Paleontology Exam 2

Links phylogeny and ecology to study evolution through deep time

Interpreting data based on shared ancestry

Patterns of diversity and distribution across space and time

Some traits make taxa more or less likely to go extinct

Survivors radiate into new niches after extinction

Area a species occupies; wider ranges lower extinction risk

Major marine extinction event used to study recovery

Brachiopods studied for extinction and biogeographic shifts

Ocean connection closed by Isthmus of Panama

Nutrient-rich water rising to surface; loss reduced productivity

Related taxa keep ancestral traits over time

Links ecology evolution and development of traits

Uses fossils to guide modern conservation

Physical changes driving extinction and turnover

What a species actually is in living organisms

How fossil species can be identified from morphology

What fossils reveal about species origin and evolution

Species are both distinct and part of continuous variation

Difficulty defining species consistently across biology and fossils

Fossil and living species are defined by different criteria

Processes like isolation and selection that form new species

Defining species by consistent shape or form differences

Incomplete fossil record complicates species study

Species definition is a data issue not just wording

Long periods of little change interrupted by rapid bursts during speciation.

Slow continuous evolution of entire populations.

Little or no change in species over long time spans.

Branching speciation where new species split from ancestors.

Speciation caused by geographic isolation.

Trait evolved for its current function.

Trait co-opted for a new function after evolving for another.

Trait with no current adaptive purpose.

Change in a structure's role from its original function.

Species-level traits affect speciation or extinction rates.

Differential diversification among species without direct selection.

Selection acts at multiple levels from genes to species.

Random evolutionary change without direction.

Consistent increase or decrease in a trait over time.

Large-scale patterns above the species level.

Small-scale changes within populations.

When an ancestor continues after a descendant arises

Gradual transformation of a lineage without branching.

Limits on possible evolutionary outcomes due to genetics or development.

Study of how developmental changes produce evolutionary patterns.

Characteristic of whole species affecting its diversification.

Study of evolution and ecology using the fossil record.

Similarities shared as a result of common ancestor

A derived character first appearing on a particular branch

A primitive character appearing on earlier branches

A shared derived character

A primitive character that is present in two taxa because it appeared earlier than the most recent common ancestor

Detailed similarity

growth from embryo to full animal

tree that minimizes steps

Brachiopods and Bryozoans

Colonial and have lophophores

branching

Generic/family relationships without the when and where of traits

Convergence in similarly selective environments

Independent evolution of the feature in unrelated group

No asexual organisms

Separation by location in the environment

Separation by differing mating seasons or times of day

Separation by differing shapes of reproductive organs

Separation by the inability of sperm from one species to fertilize the egg of another species

Separation by behavior e.g. lack of recognition of potential mates as mating partners.

Gametes die before fertilization

Hybrids have reduced viability as zygote or later in development

Hybrids survive and mate as normal

A small population is isolated at the periphery of the parental geographic range

Two populations are separated and do not experience gene flow but are not geographically separated

Two populations adjacent to but isolated from each other

Phylogeny, adaptation, and growth