learning objectives
II. Reading Assignment €“ Chapters 23, 24, 25
Answer these while or shortly after you read the chapters.
Reading Comprehension Questions for Chapter 23

€¢ What does it mean to think scientifically?
€¢ Define species, population, biological evolution, microevolution, macroevolution
€¢ Explain how each of the following contributed to Darwin’s ideas about evolution: voyage on the Beagle, reading about ideas of Charles Lyell, reading the ideas of Jean-Baptise Lamarck, reading about ideas of Thomas Malthus and knowing Erasmus Darwin.
€¢ What is Natural Selection? State the 4 requirements for natural selection.
€¢ Why doesn’t natural selection lead to the perfect organism?
€¢ Darwin and Wallace didn’t understand a few things about evolution because they some crucial discoveries about genes hadn’t yet been made.
o What is the unit of inheritance (what gets passed down from one generation to the next)?
o What are ways that new variations of traits can arise in a population? The book discusses 4.
€¢ What are 5 lines of evidence in support of evolution? Give an example of each.
€¢ Define paralog and ortholog. Which would you find in the same species?

Reading Comprehension Questions for Chapter 24

€¢ What do population geneticists study? Describe a research study that would be considered population genetics research.
€¢ I will not ask you to remember the names of the scientists (Haldane, Fisher, Wright) who were the pioneers of population genetics.
€¢ How is population genetics related to Darwin’s theory of natural selection?
€¢ Be able to calculate allele frequencies and genotypic frequencies in a population.
€¢ What does Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium mean? What conditions/criteria must be met in order for a population to be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?
€¢ Are populations typically in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium? Why or why not?
€¢ What does each symbol in the following equation mean? p + q = 1
€¢ What does each symbol in the following equation mean? p2 + 2pq + q2 = 1
€¢ Be able to use the Hardy-Weinberg equations to solve problems.
€¢ Define microevolution. How is it different than macroevolution?
€¢ Know Table 24.1
€¢ What is Darwinian fitness? Be able to calculate it.
€¢ Does natural selection act on individuals or populations? Does evolution act on individuals or populations?
€¢ Can perfect organisms result from natural selection? Why or why not?
€¢ Explain why natural selection is not purposeful.
€¢ Define and give an example for each of the following types of natural selection: directional selection, stabilizing selection, disruptive selection, balancing selection.
€¢ How is sexual selection different than other types of selection?
€¢ Define and give examples of intrasexual selection and intersexual selection.
€¢ For many species, males are competitive and females are choosy about mates? Why might that be?
€¢ I will not ask you details about the African chichlid experiment conducted by Seehausen and van Alphen (p. 500).
€¢ Define genetic drift and explain how the bottleneck effect and the founder effect are related to genetic drift.
€¢ How is the neutral theory of evolution different than the theory of evolution by natural selection?
€¢ Explain what gene flow means? Why is it sometimes called migration?
€¢ What is non-random mating? Why would it be an important thing for conservation biologists to keep track of in a population?

Terms to Know
Species Allele Founder Effect
Population Allele Frequency Mutation
Gene Pool Balanced polymorphism Polymorphism
Phenotype Heterozygote Advantage Gene Flow
Genotype Inbreeding
Reading Comprehension Questions for Chapter 25

€¢ What is a species, according to each of the species concepts covered in your book: phylogenetic, biological, evolutionary, and ecological? What are some of the difficulties in applying each of these concepts?
€¢ What are the effects of prezygotic & postzygotic barriers on speciation? List & describe 5 examples of prezygotic barriers, & 3 examples of postzygotic barriers.
€¢ Describe the gradualism model & the punctuated equilibrium model that describe the tempo of speciation.
€¢ Distinguish between allopatric & sympatric speciation.

Terms to Know
Reproductive isolation Adaptive radiation
Hybrid sterility Allopatric speciation
Hybrid breakdown Sympatric speciation