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| a process in which individuals with certain inherited traits leave more offspring than individuals with other, less beneficial traits |
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| descent with modification; Darwin's proposal that Earth's many species are descendants of ancestral species that were different from the present-day species |
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| a characteristic of an organism that enhances their survival and reproduction in specific environments |
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| the process by which a population becomes better suited to its habitat |
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| the Darwinian theory that species originate by descent, with variation, from parent forms, through the natural selection of those individuals best adapted for the reproductive survivial of their kind |
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| the science of technique of classification |
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| the principle that events in the past occurred suddenly and were caused by mechanisms different from those operating in the present (developed by Cuvier) |
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| a tenet in evolutionary theory that maintains that species evolve slowly and continuously over long periods of geological time (developed by James Hutton) |
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| a theory that stated that the mechanisms of change are constant over time and therefore still apply today (Charles Lyell) |
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| purposeful modification of species over many generations by selecting and breeding individuals with certain traits |
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| the similarities between related species because of common ancestry, even if these similarities can have different functions |
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| represent variations on a structural theme that was present in the common ancestor |
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| remnants of features that served important functions in the organism's ancestors |
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| something that is found nowhere else in the world |
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| evolution on its smallest scale |
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modern accepted theory of evolution, with points:
1. evolution can be explained with observed evidence and current knowledge of genetic functions
2. evolution is gradual
3. natural selection is the main mechanism of change
4. genetic drift is involved to an uncertain level
5. populations, not individuals, are of main concern
6. explanation for some events via the jump from microevolution to macroevolution (extrapolation) |
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| the study of allele frequencies and changes under the four main evolutionary influences: natural selection, genetic drift, genetic mutation, genetic flow |
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| four main evolutionary processes |
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1. natural selection
2. genetic drift
3. genetic mutation
4. genetic flow |
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| the collection of all of the alleles for all of the loci in all individuals in a population |
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| any of the alternative versions of a gene that produce distinguishable phenotypic effects |
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| change in the nucleotide sequence of an organism's DNA |
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| a polymer chain of many amino acids linked together by peptide bonds |
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| a process in which chance events cause unpredictable fluctuations in allele frequencies from one generation to the next; effects of this are most impressive in smaller populations |
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| occurs when conditions favor individuals exhibiting one extreme of a phenotypic range, thereby shifting the frequency curve for the phenotypic character in one direction or another |
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| occurs when conditions favor individuals at both extremes of a phenotypic range over individuals with intermediate phenotypes |
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| acts against both extreme phenotypes and favors intermediates |
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| occurs when natural selection maintains two or more forms in a population |
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| example of balanced selection, when 2 different phenotypes are favored in a population |
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| when individuals who are heterozygous at a particular locus have greater fitness than do both kinds of homozygous |
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| nucleotide sequences that appear to give no selective advantage or disadvantage |
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| a form of natural selection in which individuals with certain inherited characteristics are more likely than other individuals to obtain mates |
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| selection within the same sex; individuals of one sex compete directly for mates of the opposite sex |
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| individuals of one sex (usually female) are choosy in selecting their opposite-sex mates |
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| the process by which one species splits into two or more species |
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| the progressive evolution of a species |
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| the evolutionary change by branching off of new species from common ancestral types |
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| Biological Species Concept |
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| the concept that defines a species as a group of populations whose members have the potential to interbreed in nature and produce viable, fertile offspring, but do not produce these offspring with members of other such groups |
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| a haploid reproductive cell, such as an egg or sperm |
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| extra sets of chromosomes resulting from an accident during cell division |
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| an individual that has more than two chromosome sets that are all derived from a single species |
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| period of evolutionary change in which groups of organisms form many new species whose adaptations allow them to fill vacant ecological roles in their communities |
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| periods where new species appear suddenly in a geologic stratum, persist essentially unchanged through several stratum, and then disappear |
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| a process in which a feature acquires a function that was not acquired through natural selection |
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| the evolutionary history of a species or group of related species |
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| a scientific discipline focused on classifying organisms and determining their evolutionary relationships |
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| similarities in characteristics resulting from a shared ancestry |
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| the evolution of similar features in independent evolutionary lineages |
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| similar structure or molecular sequence that has evolved independently in two species |
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| a branching diagram depicting the successive points of species divergence from common ancestral lines without regard to the degree of deviation |
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| homologous genes that are found in different species because of speciation |
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| homologous genes that are found in the same genome as a result of gene duplication |
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| the hypothesis that much evolutionary change in genes and proteins has no effect on fitness and therefore is not influenced by Darwinian natural selection |
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organisms are already perfectly adapted to their environments = no evolution, life's perfect already
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| organisms are arranged on a 'scale of life' from simple to complex = no evolution, life's perfect already |
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| catastrophism - attempted to relate fossils to life; said that no new species could emerge and that species could only be lost over time |
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| gradualism - changes on earth are gradual, not catastrophic |
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| uniformitarianism - incorporated Hutton's ideas, geological processes have operated at the same rate over Earth's history |
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| theory: life changed from simple to complex over time |
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| Problems with Lamarck's Theory: |
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| no knowledge of genetics was included; acquired traits are not transmitted through offspring |
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| Credits to Lamarck's Theory |
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| suggested correctly the role of fossils in evolution; suggested that adaptation to environment is a primary product of evolution |
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| wrote about disease, famine, and homelessness being inescapable because human population rises faster than food supply; Darwin read him |
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| father of modern theory of evolution (descent with modification) |
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| paper on natural selection identical to Darwin's ideas |
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