BIO120H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1-10: Temperate Deciduous Forest, Alpine Tundra, Intertropical Convergence Zone
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BIO120H1 Full Course Notes
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Selects for new variants that perform a little better than the previous model. Examples of stupid organismal features that only make sense if they represent holdovers from earlier conditions. The most basic aspect of living organisms: astonishing ability to meet the challenges of an unrelentingly hostile environment, to grow, reproduce, adapt, diversify. Ways in which life on earth differs from the lifeless minerals that make up earth itself. Diversification of life through adaptive evolution, driven by natural selection imposed by the environment. Most fundamental question: why are there so many different species of living things. Key concept: organisms adapt to their environments. Through evolutionary ecology look at biodiversity and adaptation. Will cover 3 traditional subsets of ecology: physiological, population, community ecology. Part 2: adaptation to meet ecological challenges (logic + terminology of function, adaptation, constraints & tradeoffs) Trial and error process of natural selection. Function: role a given feature or trait was selected to serve.