Exam 2: Ecology’s Evolutionary Backdrop

Some individuals make disproportionately large contributions to subsequent generations,and thus determine the direction of evolution.Which of the following would contribute to this process?

What type of evolution is described as the process whereby organisms that do not share a recent common ancestor evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments or ecological niches?

Human-caused global warming due to the greenhouse effect is ________ than postglacial warming.

Two populations of deer are found in a mountainous habitat.These two populations look very similar.Also,there is observed mating between them that results in viable offspring.Do you think that these two populations have diverged into two species?

Natural selection involves three main components.They include:

A ring species evolves due to a process of speciation that unfolds when:

You take a research trip to Australia and observe that the wombat appears to be a similar looking species to a ground hog you have studied in North America.These two species have evolved in separate,but climatically similar environments,and they have developed closely corresponding adaptive features.This is a clear example of:

You collect individuals from a species of salamanders from several localities across an elevational transect ranging from sea level to approximately 2000 meters above sea level.The salamanders collected from 2000 meters above sea level develop the fastest,whereas those from sea level and intermediate sites developed more slowly.This is an example of:

A recent examination of two geographically isolated populations of mountain sheep indicates there has been long-standing separation between the two populations.An analysis shows that the two populations are actually different species.What type of speciation likely occurred?

Which two scientists derived the theory of evolution by means of natural selection?

Which term refers to speciation where there is both an ecological source of divergent selection and a means of reproductive isolation?

You learn that two species of fish co-occurring in a lake evolved into different species because of divergent specialization on bottom- or open water - feeding behaviors.This is a remarkable example of what type of speciation?

The term _______ refers to the success of individuals in the population to leave descendants in an environment relative to others.

Evolution will force population characteristics to diverge from one another only if:

The change,over time,in the heritable characteristics of a population of species is known as _______?

There is a species of bird called the Island Scrub Jay found only on the island of Santa Cruz in the Channel Islands off the coast of California.This species of bird is thus ________ to the Channel Islands.

Speciation is ________.

The theory of evolution by means of natural selection establishes that individuals of a population of species are not __________.

Peppered moths (Biston betularia)vary in color from place to place.Is the variation within these populations heritable?

Mitochondrial DNA was used as genetic evidence to determine that two fish species in Lake Apoyo evolved as a result of a sympatric speciation process.Mitochondrial DNA is: