Study Questions - Modern Evolution
1) Distinguish between directional, stabilizing, and dispruptive selection, and give an example of each.
2) Frequency dependent selection can be negative or positive. Explain the difference, and give an example of each.
3) What is 'antagonistic peiotropy', and what effect does it have undeer different environments. Describe sickle-cell in this context.
4) Alleles that are selected against vcan be maintained in the population by several factors. Name them.
5) What is peripatric speciation, and why did Mayr believe it caused the fastest rate of evolutionary change?
6) How did Eldridge and Gould use peripatric speciation to explain the discontinuity of the fossil record (in which every intermediate in a lineage is not preserved?)
7) What did the molecular revolution reveal about the level of genetic variation in natural populations, and why can't hard selection maintain this level of variation in the genome?
8) How does soft selection differ?
9) In the past, there was some suggestion that macroevolutionary patterns (evolution of new structures) had to proceed by a differnt process than microevolutionary changes in gene frequencies. Why is this incorrect? What influences the development of a body plan, and can selection act on this? Provide an example.
10) Outline our modern model of evolution.