Download 1 - AP Biology Overview

Evolution Review AP Biology CVHS
1. What was the contribution made by Linnaeus to the development of the theory of
evolution?
2. Explain the errors in Lamarck's theory of evolution.
3. What aspect of the flora and fauna of the Galapagos did Darwin find puzzling?
4. How did the Galapagos finches form the foundation for Darwin's thinking?
5. What did Darwin mean by the phrase "descent with modification"?
6. State the observations and inferences which form the theory of natural selection.
7. Explain how natural selection is really the environment acting on inherited
variations.
8. What is the mechanism of evolution?
9. Describe how the Galapagos finches were used as an example of natural selection.
10. Comment on each of the following observable signs (i.e., evidence) of evolution:
a. biogeography
b. the fossil record
c. taxonomy
d. comparative anatomy
e. comparative embryology
f. molecular biology
11. Define the term species.
12. Suggest some cases in which the biological species does not work.
13. Why is the phrase "potential to interbreed" included in the biological species
concept?
14. Barriers to reproduction fall into the categories of prezygotic and postzygotic
barriers. Describe each of the following:
i. Prezygotic barriers: prezygotic barriers, habitat isolation,
behavioral isolation, temporal isolation, mechanical isolation,
gametic isolation
ii. Postzygotic barriers: reduced hybrid viablity, reduced hybrid
fertility, hybrid
breakdown
15. Identify and give an example of the two major types of speciation.
16. What conditions favor allopatric speciation?
17. Many plant species have arisen by sympatric speciation by means of
autopolyploidy or allopolyploidy. Explain.
18. Define and explain adaptive radiation. Is there evidence for it?
19. What is adaptive divergence?
20. Explain the differences between punctuated equilibrium and gradualism?
21. Why is it that only inherited changes are important in evolution?
22. State the difference between a population and a species.
23. State the difference between the terms gene pool and genetic structure.
24. Write the Hardy-Weinberg equation and explain how it can used.
25. What is Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?
26. Explain each of the five conditions which must be met for Hardy-Weinberg
equilibrium to be maintained?
27. Define microevolution and explain how each of its five causes contribute to it.
28. Explain both the bottleneck effect and the founder effect.
29. What are the genotypic and phenotypic results of inbreeding?
30. What is meant by assortative mating? What is its effect on microevolution? Do
humans display assortative mating?
31. Explain the two ways by which genetic variation be generated.
32. Each of the following is a means by which genetic variation can be maintained:
diploidy, heterozygote advantage, hybrid vigor, frequency-dependant selection.
Explain each.
33. Define Darwinian fitness and relative fitness.
34. Identify the fallacy in referring to natural selection as "survival of the fittest," and
why we should, instead, refer to Darwinian fitness or relative fitness.
35. Does selection act on an organism's genotype or phenotype?
36. How are maladaptive alleles (alleles with a negative effect) preserved in the gene
pool?
37. Explain stabilizing, directional, and disruptive selection and give an example of
conditions under which each might occur.
38. What is sexual selection? What is its effect on microevolution? Do humans
practice sexual selection?
39. Explain the error in thinking of evolution as fashioning "perfect" organisms. What
determines whether a trait will increase or decrease in a population?
40. What is a hybrid zone, how are hybrid zones formed and why are hybrid zones
maintained?
41. What is a probiont and why are they potentially important to life on earth?
42. Describe radioactive dating and half-life. Use a graph in your description.
43. Using section 25.3, describe the key event’s in life’s history.
44. Describe the adaptive radiation that occurred after the Cretaceous extinction.
Why did mammals become the dominant organism at this time in Earth’s history?
45. What are Homeotic (Hox) genes and why are they important to the evolution of
organisms on earth?