Download Chapter 18: Darwin and the Theory of Evolution

Test II Study guide
Hopefully you have recognized the value of the online copies of the PowerPoint
presentations by now and have reconciled them with your class notes and the information
in the text.
Chapter 18: Darwin and the Theory of Evolution
The function of this chapter is to expose history and lay the groundwork for chapter 19.
Try to approach it in a conceptual way. What information was out there? How did that
information compel Darwin to believe in the descent with modification story? There are
lots of vocabulary words, to be sure, but I’d recommend trying to see the bigger picture.
In understanding contributing factors you will become familiar with the vocabulary.
Be able to list some of the worldviews that changes after Darwin’s work (Table 18.1).
Know the contributions that paleontology gave to shaping Darwin’s conclusions.
What is the idea of “inheritance of acquired characteristics” about?
Who was its major proponent?
Catastrophism? Sedimentation?
What is uniformitarianism?
How did it support Darwin’s theories regarding descent with modification?
What evidence of this (uniformitarianism and Descent with modification)
did Darwin see during his voyage?
Be able to discuss rudimentary principles of biogeography and give examples.
Understand the concepts of natural selection and adaptation.
What are the five fundamental principles that underlie this theory?
What is the difference between natural selection and artificial selection?
What lines of evidence does the fossil record provide in support for evolution?
Fossil record? Strong points/weak points
Support from biogeographical data?
Anatomical evidence? Homologous characters? Analogous characters?
Biochemical evidence?
You may wish to use the information on pages 298-300
for organizing/reviewing the chapter content.
Chapter 19: Now that we have learned about genes, how does evolution work?
The material in this chapter lends itself well to the production of an outline. You might
find it helpful to organize this information in such a manner.
What is the importance of the Hardy-Weinberg Law?
Population? Gene pool? Microevolution vs. macroevolution? What is evolution, anyway?
How is industrial melanism related to microevolution?
What are the causes of microevolution?
Be able to discuss the effects of mutation, gene flow, non-random mating, and genetic
drift.
Factors which influence allele frequencies in nonrandom mating and genetic drift:
Genetic bottleneck? Sexual selection and assortative mating?
What are the three types of selection? How does each affect the phenotype of the
population?
What is the definition of a species? What kinds of reproductive isolating mechanisms did
we discuss? Be able to give examples.
Pages 316-318 have some well-prepared information. Check them out.
Chapter 20: Origin and History of life.
The function of this chapter is to give an overview of what we currently believe to be the
history of life on Earth. You are sure to see questions about the chemical-biological
theory. Your knowledge of the rest of the information will most likely be probed in a “fill
in the time line” form and a few multiple choice questions about “which came first”.
Might make for a good free expression question at the end of the test.
What are the presumed steps in the chemical-biological theory of life?
What is a fossil? Sedimentation? Strata? Relative vs. absolute dating of fossils?
How did the atmosphere change after the evolution of the Cyanobacteria?
Using Table 20.1 as a guide, be able to construct a time-line of events that focuses on the
order of events for the appearance of organisms. Pay particular attention to phrases like –
“_______ appears” or “The age of ______”. Where did mass extinctions occur? What
effect did they have on the organisms present at the time. The order of events, and
temporal distance between them is more important than memorizing the names of periods
and epochs. No need to get more detailed than the level of Era.
The summary material (358) is a good place to start and I really like the format for
“testing yourself” #11. The definitions on page 340 look useful.
Chapter 28: Classification
This is an important chapter for setting the groundwork for the material in the remaining
chapters in the unit. Plenty of vocabulary to be absorbed, but after that is done your
thrust should focus on characteristics that define taxa. This will make your review of the
rest of the material easier.
What is taxonomy? What is the binomial system? Who’s idea was it?
What are some of the difficulties encountered in classifying species?
Taxon? Common ancestor? Character?
What are the levels of organization currently in use? (Dear King Phillip…)
What is the goal of the field of systematics?
What factors aid in determining phylogenetic relationships?
(fossil record, homology data, molecular data)
Convergent evolution? Parallel evolution?
What are the five kingdoms in Whittaker’s system?
What are the three domains that have been recently been added?
What characters define each of these taxa? (fig 28.14, T28.3 and .4 give the overview)
The material at the end of the chapter is invaluable!!!
Chapter 29: Viruses, Bacteria and Archaea
Look for unique and defining characteristics!
Review the defining characters of living things. How do the viruses fit here?
Know viral structure and life cycles.
What is meant by the phrase “obligate intracellular parasite”?
Be able to describe the generalized structure of a prokaryote.
What kind of reproduction do these organisms show?
Do they exchange genetic information? By what means?
Endospore function?
Body form types?
How are the Archaeans different than the Bacteria?
Chapter 30: The Protists
There is so much material here and the organisms are so poorly understood and
organized that you should probably focus on noting innovative characters for the groups
you found most interesting (it will most likely appear as a free expression question). Here
are a few of what I feel are the most salient points.
What new features arise in the group?
What biological or economic importance do they have?
Filamentous?
Chlamydomonas have an interesting aspect to the life cycle.
What is it? Why is it important?
When would each part of the cycle be advantageous
(compare and contrast asexual and sexual reproduction)?
What is diatomaceous earth?
What is so neat about Euglena?
Phagocytosis? Pseudopods? Tests?
What is noteworthy about the Ciliates?
Sporangium?
Be able to describe features of the group you find most interesting.
The end of the chapter material might bring some of this home for you.
Chapter 31: The Fungi
This chapter is well organized. The high points are easy to see. Tag the features of the
main groups and hit the vocab and you should be fine.
What are the defining characteristics of this kingdom?
Describe the fungal body. Hyphae? Spore?
How are the members of this kingdom classified into the four main taxa?
What are those four divisions? What is the defining character for each?
Haploid? Diploid?
General features of: the Zygomycota? Example?
The Ascomycota? Examples?
The Basidiomcota? Examples?
The Dueteromycota? Examples?
Fruiting body? Ascus? Basidium?
What is a Lichen?
Chapter 32:The Plants
What are the defining characters for this group?
What are the innovations we find here?
What are the four groupings of plants that we discussed?
What characters make each different from the others?
Alternation of generations?
Why are nonvascular plants usually small?
Rhizoids? Function of antheridia? Of archegonia?
What selective advantage do they have?
Vascular plants evolved unique tissues for transport of fluid and nutrient.
What are these tissues called? What are the differences between them?
Scales? Microphylls? Rhizome? Fiddlehead?
Ferns have a dominant sporophyte and the gametophyte is a separate selfsufficient entity, this is worthy of note as it is not found too often.
Why is the ability to produce seeds important to the gymnosperms?
Why do you think that they are so successful?
Herbaceous? Woody plants? Annuals? Perennials?
Monocots? Dicots? (be able to describe some of the differences between the two)
What are the parts of a flower? What is a fruit?
How do plants attract pollinators?
Why is insect pollination more reliable than wind-borne pollination?
Endosperm?
The end of the chapter stuff is wonderful! Very succinct and to the point.