Question

7. Classifying extinct species is difficult, and usually must integrate data from fossil measurements, inferences on ecology (e.g. classifying carnivore, herbivore using teeth, etc.), and how these are likely to change or not over deep timescales. Which of the following species concepts is likely most usable and operational for extinct taxa, like the dinosaurs in the above tree?

1. Phenetic species concept
2. Evolutionary species concept
3. Biological species concept
4. Fossil species concept
5. None of the above

8. Theropoda (theropods) contains many of the most charismatic dinosaurs, including Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor. Traditional, historical taxonomic classification of Theropoda excluded birds (Aves). What type of group is Theropoda, based on this traditional classification scheme and the previous tree?

1. Monophyletic
2. Paraphyletic
3. Polyphyletic
4. Biophyletic
5. None of the above

9. The Red Queen hypothesis is an explanation for what is often called the Law of Extinction - that extinction risk (outside of mass extinctions) is constant no matter how long a lineage has existed. Which of the following statements is accurate about the Red Queen?

1. Geographic range sizes fluctuate continuously in deep time, as with risk
2. Population sizes become fragmented over evolutionary time
3. Abiotic features of organisms’ environments are constantly changing
4. All lineages are consistently evolving, and never become more fit than others
5. None of the above

10. In an isolated, large population of fungi, you observe the following genotype fitnesses. What type of selection is occurring here, if any? Assume all other relevant processes are under Hardy-Weinberg conditions (i.e. if any conditions are violated, it is only selection).

genotype	A1A1	A1A2	A2A2
fitness	1	0.7	0.85

1. Directional selection
2. Disruptive selection (underdominance)
3. Balancing selection (overdominance)
4. Need more information
5. Selection is not occurring at this locus

7. Classifying extinct species is difficult, and usually must integrate data from fossil measurements, inferences on ecology (e.g. classifying carnivore, herbivore using teeth, etc.), and how these are likely to change or not over deep timescales. Which of the following species concepts is likely most usable and operational for extinct taxa, like the dinosaurs in the above tree?

1. Phenetic species concept
2. Evolutionary species concept
3. Biological species concept
4. Fossil species concept
5. None of the above

8. Theropoda (theropods) contains many of the most charismatic dinosaurs, including Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor. Traditional, historical taxonomic classification of Theropoda excluded birds (Aves). What type of group is Theropoda, based on this traditional classification scheme and the previous tree?

1. Monophyletic
2. Paraphyletic
3. Polyphyletic
4. Biophyletic
5. None of the above

9. The Red Queen hypothesis is an explanation for what is often called the Law of Extinction - that extinction risk (outside of mass extinctions) is constant no matter how long a lineage has existed. Which of the following statements is accurate about the Red Queen?

1. Geographic range sizes fluctuate continuously in deep time, as with risk
2. Population sizes become fragmented over evolutionary time
3. Abiotic features of organisms’ environments are constantly changing
4. All lineages are consistently evolving, and never become more fit than others
5. None of the above

10. In an isolated, large population of fungi, you observe the following genotype fitnesses. What type of selection is occurring here, if any? Assume all other relevant processes are under Hardy-Weinberg conditions (i.e. if any conditions are violated, it is only selection).

genotype	A1A1	A1A2	A2A2
fitness	1	0.7	0.85

1. Directional selection
2. Disruptive selection (underdominance)
3. Balancing selection (overdominance)
4. Need more information
5. Selection is not occurring at this locus

Answer 1

7. The correct answer is the Evolutionary species concept. This concept was developed by Simpson (1951) in order to include asexual organisms and extinct species whom the biological species concept could not be applied to.

8. A correct answer is a paraphyletic group.

9. The correct answer is D. All lineages are consistently evolving, and never become more fit than others because it must adapt to survive or it will become extinct.

10. The correct answer is C. Since all genotypes have the more or less equal frequency. This is a case of balcing selection.