Study Guide for Exam 1: Please remember to look through the

learning objectives for each lecture, quizzes 1 and 2, and the

in and out of class activities!
Another great resource is chapters 2 and 3 in your book.
1. An introduction to evolution and natural selection
- Be able to match observations made by Darwin and Wallace
to the correct individual and understand how these
observations supported their ideas about how species have
evolved by natural selection.
- How were Darwins ideas about evolution and natural
selection influenced by: Lamark, Lyell, Galton, Malthus, and
Wallace?
- How are Darwins ideas about the relationship between
phenotype and time similar to or different from those of
Lamark or Paley? How would you graph these differences?
- What is some of the evidence to support the idea that
organisms have changed over time? Be explicit for example
do not just write vestigial structures, you would need to be
able explain why this is evidence.
- What is some of the evidence to support the idea that
organisms share a common ancestor? Be explicit for
example do not just write developmental homology, you
would need to be able to explain why this is evidence.
- What is the difference between analogous and homologous
structures?
- Why is the idea of homology important to the concept of
model organisms used in medical research?
- What is necessary for natural selection to occur (i.e., what are
Darwins 4 postulates?)
- What was the selection pressure on medium ground finches
on Daphne Major?
- How did the Grants test whether or not bill depth was
changing in response to this selection pressure?
- What did they conclude?
- How would you determine if some of the variation in a trait
was inherited by offspring?
- How are natural and artificial selection the same? How are
they different?
- What are some of the common misconceptions about natural
selection?
- If you are given a case study like the horn lizards be able to
explain how you would test for evolution by natural selection
and how you would evaluate your data.
Another great resource is chapters 6 and 7 in your book.

2. Population genetics (i.e., the null model of HWE)

- Why is the HWE called a null model and why is it important?
- Be able to calculate genotype frequencies, allele frequencies,
predicted genotype frequencies and test whether a population
is in HWE (I would not expect you to do a chi square on the
test there is not enough time).
- Be able to calculate genotype frequencies, the selection
coefficient, average fitness, and the genotype frequencies
corrected for selection (next generation) and allele
frequencies after selection.
- How does the starting frequency influence the rate of
selection on a recessive allele over time? Why?
- How does heterozygote superiority (over-dominance)
influence allele frequencies and genetic diversity?
- What is frequency dependent selection? Under this selection
regime does genetic variation decrease or is it maintained?
- What is genetic drift?
- What HWE assumption does genetic drift violate?
- What is expected to happen to genetic diversity in the face of
genetic drift?
- Give an example of genetic drift.
- What is a population bottleneck? Why is this thought to be an
important conservation issue?
- Does the frequency of an allele influence its likelihood of
being lost in response to drift, if so, how so?
- What is a founder effect?
- How do selection and drift interact in small and large
populations?
- What is a source of new genetic variation?
- Are most mutations expected to be deleterious or beneficial?
- Compared to selection, how does mutation influence the rate
of evolutionary change?
- What is mutation selection balance?
- Under mutation selection balance are recessive or dominant
deleterious mutations expected to be maintained at a higher
frequency? Why?
We might not get to this .
- Why are Lake Erie island snake populations thought to still
have banded individuals present in the island populations?
How could you test your hypothesis?
- Does non-random mating influence allele and/or genotype
frequencies? If so, how so?
- Why does inbreeding often have negative fitness
consequences?