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Unit 7
AP Biology Unit 7 Vocabulary
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Evolution | the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth. |
| Evolutionary Fitness | is how well a species is able to reproduce in its environment. |
| Natural Selection | is the process through which populations of living organisms adapt and change. |
| Selective Pressure | is any reason for organisms with certain phenotypes to have either a survival benefit or disadvantage. |
| Adaptive Radiation | the diversification of a group of organisms into forms filling different ecological niches. |
| Biological Species Concept | is a group of organisms that can reproduce with one another in nature and produce fertile offspring. |
| Divergent Evolution | is the accumulation of differences between closely related populations within a species, leading to speciation. |
| Gradualism | a policy of gradual reform rather than sudden change or revolution. |
| Punctuated Equilibrium | the hypothesis that evolutionary development is marked by isolated episodes of rapid speciation between long periods of little or no change. |
| Reproductive Isolation | the inability of a species to breed successfully with related species due to geographical, behavioral, physiological, or genetic barriers or differences. |
| Speciation | the formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution. |
| Ecosystems | A system that includes all living organisms (biotic factors) in an area as well as its physical environment (abiotic factors) functioning together as a unit. |
| Extinction | is the dying out of a species. Extinction plays an important role in the evolution of life because it opens up opportunities for new species to emerge. |
| Niche | is a term for the position of a species within an ecosystem, describing both the range of conditions necessary for persistence of the species, and its ecological role in the ecosystem. |
| Species Diversity | is all the differences within and between populations of species, as well as between different species. |
| RNA World Hypothesis | suggests that life on Earth began with a simple RNA molecule that could copy itself without help from other molecules. |
| Convergent Evolution | is the process in which organisms that are not closely related independently evolve similar features. |
| Bottleneck Effect | is the term used to describe the loss of genetic variation that occurs after outside forces destroy most of a population. |
| Founder Effect | is the reduction in genetic variation that results when a small subset of a large population is used to establish a new colony. |
| Genetic Drift | is a mechanism of evolution in which allele frequencies of a population change over generations due to chance (sampling error). |
| Mutation | is a change that occurs in our DNA sequence, either due to mistakes when the DNA is copied or as the result of environmental factors |
| Population | is defined as a group of individuals of the same species living and interbreeding within a given area. |
| Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium | is a principle stating that the genetic variation in a population will remain constant from one generation to the next in the absence of disturbing factors. |
| Migration | is a pattern of behavior in which animals travel from one habitat to another in search of food, better conditions, or reproductive needs. |
| Null Hypothesis | An assumption or proposition where an observed difference between two samples of a statistical population is purely accidental and not due to systematic causes. |
| Fossil | are the preserved remains, or traces of remains, of ancient organisms. |
| Isotope | are different forms of the same element that have the same number of protons, but a different number of neutrons. |
| Morphology | the study of the size, shape, and structure of animals, plants, and microorganisms and of the relationships of their constituent parts. |
| Vestigial Structure | Structures that have no apparent function and appear to be residual parts from a past ancestor are called vestigial structures. |
| Cladogram | a branching diagram showing the cladistic relationship between a number of species. |
| Lineage | are sequences of biological entities connected by ancestry-descent relationships |
| Molecular Clock | explains Blair Hedges, is a tool used to calculate the timing of evolutionary events. |
| Out-Group | is used in phylogenetic analyses to figure out where the root of the tree should be placed |
| Phylogenetic Trees | also known as a phylogeny, is a diagram that depicts the lines of evolutionary descent of different species, organisms, or genes from a common ancestor. |
| Phylogeny | the history of the evolution of a species or group, especially in reference to lines of descent and relationships among broad groups of organisms. |
Created by:
FernandoC
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