BIOL359 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Intelligent Designer, Natural Selection, Directional Selection

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BIOL 359 Lecture Notes
The Intelligent Design Theory
Reading: Evolution as a Fact, Theory and Path
Fact: an observation that has repeatedly been confirmed and is accepted as ‘true’.
Repeatedly confirmed by data through direct observation or reliable inference
In science, a truth is never final
Theory: a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that can incorporate facts, laws,
inferences and tested hypotheses.
An explanation for a fact
Offer an understanding, not a description of the natural world
Hypothesis: a tentative statement about the natural world leading to deductions that can be tested
Only test one aspect of complex theories
Law: a generalization about how some aspect of the natural world behaves under stated circumstances
Describes/ predicts what will happen when the range of possible conditions is limited
If an observation does not conform to a law, it means that:
1) The observation as illusory or interpreted incorrectly
2) The observed event took place outside the specified conditions
3) The law is inaccurately formulated
These terms are three distinct aspects of science. A hypothesis can never become a theory, a theory can
never become a law, etc.
Evolution as a Fact
Has been studied and proven in thousands of scientific articles for the past century
No reliable evidence has ever been found to contradict this
Evolution and a Theory
Theory of evolution by natural selection “use and disuse” and the inheritance of acquired
characteristics
The traits acquired through use by organisms during their lifetimes would be passed on to
offspring e.g. children with parents who exercise frequently would be born with greater
musculature
Evolution as a Path
Questions asked about the path and the theory of evolution do not raise doubt that evolution did occur
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Topic 2: Science and the ID Theory
A Law is a generalization about how the natural world behaves under specific circumstances.
Descriptive generalization
Key elements of a Scientific Theory: must be falsifiable (be able to demonstrate that a theory is false
in order to support it) and internally consistent. A theory is the goal of science
The Intelligent Design theory
Intelligent design began with William Paley
Presupposed that a complex structure must be the result of an intelligent designer, but offers
no test for this
Cannot be tested and is not falsifiable
Because it lacks a tested hypothesis, is unsubstantiated by data, observation or
experimentation, is internally inconsistent and cannot be falsified, it cannot be regarded as a
scientific theory
Michael Behe explained irreducible complexity: a single system composed of several well matched,
interacting parts that contribute to the basic function. The removal of one part of the system will
cause it to cease function (e.g. the flagellum later proved to be not irreducibly complex)
Naturalistic Fallacy: the way that things are is the way that they should be. However, science
informs us about the way the natural world is, not the way it should be
Topic 3: Evidence for Evolution
Definitions
Evolution: decent with modification; change in population allele frequency
Homology: similarity resulting from common ancestry, often despite differences in function. E.g.
tetrapods have 4 limbs as a consequence of homology
Analogy: similarity in function, but not having the same evolutionary origin. E.g. the wings of an
insect and the wings of a bird evolved independently
The scientific evidence for the history of life can be divided into (1) decent with modification and (2)
common ancestry
I. Decent with modification Selective Breeding in dogs
Phylogenetic analyses show that all domestic dogs are descended from wolves (
Canis lupus)
Morphological/phenotypic diversity of dogs have arisen as a consequence of humans over 6000 years
lots of morphological change has arisen in a short period of time
Since humans and wolves are very social creatures, it is thought that this fact began the
domestication of dogs
Decent with modification Selective breeding in Mice
Researchers selectively bred mice for the ability to run on an exercise wheel over 24 generations
paired mice that spent the most time running on the wheel and mated them with each other. The
result: after 24 generations of mating, the offspring ran faster than the control group of mice (ran
2.78 times as far each day than the control group)
Offspring of fast running mice had a condition similar to hyperactive disorder in humans
Selective breeding provides evidence that biological change is possible and the results are inheritable
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Decent with modification The field mustard plant
Researchers took seeds from before and after a drought, and reed the seeds under wet conditions
Hypothesized that wild population of field mustard evolved an earlier average flowering time following
a drought
Hypothesis was correct: seeds collected after the drought had a quicker flowering time
Scientific evidence supports different modes of evolution. Natural selection can result in equally spectacular
changes that you see in nature as artificial selection in humans
Microevolution: small evolutionary changes within species or populations; changes within the average
characteristics of populations drives speciation and macroevolution
Speciation: lineages split and diverge; an ancestral species can give rise to two or more decedents/
daughter species
Macroevolution: a larger phenotypic change that is enough to place an organism in a higher-level
taxon (e.g. phylum).
Descent with modification The apple maggot fly (Speciation)
The apple maggot flies normal host is the hawthorn tree, but in the nineteenth century, it began to
infest apple trees
One species of flies (“apple” maggot fly) split into two species (apple maggot and hawthorn maggot
flies) incipient species: organisms that are almost finished the final stage of speciation
Research showed that there were huge changes in allele frequencies and differences in terms of
emergence, times of hatching. There has been a huge difference between the flies parasitizing the
apples and the hawthorn fruits
Flies from apple trees take less time to mature than flies from Hawthorn trees may be
due to the fact that hawthorn fruits mature later in the season than do apple trees
Hybridization studies show that host preferences are inherited, but give no evidence of
barriers to mating
Decent with modification: vestigial structures
Vestigial structure: useless structures that have an important function in a closely related organism
E.g. vestigial limbs of a snake, vestigial wings on the brown kiwi bird, coccyx bones and arrector
pili muscle in humans
Evolution of vestigial structures in Stickleback fish
Fully armored vs. reduced armored fish with vestigial pelvic structure (freshwater form)
Marine form of Three Spine Stickleback invaded the lake after poisoning occurred in the 80s
Population evolved such that in the course of 10 years, 70-80% of the population was the
lightly armored fish can be caused from the fact that as you move from the marine
environment to the lake, there are less predators so there is no need for the heavy armor
(hypothesis)
Evidence from Lab experiments: the ɸ6 bacteriophage
The wild-type ɸ6w can infect 4 varieties of
P. syringae
A mutant type ɸ6broad can infect
P. syringae
and
P. pseudoalcaligenes
These strains can exchange genes when they infect the same host
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Document Summary

Reading: evolution as a fact, theory and path. Fact: an observation that has repeatedly been confirmed and is accepted as true". Repeatedly confirmed by data through direct observation or reliable inference. Theory: a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that can incorporate facts, laws, inferences and tested hypotheses. Offer an understanding, not a description of the natural world. Hypothesis: a tentative statement about the natural world leading to deductions that can be tested. Only test one aspect of complex theories. Law: a generalization about how some aspect of the natural world behaves under stated circumstances. Describes/ predicts what will happen when the range of possible conditions is limited. If an observation does not conform to a law, it means that: the observation as illusory or interpreted incorrectly, the observed event took place outside the specified conditions, the law is inaccurately formulated. These terms are three distinct aspects of science.

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