Ch 5 Macroevolution · 3 incisors, 1 canine, 4 premolars, 3 molars = process a wide variety of...
Transcript of Ch 5 Macroevolution · 3 incisors, 1 canine, 4 premolars, 3 molars = process a wide variety of...
Ch 5 Macroevolution
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Announcements and summary*April 19 = Midterm and Essay 1 due and MUST bring in hard copy of essay
Midterm - 3x5 flash card
Extra credit study-guide and outline on course website
Today: fossils, vertebrates and mammals
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ReviewAncestral traits - similarities shared by many distantly-related groups that are inherited from a remote ancestor
Derived traits - reflect specific evolutionary lineages-modified traits from last common ancestor unique to a given group
Shared Derived traits - shared traits between two life-forms that are the most useful in constructing cladograms
CLADISTICS uses DERIVED TRAITS
Adaptive radiation - rapid expansion and diversification of new life forms into open ecological niches.
Ecological niche - Micro-habitat in a shared environment to which populations adapt.-diet, terrain, vegetation, predation, interaction with other species, etc.
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Generalized and Specialized TraitsGeneralized - adapted for many functions-retaining ancestral traits-give flexible evolutionary springboard for rapid diversification which leads to:
Specialized - modification to narrow ecological niche-derivedE.g., Hominin feet evolution
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Fossils and fossilization processesMineralization - After an organism dies the hard tissues slowly replaced by other minerals, then solidify
Insects are trapped in tree sap - hardens over time. The lack of oxygen results in very well preserved insects (we can extract DNA from them!).
Impressions of leafs/things left in clay which hardens into stoneAnthr E.g. 47 mya well preserved primate skeleton with soft-body imprint and fossilized remains associated with the digestive tract (Franzen et al 2009).
Footprints from dinosaurs and early Hominins, too, are preserved
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Identifying paleospecies-grouped by the clusters of derived traits-use living species as proxy
Concerns-variation spatially (over space) and temporally (through time) -fossils separated by millions of years.-blurs taxonomic boundaries
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Different types of variation in morphology
Individual variation - the variation seen in an individual's phenotype due to recombination
Age change variation - some fossil forms have deciduous teeth (20) while others are matured to having permanent teeth (32)
Sexual dimorphism - physical characteristics differ between males and females
Remember these variables to avoid errors.
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Intraspecific - variation = individual, age, sex differences within species-If variation in fossils compares to related extant organisms, then designate single species
Interspecific - such variation represents differences between species
Splitters - speciation occurred more often
Lumpers - more likely intraspecific variability
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Types of variation continued
Macroevolution - the long conGeographical changes in Paleozoic and Mesozoic influenced vertebrate evolution
Continental drift - continents move like sliding plates on the Earth's surface-Large landmasses shifted dramatically throughout geologic time-Induces volcanic activity (Pacific Rim); mountain building (Himalayas); earthquakes
Pangea - late Paleozoic singular land mass but large chunks split to the north and south in the early Mesozoic ~65 mya-isolated by oceans => distributed mammals and other land vertebrates
-Continental drift is still happening today - slow process (uniformitarianism)
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Geological Time Scale
Vertebrate evolution-spans Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and the Cenozoic eras
Fish ~500 mya in the Paleozoic (earliest out of reptiles, mammals, and birds)
Mammal-like reptiles ~250 mya - diversify in Late Paleozoic
Reptiles/dinosaurs ~252 mya = most dominant land vertebrates cf Mesozoic -expanded into a wide array of econiches
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Cretaceous-Tertiary Mass Extinction~66 mya - Cretaceous-Tertiary or K-T boundary
-Large asteroid impacted the Earth caused dramatic changes in the global environmentEx: Plants and plankton could not photosynthesis
75% of plants and animals went extinct
-Dinosaurs died off SO empty ecological niches
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~75 mya emerged
Major Mammal Groups
*Monotremes - egg-laying = most ancestral
*Marsupials - pouched = immature young complete development in external pouch
*Placental - long development period in utero and placental tissue specialized to provide nourishment
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Mammalian Evolution
Distinctive mammalian featuresLarge brains - selected for information processing but required longer, more intense periods of growthEx. cerebrum enlarged - trend continued to increase in primates
Placental - give live birth another innovation widespread by the CenozoicLonger in utero development - central nervous system to develop more completelyInternal development in particular was a major innovation for land vertebrates
Heterodont - ancestral mammalian teeth patterns:3 incisors, 1 canine, 4 premolars, 3 molars = process a wide variety of foods
Endothermic - maintained constant internal temperature thru metabolic activities 14
Distinctive mammalian featuresLarge brains - complex information processingEx. cerebrum enlarged - trend continued to increase in primates
Placental - give live birth
Heterodont - ancestral mammalian teeth patterns -generalized
Endothermic - maintained constant internal temperature thru metabolic activities
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Primate features and evolution-features found in mammals but collected together can distinguish the primate order
1. Limbs and locomotion
2. Diet and teeth
3. Senses and brain
4. Maturation and behavior
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Primate characteristics - hypothesesArboreality - living in the trees
Adaptive niche in the trees
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