BIO 160 2nd Lecture Exam Reviewer
Chapter 06 – Evolution and Ecology
Case study: Trophy hunting and inadvertent evolution
 Bighorn sheep – males with large curl of horns to
battle over the right to mate with female
 Trophy hunting removes the largest and strongest
males (that would tend to sire large numbers of
healthy offspring)
 Ave size of males and ave size of horns decreased
“Evolution can be viewed as genetic change over time or as a
process of decent with modification”
Evolution: change in organisms over time
 Small fluctuations – genetic makeup of popln change
 Larger changes – species become increasingly diff from
ancestors
Evolution is allele frequency change (genetic changes)
 Evolution as change over time in the frequencies
(proportions) of different alleles in a population
 Ex. Average horn size of male bighorn sheep decreased
over time – horn size is a heritable trait. Trophy hunting
selectively eliminate rams with large horns, it favors rams
whose genetic characteristics lead to pdtn of small horns
Evolution is descent with modification
 Populations accumulate differences over time, a new
species forms, it differs and resembles its ancestors
 Descent (shared ancestry, result to shared characteristics)
and modification (differences)
 Used by Charles Darwin to summarize the evolutionary
process in The Origin of Species
o Natural Selection: process by which individuals
w certain heritable characteristics survive and
reproduce more successfully than other
individuals because of these characteristics
o ex. Populations of rock pocket mice that live on
dark lava formations have dark coats, while
nearby populations that live on light-colored
rocks have light coats
o by favoring individuals with diff heritable
characteristics in diff populations, natural
selection can cause populations to diverge
genetically – each population will accumulate
more genetic differences
Populations evolve, not individuals
 individuals with favored traits leave more offspring
 greater proportion of individuals in the population will have
traits favored by natural selection
 cause the allele frequencies of the population to change
over time
“Natural selection, genetic drift, and gene flow can cause allele
frequencies in a population to change over time.”
Mechanisms of Evolution
(1) Mutation – change in the DNA of a gene
 individuals differ from one another because they have
different alleles of genes that influence their phenotype
 mutation result from copying errors during cell division,
mechanical damage when molecules and cell structures
collide with DNA, exposure to mutagens, exposure to high-
energy forms of radiation (UV light and X-rays)
 allele frequencies cannot possibly change over time unless
the individuals in a population differ genetically
 mutation provide raw material for evolution
 happens too rarely; weak agent of allele frequency change
(2) Natural selection - Individuals with particular heritable
traits consistently leave more offspring than do individuals
with other heritable traits
 Only under certain environmental conditions
3 types:
 Directional selection
o Individuals with one extreme of a heritable
phenotypic trait (ex. Large size) are favored over
other individuals (small & medium-sized)
o Ex. As a result of drought in Galapagos
archipelago, most seeds were large and hard to
crack, so birds (Seed-eating medium ground
finch; Geospiza fortis) with large beaks had
advantage over birds with smaller beaks
 Stabilizing selection
o Individuals with intermediate phenotype are
favored
o Ex. Eurosta flies parasitize goldenrod plants,
causing the plants to produce a gall in wc the fly
larva matures as it feeds on the plant. Wasps
that parasitize and kill the fly larvae prefer small
galls, while birds that eat fly larvae prefer large
galls. Thus, larvae in galls of intermediate size
have an advantage
 Disruptive selection
o Individuals with phenotype at either extreme are
favored
o Ex. African seedcrackers depend on 2 major food
plants. Birds with smaller mandible size can feed
on one plant’s soft seeds most efficiently, while
birds with larger mandible can feed on other
plant’s hard seeds most efficiently.
 Alleles that encode a favored phenotype can increase in
frequency
o Ex. Andean goose which live high in the Andes –
evolved a version of oxygen transport protein
hemoglobin with unusually high affinity for
oxygen and provides an advantage in their low-
oxygen,high-altitude environment
 Fixation: allele at a frequency of 100%
(3) Genetic drift – chance events affect which alleles are
passed from one generation to the next
 Alter frequencies significantly over short periods only in
small populations
4 related effects on evolution in small populations:
a. Cause allele frequencies to fluctuate randomly in
small populations over time. When this occurs, some
alleles disappear from the population, while other
reach fixation.
b. By causing alleles to be lost from a population, genetic
drift reduces the genetic variation of the population,
making individuals more similar genetically.  reduce
capacity of populn to evolve in response to changing
environment
c. Can increase the frequency of a harmful allele 
hinder ability of members to survive/reproduce
 d. Can increase genetic differences between populations
bc chance events may cause an allele to reach
fixation in one population, and be lost from another.
 Ex. Greater praire chicken in Illinois – habitat converted to
farmlands; failed to hatch (fixation of harmful alleles)
(4) Gene flow: alleles are transferred from one population to
another via the movement of individuals or gametes
2 important effects:
 By transferring alleles between populations, tends to make
populations more similar to one another genetically
 Can introduce new alleles into a population
 Ex. Mosquito Culex pipiens was not resistant to
organophosphate insecticide, transmits West Nile virus and
other diseases. Mosquitoes carrying alleles with resistance
to organophosphate insecticides were blown by
storms/transported accidentally by humans. Bred with
mosquitoes from local populations.
“Natural selection is the only evolutionary mechanism that
consistently causes adaptive evolution.”
Adaptive evolution (/adaptation)
 Process of change in wc traits that confer survival or
reproductive advantages tend to increase in frequency over
time
 Increase the effectiveness of an adaptation that selection
acts on, causing match between organisms and
environments to improve over time.
 Ex. Change in population of soapberry bugs (Jadera
haematoloma) – insects that use needle-like beak to feed
on seeds located within fruits. Fed on seeds of the balloon
vine (native host) but these are rare so instead fed on the
goldenrain tree
o Soapberry bugs feed most efficiently when length
of bug’s beak matches depth to which it must
pierce a fruit to reach the seeds. Goldenrain tree
fruits are smaller than balloon vine fruits.
o Result to change in beak length accdg to fruit
size
 “rapid” evolution may be the norm, not exception
 Clines: patterns of change in a characteristic of an
organism over a geographic region
 Observed changes due to:
o Phenotypic plasticity: single genotype
produces diff phenotypes in diff environments
o Evolutionary response: genetic constitution of
the population changes over time
o Or both
Adaptations are not perfect – does not result in perfect match
between organism and environment because environment is not
static.
Number of constraints on adaptive evolution:
 Lack of genetic variation – no beneficial allele
 Evolutionary history – modify traits already present
 Ecological trade-offs – ability to perform one function
reduces the ability to perform another; adaptations present
compromises in the abilities of organisms to perform many
diff functions
“Long-term patterns of evolution are shaped by large-scale
processes such as speciation, mass extinction, and adaptive
radiation.”
Speciation: process by wc one species splits into 2/more species
 When a barrier (geographic/ecological) prevents gene flow
 Genetic drift and natural selection leads to evolution of
reproductive barriers
 Gene flow slows down/prevent speciation
Evolutionary history: branching diagram that represents the
evolutionary history of a group of organisms
 Extinction helps to understand the large morphological
differences that occur between some closely related
groups of organisms
Evolution as an observed pattern of change – documented in fossil
records
 Mass extinction – 5; large proportions of Earth’s species
were driven to extinction worldwide
o Promote increase in diversity by removing
competitor groups, allow survivors to give rise to
new species
 Adaptive radiation – a group of organisms gives rise to
many new species that expand into new habitats or new
ecological roles in a relatively short time
 Biological communities are devastated by mass extinction
events; It take millions of years for adaptive radiations to
increase the diversity of life to the levels seen prior to the
mass extinction
“Ecological interactions and evolution exert a profound influence on
one another.”
Helianthus annuus and H. petiolaris produce hybrid offspring
(Helianthus anomalus) that grows in a much drier environment.
Chapter 07 – Life History
Case study: Nemo grows up
 Clownfish spend adult life in single sea anemone
o Anemone protects clownfish by stinging
predators
o Clownfish eats parasites /drive away predators of
anemone
 Clownfish in one sea anemone are not related
o Largest fish is female
o Second largest is breeding male
o Remaining fish are sexually immature
nonbreeders
 If female dies, breeding male undergoes growth spurt and
changes sex to become female. Largest nonbreeder
increases in size and become new breeding male.
 Hatchling fish leaves anemone to live in open ocean. When
develop into a juvenile, find an anemone to inhabit. Stay if
there is room/ expel.
[Ricklefs]
Female sockeye salmon – lays thousands of eggs then dies
Life history
  Schedule of an individual’s life – age of maturity, number of
offspring, life span
 Include all behavioral and physiological adaptations of
organisms, & all the individual responses of organisms to
their environment
 Complex phenomena influenced by physical conditions,
food supply, predators & constrained by general body plan
and lifestyle of individual
 Shaped by natural selection
 Represent solution to the prob of allocating time and
resources so as to achieve maximum reproductive success
David Lack of Oxford University – first to recognize that these
differences in reproductive strategy had evolved in response to
differences btwn tropical and temperate envts
3 important points:
 Because life history traits contribute to reproductive
success, they also influence evolutionary fitness.
 Life histories vary consistently with respect to factors in the
environment (molded by natural selection)
 Suggested that the number of offspring that parents can
rear is limited by food supply.
Trade-offs: time, energy/materials devoted to one body structure,
physiological function, or behavior cannot be allotted to another.
Allocation – use resources to achieve maximum possible fitness
Components of life history:
 Age at maturity – first reproduction
 Parity – number of episodes of reproduction
 Fecundity – number of offspring produced per
reproductive episode
 Longevity – how long to live
Life history traits vary among different species:
 Life history traits vary consistently with respect to habitat or
conditions in the environment
 Variation in one life history trait is often correlated with
variation in other traits
Slow-fast continuum
 Slow – elephants, albatrosses, giant tortoises, oak trees
o Exhibit long life, slow devt, delayed maturity, low
fecundity, high parental investment
 Fast – mice, fruit flies, weedy plants
J.P. Grime – emphasized relationships btwn life history traits of
plants & certain environmental conditions
 Stress tolerators – live under extreme conditions; grow
slowly and conserve resources; rely vegetative spread
 Ruderals – colonize disturb patches of habitat, exhibit
rapid growth, early maturation, high reproductive rates,
easily dispersed seeds (enable them to reproduce quickly
and disperse their progeny to other disturbed sites)
 Competitors – grow large, mature at large sizes, and
exhibit long life spans; more constant and predictable envt
for its success
Most allocation probs concerning life histories can be phrased as:
 When should an individual begin to produce offspring?
Age at first reproduction
o Long-lived organisms (ex. Albatross) begin to
reproduce at an older than short-lived ones (ex.
Songbirds)
 How often should it breed?
 How many offspring should it attempt to produce in each
breeding episode?
Determinate growth: lizard continues to grow only until it reaches
sexual maturity
Indeterminate growth
: many plants, invertebrates, some fishes, reptiles, amphibians
: grow throughout their lives
Fecundity is related to body size = larger the female, the more eggs
she can produce
Adult longevity determines the optimal allocation of resources
between growth and reproduction
Trinidadian Guppies – strength of predation as a selective force in
evolution
Semelparity vs Iteroparity
 Species of salmon that grow rapidly for several years, then
undertake a single episode of breeding. Females convert
large portion of body mass into eggs, males fight and court
females. Both sexes die after spawning
 Programmed death – death consequence to reproductive
success
 Semelparity – semel = once; pario = to beget
o Must survive at least one non breeding season
 mature  reproduce  die
 Bamboos – few opportunities for successful seed
germination. Increase by asexual reproduction until habitat
is packed with bamboo. When vegetative growth become
severely limited, produce seeds to colonize newly disturbed
 Agaves – grows rosette of thick, fleshy leaves. Rapidly
sends up huge flowering stalk and sets fruit, after which
rosette dies
 Iteroparity – itero = to repeat; ex. Yuccas
 Proposed explanations for semelparity and iteroparity:
o variable environments might favor iteroparity,
which would reduce variation in lifetime
reproductive success by spreading reproduction
over both good and bad year (bet hedging)
o variable environments might favor semelparity if
a plant can time its reproduction to occur duringa
very favorable year. Storing resources and then
using them for the big event makes sense.
o attraction of pollinators by massive floral displays
might favor plants that put all their effort into one
reproductive episode
o semelparity appears to arise either when
preparation for reproduction is extremely costly
or when the payoff for reproduction is highly
variable but favorable conditions are predictable
from environmental cues
o ex. Cicadas – annual life cycles, gives larvae
time to grow to adulthood on a low nutrition diet;
synchrony of mating to overwhelm potential
predators

Senescence: gradual increase in mortality and decline in fecundity
as physiological function deteriorates over time; inevitable
consequence of natural wear and tear
Life histories respond to variation in the environment
1. storage of food and buildup of reserves – store in times of
feast to eat in times of famine
2. Dormancy – physiologically inactive state entered when
animals and plants can’t function normally due to too cold,
dry or nutrient depletion
Hibernate – spend winter in a dormant state bc can’t find
food
Diapause – in insects, resting state where water is
chemically bound/reduced in quantity to prevent freezing
and metabolism drops that it is barely detectable
Survival-reproduction tradeoff
3. Stimuli for change – organisms rely on indirect cues in envt
 2 kinds of cues that trigger life history changes (by
J.R. Baker):
o Proximate factors: ex. Day length; an
organism can assess state of the envt but
wc do not directly affect its fitness
 Photoperiod: length of daylight
o Ultimate factors: ex. Food supplies;
features of the envt that bear directly on
fitness of organism
beak became full, Kacelnik adjusted the
timing so that each successive mealworm
would arrive at a longer interval. He then
placed the feeding tables at different
distances from nests and observed how
many mealworms a starling would wait for at
different travel times.
o As expected, starlings increased their load
size as travel time increased
 Individual can maximize the rate at wc it delivers food
to its offspring by spending an intermediate amount of
time at the feeding are during each trip and bringing
back something less than the max possible food load
(intermediate)
Rate of food acquisition = # of prey caught/ (search + travel time)
b. Risk-sensitive foraging
 Predator/threat of predation reduce the value of otherwise
good feeding area
 Predator factor incorporated into optimal foraging theory
 Experiment by James Gilliam and Douglas Fraser
o Small minnows and adult creek chubs (predator)
o 2 compartments: (1) low density of food, but one
predator; (2) high density of food, 2-3 predators
o In the presence of 3 predators, the food lvl had to
be more than 4x that in the safer compartment to
entice the minnows to switch

Different growth rates depending on high/low availability of food

 Poor nutrition slows devt but not stop it
 Predation risk also a factor
 Alter growth and behavior to increase fitness

Optimal foraging: resolve conflicts of time, reward and risk

a. Central place foraging
 Birds feeding their offspring: chicks tied to single
location while parents search for food at some
distance from the nest
 Greater travel distances increase time, energy, & risk
costs of foraging
[STARLINGS]
 In summer, starlings typically forage on lawns or
pastures for leatherjackets, which are the larvae of
tipulid flies (crane flies). Starlings feed by thrusting
their beaks into the soft turf and spreading the
mandibles to expose prey. When they are gathering
food for their young, they hold captured leatherjackets
at the base of the beak. The more leatherjackets a
starling has in its beak, the more difficult it is to
capture the next one. For this reason, the time
between captures increases with the number of prey
already caught, until a starling with eight
leatherjackets in its beak can hardly feed at all.
 Are Starlings better economists? – Alex Kacelnik of
Oxford U
o Trained starlings to visit feeding tables at wc
mealworms will be provided
o A starling would arrive at the table “capture”
the first mealworm, and wait for next one to
be delivered
o To mimic the longer intervals at which a
starling would catch leatherjackets as its