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Definition
| a mutation that does not result in any selective advantage or disadvantage |
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| any mutation that reduces the reproductive success of an individual and is therefore selected against; harmful mutations do not accumulate over time |
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| any mutation that increases the reproductive success of an organism; beneficial mutations are favoured by natural selection and accumulate over time. |
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| directed breeding in which individuals that exhibit a particular trait are chosen as the parents of the next generation; artificial selection is used to produce new breeds or varieties of plants and animals |
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| any ancient remains, impressions, or traces of an organism or traces of its activity that has been preserved in rocks or other mineral deposits in the Earth's crust |
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| the scientific study of prehistoric life through the study of fossils |
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| the theory that the pattern of fossils could by accounted for by a series of global catastrophes that wiped out most species on earth |
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| the theory that geological changes are slow and gradual and that natural laws and processes have not changed over time |
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| the scientific study of the geographic distribution of organisms based on both living species and fossils |
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| a structure with a common evolutionary origin that may serve different functions in modern species (for example, bat's wing and human's arm) |
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| a structure that performs the same function as another but is not similar in origin or anatomical structure (for example, bird and insect wings) |
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| a rudimentary and non-functioning, or only marginally functioning, structure that is homologous to a fully functioning structure in a closely related species |
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| the way in which nature favours the reproductive success of some individuals in a population over others |
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| a characteristic or feature of a species that makes it well suited for survival or reproductive success in its environment |
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| an atom with an unstable nucleus that is capable of undergoing radioactive decay |
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| the time required for half the quantity of a radioactive substance to undergo decay; the half-life is a constant for any given isotope |
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| Modern Evolutionary Synthesis |
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Definition
| the modern theory of evolution that takes into account all branches of biology |
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| the complete set of alleles contained within a species or population |
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| the scientific theory that describes the large-scale movements and features of the Earth's crust |
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| selection that favours an increase or decrease in the value of a trait from the current population average |
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| selection against individuals exhibiting traits that deviate from the current population average |
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| selection that favours two or more variations of a trait that differ from the current population average |
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| differential reproductive success caused by variation in the ability to obtain mates; results in sexual dimorphism, and mating and courtship behaviours |
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Definition
| changes to allele frequency as a result of chance; such changes are more pronounced in small populations |
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Definition
| a dramatic, often temporary, reduction in population size, usually resulting in significant genetic drift |
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| genetic drift that results when a small number of individuals separate from their original population and establish a new population |
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| in large populations in which only random chance is at work, allele frequencies are expected to remain constant from generation to generation |
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| changes in gene frequencies and phenotype traits within a population and species |
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Definition
| the formation of new species |
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| Reproductive Isolating Mechanism |
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Definition
| any behavioural, structural, or biochemical trait that prevents individuals of different species from reproducing successfully together |
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Definition
| a reproductive isolating mechanism that prevents interspecies mating and fertilization (for example, ecological isolation, temporal isolation, and behavioural isolation) |
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Definition
| a reproductive isolating mechanism that prevents maturation and reproduction in offspring from interspecies reproduction |
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Definition
| the formation of a new species as a result of evolutionary changes following a period of geographic isolation |
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| the evolution of populations within the same geographic area into separate species |
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| The relatively rapid evolution of a single species into many new species, filling a variety of formerly empty ecological niches |
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| the large-scale evolution of a group into many different forms |
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| the evolution of similar traits in distantly related species |
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| a process in which one species evolves in response to the evolution of another species |
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