[EEB 390] - Midterm Exam Guide - Comprehensive Notes for the exam (13 pages long!)

• School: U of M
• Department: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
• Course: EEB 390
• Professor: Jeff Smith

Document Summary

Before darwin: linnaeus(1700s, classification system, steno(1600s, extinction via the discovery of fossils, lamark and evolution, had a view of evolution, argued that species evolved via will power(giraffes) Evolution is the framework under which we understand all life on earth. Visual representation of the relationship between species, taxa and individuals and populations etc. Genetic drift: the process of random change in allele frequencies over time in finite populations. Alleles are selectively neutral (there is no fitness preference) Genetic drift causes heterozygosity in populations to decrease over time. Population bottlenecks: period of severe decrease in population size, floods, earthquake, fires, drought, disease, human effects, accelerates the pace of genetic drift on the population. Founder effect: occurs when a population descends from a small group of individuals who are not representative of the original larger population, reduced genetic variation, can ensue population bottlenecks.