Biology 3300: Principles of Evolution Study Guide for Midterm #2 Fall, 2012 Genetic Drift -- When we consider genetic

drift, what HW assumption is being violated? -- Define genetic drift. -- Do not memorize the binomial distribution, but be able to use it if given the equation. -- Understand how Figure 7.11 in the textbook relates to the binomial distribution. -- On average, does genetic drift increase or decrease variation in a population? Why? -- The rate of genetic drift per generation is related to what? -- Are low frequency or high frequency alleles most likely to be lost by genetic drift? -- Genetic drift reduces diversity within populations, but increases diversity between populations? Explain. -- True/False: Given a large number of populations, genetic drift will change the means frequency of alleles average across all the populations. -- Does genetic drift increase or decrease heterozygosity in a population, on average? -- What variable impacts the rate of change in heterozygosity in a population? -- Does genetic drift only impact small populations? -- What is a founder effect? How does this concept relate to genetic drift? -- What is the probability of fixation of a novel mutation? -- What is the expected average time to fixation of a novel mutation? Migration, effective population size, & inbreeding What is migration? How does migration-selection balance (as in the examples with Muscles and Water Snakes) maintain variation within populations (in words)? If gene flow is the only evolutionary force acting on a set of populations, what is the ultimate impact on genetic variance among population? Can gene flow help maintain genetic variation within popululations? T/F: migration often functions the opposite of genetic drift. Define Effective Population Size. What 3 factors discussed in class lower Ne relative to N, the census population size? T/F: In population genetics equations, N typically refers to Ne. Be able to calculate the Ne for variable population sizes or unequal numbers of males and females. Why is Ne such an important concept for population genetics theory? What is inbreeding? T/F: Inbreeding changes allele frequencies. T/F: Inbreeding changes genotype frequencies What is the impact of inbreeding on the frequency of heterozygotes within a population? Define the inbreeding coefficient, F? Compare and contast: autozygous, allozygous, homozygous, heterozygous T/F: The probability of identity by descent = the inbreeding coefficient = the probability of autozygosity Be able to calculate F from a simple pedigree 1

Given F, be able to calculate genotype frequencies if given the equation What is inbreeding depression? Why do we care about it? What are four ways by which animals or plants avoid inbreeding in nature (discussed in class)? Genetic Diversity and Population Structure: What is population structure? What are the causes of genetic differentiation? Why is population differentiation like inbreeding? Why is it NOT inbreeding? What is FST? What is the impact of migration (m) on patterns of population structure? Be able to calculate Fst, and interpret the results What is the One migrant per generation rule? Forms of Selection Compare and contrast Directional selection, purifying selection, balancing selection. How does heterogeneity in space and time maintain diversity? Give an example. What kind of selection is balancing selection? Explain negative frequency dependent selection. Give an example. What kind of selection is Overdominance? Underdominance? Negative FDS? How do self incompatability loci work in plants? Why are negative Frequency Dependent selection and Heterogeneity in Space and Time types of Balancing Selection? What are two examples of negative FDS? How does the balance between selection and gene flow maintain genetic diversity? Genetic Diversity in natural populations When was the theory of population genetics developed (roughly)? When was the struture of DNA first identified, and by whom? Compare and contrast the ideas of the Classic and Balance Schools. What are the major tenets of the classic school? Of the Balance school? What is purifying selection? How do the Neutral School and the Selectionists relate to the classic and balance schools of old? What is genetic load? What is protein electrophoresis (allozymes)? What is the neutral theory? What is the nearly neutral theory? Sexual Selection: What is Sexual Dimorphism? Compare and contrast natural selection and sexual selection. What is Batemans principle? What is Batemans Gradient? Members of the sex subject to strong sexual selection will ________________ for mates. Members of the sex subject to weak sexual selection will be __________________. Are females always the choosier sex? What is intersexual selection? What is sperm competition? Is it intersexual, or intrasexual, selection? Why do male lions commonly commit infanticide? Why is the rock-paper-scissor game in the Side-blotched lizard an example of negative 2

frequency dependent selection and sexually selected alternative male mating strategies? Compare & Contrast Intrasexual and Intersexual Selection. What sorts of characters does male-male competition explain? What is female choice? What is the good genes model of female choice? How does one test the good genes model? What are direct benefits with respect to female choice? How would one test this model? What is sensory bias? How does one test for sensory bias? What is Chase-away sexual selection? How was this tested for using Drosophila? Quantitative Genetics: Understand the distinction between Mendelian and Continuous variation. Compare and contrast the biometricians vs. the Mendelians. What theretician is credited with uniting these two schools of thought? Understand how Easts experiment showed that continous variation in traits can be formed from Mendelian genetics. Does the environment influence the phenotype? What is Variance? What does it measure? What does it mean to have high or low Variance? What does this mean: VP = VG + VE What are the three kinds of Genetic Variation? Which is heritable? Why are the other two forms not heritable? Understand the limitations of heritability Given these limitations, why do we care about heritability? Describe epistasis. If given a table as was given in lecture for wing length in the butterfly Danaus chryssipus, be able to spot obvious epistasis. Compare and contrast the three kinds of environmental variance: Environmental effects, maternal effects, and developmental noise. Understand how the shell coiling example illustrates a maternal effect. Compare and contrast Broad sense and Narrow sense heritability which one predicts the response to selection? How is parent offspring regression interpretted? What are some problems with the method? How would one remove a shared environmental correlation between parents and offspring? Using parent-offspring regression, how might one control for maternal effects without crossfostering? What is a norm of reaction? What is genotype by environment interaction? Is heritability an environment-dependent measure? Why might heritability differ between populations? If h2 is zero, does this mean that the trait is not genetically determined? Define the selection differential, S What is the response to selection (R)? How does the breeders equation work (R =h2S)? Be able to use it! What is a selection gradient? Compare and contrast directional, stabilizing, and disruptive selection. Compare and contrast a fitness landscape (sometimes called a fitness surface) and an adaptive landscape. What is correlational selection? Why is the garter snake example, given in class, an example of correlational selection? 3

What is a correlated response to selection? What are the two causes of a correlated response to selection? What is linkage disequilibrium? Be able to calculate it. What is pleiotropy? T/F: Linkage disequalibrium decays relative to the recombination rate, r. T/F: The recombination rate between different chromosomes is 0.5, while the rate within a chromosome is < 0.5. T/F: Linkage disequilibrium always refers to loci that are linked on the same chromosome. How is beak evolution in Darwins finches an example of a correlated response to selection? Adaptation Describe how the term adaptation used as both a pattern and a process. How are adaptations studied? How do these approaches relate to pattern and process? How might the different approaches lead to different conclusions? Be able to design an experiment that tests an adaptive hypothesis. Understand the experimental work on Zonosemata vittigera (the tephridi fly), the observational work on Thamnophis elegans (Terrestrial Garter Snakes) and Dipsosaurus dorsalis (Desert Iguana), and the comparative method work on Megachiropteran bats. What is independent contrasts? Why are interspecific comparisons without a phylogenetic correction (e.g. Independent contrasts) violating statistical assumptions? How can a phylogeny alone inform us about adaptation (hint: think of bird feathers)? What is exaptation, otherwise known as a pre-adaptation. Why do we have to be careful about using this latter word? What is phenotypic plasticity? Give an example. Define Norm of Reaction and Genotype by Environment Interaction Can a norm of reaction evolve? What is developmental plasticity? What is an evolutionary constraint? What are physical constraints, selective constraint, tradeoffs, genetic constraints, and developmental constraints? Understand the Begonia involucrata example of a trade-off, the Ophraella example of a genetic constraint, and the frog/salamander toe example of a developmental constraint.