variation arises in a population, and why it is essential for adaptation.

Mutation is rare. It also accounts for all the genetic variation we see in living organisms. Form an
argument to explain that apparent contradiction.

Terminology: genotype, phenotype, meiosis, mitosis, pleiotropy, epistasis
Lecture 6

Compare and contrast directional, disruptive, and stabilizing selection. Explain why stabilizing
selection is so common most of the time in most environments.

Explain how random genetic drift causes genetic variation to decline over time.

Describe the impact of each evolutionary mechanism on genetic variation and fitness in a
population. Apply a real example that demonstrates each mechanism.

Given information about the traits of a population, calculate the allele and genotype frequencies
of a population.

List the conditions for Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, and explain why it represents the null
hypothesis for evolution.

Terminology: tradeoffs, bottleneck, founder effect, allele frequency (contrast with genotype
frequency)
Lecture 7
BIO 181 Fall 2013
Lamphere

Explain why Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is useful even though natural populations rarely meet
all of its assumptions.

List the main types of evidence for microevolution and macroevolution.

Describe the Biological Species Concept, and consider its advantages and disadvantages.

Understand the role of reproductive isolation in speciation, and why the viability of hybrids is an
important criterion.

Terminology: homology, homologous structures, convergent evolution, biogeography
Lecture 8

Understand the importance of reproductive isolation and reinforcement for speciation under
the Biological Species Concept

Describe the key steps in reproduction from attraction to offspring, and give examples of
reproductive isolation occurring at each step

Distinguish allopatric and sympatric speciation, and understand the evolutionary mechanisms
that cause them.

Explain how selection, along with other evolutionary forces, can cause rapid divergence and
speciation

Understand how gene flow and hybridization can work against reproductive isolation to re-unite
lineages

Terminology: pre-zygotic reproductive isolation, post-zygotic reproductive isolation,
reinforcement, adaptive radiation
Lecture 9

Animal behavior, population ecology, community ecology, and ecosystem ecology all study the
responses of biological entities to their environment. How are they related to one another, and
how do they differ?

List Tinbergen’s four questions for animal behavior. Which are proximal and which are ultimate?
Create examples that would apply to each of them.

Discuss how animals’ physical/ sensory capacities and evolutionary history can affect how well
they respond to new stimuli.
BIO 181 Fall 2013
Lamphere

Explain how mating systems, sexual dimorphism, and parental care are connected. Describe the
ecological conditions that promote different strategies for reproduction in the animal kingdom.

Terminology: proximal, ultimate, signal, communication, fixed action pattern, imprinting,
learning, monogamy, polygamy
Lecture 10

Discuss the hypotheses of direct and indirect mate choice by females we considered in class.
Explain why the male traits females use to select mates are often honest indicators of male
fitness. Describe the potential extinction risk of for populations if the “sexy sons” hypothesis
explains female choice.

List the four vital rates and how they affect population size.

Compare exponential and logistic growth, and explain how their different assumptions cause
them to make different predictions about a population over the long term. Give examples of
situations where each might apply.

Understand the essential role of density dependence in controlling population size. Give
examples of density-dependent mechanisms.

Interpret plots of birth and death rates to determine whether a population is growing
exponentially, growing logistically, shrinking, or at equilibrium.

Terminology: carrying capacity, births versus birth rate versus “per capita” birth rate
Lecture 11

Review differences between births and deaths (B, D) and birth and death rates (b,d). Interpret
plots of b and d to predict the course of a population.

Assess the costs and benefits of censuses and samples. Understand the principles behind batch
and individual mark-recapture.

Describe an ecological niche. Explain how the idea of a niche can be used to illustrate the
resource overlap for two species.

Terminology: recapture, fundamental niche, realized niche
Lecture 12

Describe how species interactions may be positive, negative, or neutral for each party. Explain
how one can use an experiment to measure the net impact of one species on the other. Give an
example of each combination.
BIO 181 Fall 2013
Lamphere

Discuss how competition between species can affect their population density, their behavior,
and their evolutionary path. Explain why resource partitioning is common when closely related
species live in the same place.

Distinguish among the types of +/- interactions we named in class– predation, parasitism, and
herbivory. Use a real example of an evolutionary arms race to explain how predators and their
prey coevolve.

Terminology: predation, competition, herbivory, parasitism, commensalism, mutualism,
producer, consumer, competitive exclusion
Lecture 13

Identify potential indirect effects in a simple food web. Distinguish between apparent
competition and mutualism and direct competition and mutualism.

Explain how trophic chains and webs differ, and why greater trophic complexity reflects natural
systems more closely.

List the criteria used to compare the species diversity of two communities.

List the effects of species diversity on the productivity, stability, and resilience of a community.
Compare the impact of species diversity versus genetic diversity within populations and versus
functional diversity in an ecosystem.

Define an ecosystem and some of the important physical laws that control the structure of an
ecosystem.

Terminology: species richness, evenness, detritivore, decomposer
Lecture 14

Describe the role of decomposers in an ecosystem, and explain how they allow chemicals to
cycle, rather than flow.

Explain how the flow of energy accounts for the “10% rule” of ecological pyramids. Where does
the other energy go?

Describe the four major biogeochemical cycles. Identify the major reservoirs and pathways for
each in the environment. Discuss how human activity can alter each cycle.

Explain how CO2 and other gases cause the greenhouse effect and alter the climate. Evaluate
the different lines of evidence we are using to test the hypothesis that the greenhouse effect
can cause large shifts in biological communities.

Terminology: fixation, groundwater, surface water, excretion, nitrification, ammonia, phosphate
BIO 181 Fall 2013
Lamphere
Lecture 15

List the physical properties that determine climate, and describe how they contribute to
terrestrial and aquatic biomes.

Compare the structure and function of terrestrial and aquatic biomes. Identify similarities and
differences in their responses to the abiotic factors that influence them. How do they vary in
productivity and diversity?

Explain how disturbances and succession contribute to the identity and diversity of species
present in a location.

Terminology: temperature, precipitation, latitude, biome, littoral, neritic, benthic, pelagic,
oligotrophic, eutrophic
Lecture 16
 List the shared characteristics of living things. Form an argument why viruses are or are
not alive.
 Discuss how structure and function interact in living things. Explain how natural
selection connects the two.
 Contrast taxonomy and phylogeny. Describe the tools each uses to form a tree of life,
and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each.
 Read a phylogeny and distinguish between monophyletic, paraphyletic, and polyphyletic
groups.
 Contrast homology and analogy. Understand why analogous structures make forming
clear phylogenies more difficult.
 Draw the tree of life at the broadest scales (Domain and Kingdom). Identify the features
that distinguish Kingdoms from one another.
 Terminology: sister taxa, basal taxon, parsimony, ancestral, derived
Lecture 17
 Review phylogenetic trees and distinguish monophyletic, paraphyletic, and polyphyletic
trees. Identify the common ancestor of existing species and explain what happens to
those species (the “Beetle to Camry” analogy).
BIO 181 Fall 2013
Lamphere
 Describe the early Earth environment in which life is thought to have originated. Explain
how life altered the environment over time and created opportunities for other life
forms.
 List the key steps involved in the transition from an abiotic to a biotic form. Discuss the
evidence for each step.
 Distinguish prokaryote and eukaryote cells. Explain how a eukaryote could evolve from a
prokaryote and evaluate the evidence we have for that hypothesis.
 Terminology: vesicle, endosymbiosis
Lecture 18
 Describe the differences between the three domains of organisms, and explain how
they are thought to be related.
 Explain what the “fourfold cost of sex” means, and provide hypotheses for why sex is so
common in Eukaryotes.
 Compare and contrast the life cycles of the Kingdoms within Eukarya. Identify the
distinction between stages, and which stages are multicellular in each.
 Terminology: prokaryote, eukaryote, meiosis, fertilization,
Lecture 19
 Describe the key features of Kingdom “Protista,” and explain why we put that term in
quotes.
 Describe how Animals, Fungi, and Plants are related. Identify the characteristics that
separate them, and explain how those traits affect their roles in the ecosystem.
 Explain how Protists and Fungi played important roles in the evolution of Plants and
Animals.
 Terminology: parthenogenesis, mycelia, hyphae, mycorrhizae, tissue, larva,
metamorphosis, radial symmetry, bilateral symmetry
Lecture 20
 Describe the key features that distinguish Animal phyla, and explain how they relate to
how they “make a living” and the specialization of tissues.
BIO 181 Fall 2013
Lamphere
 Describe the Cambrian explosion and how it affected today’s animal diversity.
 List the distinctive characters of all Chordates, and explain why many Chordates seem to
lack those characters as adults.
 Invertebrates and chordates both colonized land. Compare and contrast the terrestrial
adaptations of chordate classes with those we discussed for the invertebrate phyla.
 Give at least two examples of plant-animal interactions that greatly influenced the
dominant forms of life on Earth. Explain how herbivory and mutualisms influenced the
evolution of plants and animals.
 Terminology: diploblastic, triploblastic, coelom, endoderm, ectoderm, mesoderm,
segmentation, Hox gene, exoskeleton, protostome, deuterostome, amniotic egg,
tetrapod, homeothermy
Lecture 21
 Discuss how land plants are grouped based on vascular tissue and seeds (you should
know common names and general traits for each group). Explain how the innovative
traits for each group affected its ability to survive in a terrestrial environment.
 Discuss the evolutionary advantages of seeds over other means of reproduction (eg,
spores).
 Describe the structure and function of the three basic organs in plants.
 Define pollination, and describe the abiotic and biotic means by which pollination
occurs. Compare the adaptations plants have to encourage pollination versus seed
dispersal.
 Hypothesize why close relationships between angiosperms and pollinators have
evolved. How is the relationship like a transaction, with each paying a cost and getting a
benefit in return?
 Terminology: pollen, ovule, xylem, phloem, stomata
Lecture 22
 Describe the elements and nutrients plants require and how they acquire them.
BIO 181 Fall 2013
Lamphere
 Explain how the physical properties of water and solutes affect the balance of water
within cells and the transport of water and nutrients throughout the body.
 Describe the physical properties that affect the efficiency of respiratory structures. Use
Fick’s law of diffusion to describe what characteristics tend to increase the rate of
exhange, and which reduce the rate.
 Describe how root pressure and transpiration work together to cause water to flow
upward in xylem. Explain how the flow of sugars and other elements in phloem differs
from the flow in xylem.
 Terminology: cellular respiration, cohesion, osmosis, diffusion, solvent, solute, xylem,
phloem, stomata, gas exchange, surface area
Lecture 23
 Explain why respiratory systems are necessary for most animals and also why some
animals have no respiratory system.
 Describe the physical properties that affect the efficiency of respiratory structures.
 Compare and contrast the respiratory structures found in animals. Analyze the
suitability for the respiratory structures for the habitat and activity level of some major
animal taxa.
 Describe the role of hemoglobin in animal respiration. Explain why hemoglobin is able to
pick up oxygen in the lungs and release it in the tissues.
 Terminology: cutaneous respiration, gills, lungs, tracheal tube, countercurrent
exchange, positive pressure, negative pressure, alveoli, diaphragm, air sacs
Lecture 24
 Describe the function of the circulatory system and list some of the molecules it
transports.
 List the types of circulatory systems and explain how they differ in their structure and
function.
 Trace the path of blood through a vertebrate circulatory system from the heart to
lungs/gills to tissues and back. Explain how the heart pumps blood throughout the body.
BIO 181 Fall 2013
Lamphere
 Birds and mammals have efficient systems for respiration and circulation. Describe the
specialized tissues and systems they have, and why they are so efficient.
 Terminology: one-circuit, two-circuit circulation, ventricle, atrium, vein, artery, capillary
Lecture 25
 Review respiratory and circulatory systems, and how they vary among the major
vertebrate groups.
 Explain how we can use traits from the skeleton, muscles, and intestinal tract to
determine the diet of an animal.
 Identify the major nutrients in an animal’s diet, and how each class of nutrients is used
in the body. Explain why certain fats are harmful while others are largely beneficial.
 Describe how the body regulates its energy supply using insulin and glucagon. Explain
how diabetes interrupts that system.
 Identify and contrast three diseases related to nutritional deficit or dysfunction.
 Terminology: homeotherm, poikilotherm, leptin, glucagon, essential nutrient, protein,
carbohydrate, lipid
Lecture 26
 Explain how feedback loops regulate the state of living things. Explain why regulation is
often expensive.
 Describe a regulatory process in each of the major systems we’ve studied—respiratory,
circulatory, and digestive. List several chemical and physical properties of their bodies
that organisms regulate. Give an example of neural and hormonal control.
 Terminology: negative feedback loop, hormonal control, neural control