Evolutionary Adaptations and the Marine Environment

Question 1

what does Megaptera novangilae mean?

Answer 1

large-winged new angel

Question 2

What would you tell Darwin if he arrived spontaneously?

Answer 2

Might be a test question. Think about it.

Question 3

Ultimate/proximate question

Answer 3

Ul: Why. why it occurs the way it does.
Pro: How. how does it work?

Question 4

Define evolution

Answer 4

‘descent with modification’

‘change over time’

Question 5

who coined the term ‘survival of the fittest’?

Answer 5

Spencer

Question 6

What is the concept of evolution?

Answer 6

the concept that all living organisms are related by an unbroken chain of events

Question 7

What are the facts of Evolution?

Answer 7

• things have changed (fossils)
• things continue to change (evolution in action, Darwin’s finches, intro of spp. and co-evolution)
• genetic evidence (ATCG, 60 similar genes, universality of function)
• nothing contradicts.

Question 8

What is the theory of evolution?

Answer 8

• all organisms produce more offspring than can possibly survive (Malthus)
• Theory of natural selection

Question 9

What is the theory of Natural Selection? (1989)

LONG VERSION

Answer 9

• there is variation
• variation is inherited
• there are reproductive consequences associate to the variation, some survive to reproduce more than others.

Question 10

Natural selection: what are the three big points?

SHORT VERSION

Answer 10

• variation
• heritability
• reproductive consequences

Question 11

teleological

Answer 11

designed and directed towards a final result

Question 12

what is a more appropriate language to define ‘advanced and primitive’

Answer 12

derived and ancestral

Question 13

Define adaptation

Answer 13

Physical, morphological, behavioral characteristic that allows an organism to survive in its environment better than without.

Question 14

What are the adaptations of a humpy to its environment?

Answer 14

• pectoral fins
• bubble feeding
• Dr Fred Sharpe.
• baleen plates

Question 15

Describe baleen plates

Answer 15

0.5-3.5m
90kg
broader at the gumline
sieves or venetian blinds

Question 16

Name some mysticetes

Answer 16

baleens,

humpy, blue, grey

Question 17

name some odontocetes

Answer 17

toothed, dolphins, porpoises, killer, sperm whales

Question 18

What MMammal families are from order Carnivora?

Answer 18

Otaridae (fur seals)
Phocidae (earless seals)
Mustelidae (otters)
Ursidae (bears)
Odobenidae (walrus)

Question 19

How are phylogenetic trees produced, and how is it arranged?

Answer 19

Produced: DNA sequencing (roots, branches) and morphology (present, absence, gradient)
Decay indices.
Arranged by x-axis=time, y-axis divergence

Question 20

when did marine mammals first diverge?

Answer 20

65mya. marsupials first, placentals second. bear like ancestor.

Question 21

Who did cetaceans derive from? when?

Answer 21

even-toed ungulates. Probably ungulates.

50mya

Question 22

what adaptations occured for mammals to become marine?

Answer 22

• middle ear rotated

- drag reduction (legs, genitals, external ears, hydrodynamic body shape, hair), tail/fluke, physiological

Question 23

what are mal-adaptations?

Answer 23

adaptations may be imperfect because of time lags.

Question 24

name a mal-adaptation

Answer 24

king crab pleopod asymmetrical

Question 25

estivation

Answer 25

depression in aerobic metabolism during the hot dry season. sort of like hibernation

Question 26

Prosobranch and pulmonate on slide 32

Answer 26

what does it all mean??

Question 27

what is the behavioural adaptation of Nucella in regards to their eggs?

Answer 27

They use spermatotheca (hold eggs) until its a good time, then egg capsules to nurse the eggs into embryos.
-How do they behave in wave exposed/protected in regard to egg to embryo ratio?

Question 28

FRTS

Answer 28

fast repetitive tick sounds

Question 29

Why might herring make sounds?

Answer 29

• buoyancy adjustments
• prey consumption
• schooling (size assortative, contact calls)
• Foraging (food calls/manipulate prey, adjust buoyancy to better catch prey)
• aggression
• reproduction
• anti-predation (acoustic flack, deterrence, distastefulness
• echolocation (navigation, food, friends)

Question 30

how much greater does sound travel in water than in air?

Answer 30

4.7 times

Question 31

how does hearing differ between terrestrial and marine animals?

Answer 31

Terrestrial: external morphology, pinna, enhanced sound reception
Aquatic: sonar, other structures of the head.

Question 32

describe echolocation

Answer 32

• sound waves pass uninterruptedly through the water
• encounter an object
• refractive index different from water
• waves strike
• reflected and return to the source
• the time difference between sound production and receivership = distance

Question 33

what is the melon

Answer 33

a fat tilled structure which acts as an acoustic lens

Question 34

Pelagic zones

Answer 34

• epipelagic
• mesopelagic
• bathypelagic
• abyssopelagic

Question 35

Benthic zones

Answer 35

• littoral
• bathyal
• abyssal
• ultra-abyssal

Question 36

name some nekton of the pelagic, and where they would be found

Answer 36

nekton: bony fish, sharks, rays, marine mammals, reptiles, birds
Holoepipelagic: thresher shark, tuna, marlins
Meroepipelagic: Herring, whale shark, dolphin, salmon

Question 37

which are the two types of swim bladders?

Answer 37

• physostomatous: soft-rayed fish, salmon

- physoclistous: spiny-rayed fish, rockfish

Question 38

name a type of fish which doesn’t have a swim bladder

Answer 38

bonito, mackerel (lift from body surface or pectoral fins)

Question 39

How do squid regulate buoyancy?

Answer 39

ion replacement:

heavy sodium ions with lighter ammonium ions