Question

1. Does the doubling of thickness in membranes affect the cross-sectional surface area or the diffusion coefficient in Fick's Law of Diffusion?

2. Which of these reasons describe Darwin's concept of evolutions as "descent with modification": 1. the constant changes in the environment 2. phylogenetic constraints 3. genetic drift

3. Explain how evolutionary and ecological processes can take place over the similar time period?

Answer 1

1.   The membrane needs to be thin to allow rate of diffusion.The thinner is the membrane, the faster is the rate of diffusion .Thickening the membrane will reduce or restrict the diffusion process. The diffusion co-efficient depends on temperature, viscosity of the fluid and the size of the particles. It does not depend on the thickness of the membrane
2.   Option1, the constant changes in the environment
According to Darwin, through natural selection a species allows prolific reproduction of individuals with desired or most favorable traits so that they can survive environmental change
3.   Through evolutionary ecology, evolution of interactions between and within species is studied. These interactions predominantly include competitors, mutualists, predators, prey and pathogens. It has been found that factor such as phenotypic plasticity, maternal effects, sexual selection, and gene flow causes persistent impact on ecological attributes such as population persistence, speciation, community dynamics, and ecosystem function at a time without any space gap. Evolution of most favorable traits strongly affects the ecological interactions. Also, evolution occurs in a wide diversity of ecological contexts