Chapter 1: The Whale and the Virus

How Scientists Study Evolution

● As different as blue whales and viruses may be, a single explanation can account for them both –
what is it?
They are both products of evolution

● In 1973, the biologist ____Theodosius Dobzhansky________________ wrote one of the most

eloquent accounts for evolution’s place in the study of life. What was it titled?

o “Without that light it becomes a pile of sundry facts – some of them interesting or curious
but making no meaningful picture as a whole .”
o We can understand the similarities among different species, as well as the
_differences___

…We can understand the adaptations of living things, as well as their

__weaknesses____________________.

● What is biological evolution?

o The change in proportions of biological types in a population over time

1.1 Whales: Mammals Gone to Sea

● What are cetaceans?
o Marine mammals, examples include whales, dolphins, and porpoises

● Why are cetaceans mammals?

o Share traits with mammals, like breastfeeding and live birth

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● What is natural selection?
o Gradual evolution given time for species that survive long enough to reproduce

● What is a homology?
o Structural characters inherited due to a common ancestor

● What are homologous characteristics?

o Characteristics in a species that are similar to characteristics from another species

● List examples of homologies / homologous characteristics that whales share with mammals.

● Small but present bones where the hips used to be

● Breast feed

● Live birth

● Formation of a placenta

● Nurture the youth until mature

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What is the name of the fossil organism in Figure 1.4 above? Dorudon

Label parts of it that are homologous to the skeletal characteristics of land mammals.

● Teeth structure similar to land mammals

● What is synapomorphy? Describe examples of synapomorphies in the chapter.

o a derived form of a trait that is shared by a group of related species

o In Fig. 1.5 left, which feature is homologous to that of land mammals (the ectotympanic or
a dense involucrum)? Which of these two features is a synapomorphy that defines this
species (Pakicetus) as a cetacean?
o The inner ear is a homologous trait, but the inner wall of the ectotympanic, called the
involucrum, is synapomorphologicall to the Pakicetus
o Compare and contrast synapomorphy with homology. How are they similar? How are
they different?
Synapomorphy is a trait similarity that only pertains to that species’ direct descendant,
white homological traits can cross the boundary to a lot more species

o Based on DNA and morphological evidence, to what group of mammals are cetaceans
most closely related?

o Based on morphological evidence, the modern cetaceans are closely related to the
Dorudon

●
o What morphological feature is
shared by this group and fossil
cetaceans with legs? The
Ectotympanic bones is a
morphological feature that’s shared by
cetaceans with legs and modern
cetaceans.

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●

o Which species is the closest living relative to the cetaceans?

o Hippos, pigs, camels, deer, and sheep are the closest living relative to cetaceans

● What is a phylogeny?

● Phylogeny is the study of the history of species.

● What are isotopes? How did evolutionary biologists use isotopes to decipher the evolutionary
past of whales?
o Isotopes are atoms that have different numbers of protons from neutrons

o Isotopes are used to measure the age of the bones by using the half lives of the atoms.

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● In Figure 1.9 shown above, provide an arrow on the Y-axis pointing from the oldest to the most
recent. Provide a caption describing what the data in the figure indicate.
The graph provides a ratio of the oxygen isotopes present in the fossils of the species and compares them
to the modern progeny of said species. This indicates the regions in the ocean that these ancient species
once resided in if the ratios are similar.

● What developmental evidence in the embryos of whales, Fig. 1-10 below, provides evidence that
whales are related to other land vertebrates?
o The development of their forelimbs before the hindlimbs are characteristic signs of a
mammal in terms of embryonic development

● What is a synapomorphy that defines the toothed whales? The baleen whales?
o A characteristic synapomorphy of toothed whales is their line of teeth used for hunting. A
synapomorphy of baleen whales are their baleen sheets, which are used for feeding as well
but in a very unique and different way from the toothed whale.

1.2 Viruses: The Deadly Escape Artists

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● Why do researchers at the World Health Organization monitor the evolutionary changes of
viruses?
o Researchers at the WHO monitor evolutionary changes in order to note when a mutation
has the potential to transmit easier or become more deadly

neuraminidase

Hemagglutinin

Proton channel

RNA

Matrix protein

Label the following in Fig. 1.17 above: hemagglutinin, matrix protein, neuraminidase, proton channel,
and RNA. For hemagglutinin and neuraminidase, describe their functions as well.

● All strains of human influenza virus ultimately descend from strains that infected other animals,
most commonly birds .
o From time to time, bird flu “crosses over” and begins to replicate in humans.
o zoonotic disease
o When two viruses infect a cell at once, their genes sometimes get shuffled together as they
become packaged into protein cells. This is a process known
as________Reassortment____________________.
o

● What did the 2009 H1N1 pandemic reveal about the world’s public health system?
o Importance of international cooperation

o A plan is very important but wasn’t fulfilled in due time

● Where did the H7N9 flu, which had killed two men in Shanghai, come from?
o Infected poultry

● Why are public health workers taking measures to minimize the transmission of this H7N9 virus
from birds to humans?
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Public health workers are taking measures to minimize transmission of H7N9 from birds to humans
because not much is known about the virus in terms of treatment,and in terms of transmission.

1.3 Evolution: A Tapestry of Concepts

● This section mostly provides a preview of the book, but also introduces some concepts we will
encounter frequently throughout the semester.
● What is genetic drift?
o Genetic drift is the natural random flow of genes within a species over time.

● What is a phenotype?
o A phenotype is what genes get outwardly expressed on the organism, like brown hair or
green eyes.

● Try the multiple choice, data interpretation and short answer questions at the end of the chapter