Terms to know: primitive, derived, adaptation, phylogeny, evolution

Questions:

1. Distinguish between primitive traits and primitive species.  Which are more appropriate to talk about from an evolutionary perspective when considering modern, extant species?
2. Many biologists refer to amphibians as primitive vertebrates and mammals as advanced vertebrates.  From an evolutionary point of view, what are problems with referring to these species as "primitive" and "advanced"?  What differences between amphibians and mammals are they trying to describe with these terms, and what would be a more evolutionary accurate way of describing these differences?
3. Early evolutionary biologists frequently made reference to a "scala naturae" (scale of nature) in which organisms were represented as evolving from simple forms to more and more complex forms.  A typical example might be: bacteria --> amoebae --> invertebrates --> fish --> amphibians --> reptiles --> mammals.  How many things can you find wrong with this view of evolution?  How can the evolution of these groups be portrayed more meaningfully?
4. Evolution can sometimes result in increased complexity of structure -- for example, multicellular organisms are thought to have evolved from unicellular organisms.   As a result, structurally complex species are sometimes considered more advanced, evolutionarily, than are structurally primitive organisms.  Give at least two problems with this viewpoint, from an evolutionary perspective.
5. In which of the following examples does the change that is described result in evolutionary adaptation?  (a) As it gets colder, an individual mouse changes such that it grows longer fur in the cold; it is more likely to survive as a result.  (b) In a cold climate, in a population of mice, individuals with shorter hair are less likely to survive; longhaired individuals survive better and pass that long hair to their offspring.  As a result, the population changes such that all individuals have long hair.  (c) As food becomes scarce, an individual mouse learns to hoard food, so it changes its feeding strategy from eating whatever it finds to storing some of the food it finds.  It is more likely to survive as a result.  (d) In a mouse population, some individuals have a genetically determined behavior so that they hoard food and others lack this genetically determined behavior.  In an area of scarce food, individuals who hoard food are more likely to survive, and over time hoarding behavior becomes more common until all individuals hoard food and survive better.  This behavior decreases available food sources so that the probability of the whole population dying out increases.
6. Freeman and Herron note that "natural selection acts on individuals..."  What do they mean by "act on"?  Does natural selection change an individual?  If so, how?  If not, then how does natural selection have its effect?
7. Freeman and Herron (2001) state that "Finches with large bodies and deep, narrow beaks would have been favored during the drought even if all the variation in the population had been environmental in origin...But no evolution would have occurred."  What do they mean by variation that is environmental in origin?  If the finches with large bodies and deep narrow beaks would have been favored in this situation, why would evolution not have occurred?
8. Evolution of new species has been referred to as "tree-like" rather than "ladder-like."  What does this mean?
9. Why is it incorrect to say that a trait has evolved "for the good of a species" or "to help a species survive?"
10. From Freeman and Herron (2001), identify a characteristic of a species that illustrates how a characteristic can increase the fitness (survival and/or reproduction) of an individual but be bad for the species to which that individual belongs.  Which kind of trait will evolve -- one that is good for the individual or one that is good for the whole species?  Why, based on the way natural selection works?
11. Suppose someone tells you that fur evolved in the ancestor to mammals because the climate was about to become colder, so having fur would be adaptive.  Clearly explain to this person why this argument does not make evolutionary sense.
12. Salmon return from the ocean to the streams where they were spawned in order to reproduce.  Suppose someone tells you that to ensure that salmon find each other so that the species will not die out.  Clearly explain to this person why this argument does not make evolutionary sense.  Give an argument based on natural selection that does make evolutionary sense.
13. Suppose someone tells you that since mammals are warm-blooded and salmon are cold-blooded, that mammals are higher on the evolutionary scale than are salmon.  Clearly explain to this person why this argument does not make evolutionary sense.