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Evolution Unit
Natural Selection and Evidence of Evolution
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Species | a group of similar organisms whose members can mate with one another and produce fertile offspring |
| Evolution | the gradual change in a species allele frequency over time |
| Variation | any difference between individuals of the same species |
| Fossil | the preserved remains or traces of an organism that lived in the past |
| Gradualism | the theory that evolution occurs slowly but steadily |
| Punctuated equilibrium | the theory that species evolve over short periods of rapid change |
| Natural Selection | Individuals with the best inherited traits survive and reproduce at a higher rate, causing those traits to be more common in future generations. (Also called Survival of the Fittest.) |
| Adaptation | An inherited characteristic that increases an organism's chance of surviving and reproducing |
| Fitness | How well an organism can survive and reproduce in its environment. |
| Heredity | Passing of traits from parents to offspring |
| Variation | Any difference between individuals of the same species. |
| Competition | The struggle between organisms to survive in a habitat with limited resources. |
| Population | A group of individuals that belong to the same species and live in the same area. |
| Survival of the Fittest | Process of the most fit organisms surviving and passing down their genes at a higher rate. (Also called Natural Selection.) |
| Gene Flow (migration) | Movement of alleles from one population to another |
| Genetic Drift | A change in the gene pool of a population due to chance |
| Mutation | A change in a gene or chromosome that increases variation in a population |
| Common ancestor | the most recent ancestral form or species from which two different species evolved. |
| Niche | role,or position of an organism in its environment |
| Allele | one of the possible forms of a gene |
| Vestigial | A structure in an organism that has lost all or most of its original function in the course of evolution, such as human appendixes. |
| Analogous structure | the various structures in different species having the same function but different structures due to living in similar environments |
| Speciation | the formation of new and distinct species from an existing species |
| Homologous structure | Similar structures but different function due to species becoming more different |
| Directional selection | When one extreme phenotype is favored than all other phenotypes |
| Stabilizing selection | When the intermediate phenotype is more fit than the extreme phenotypes |
| Diversifying/ Disruptive selection | When both extreme phenotypes are favored or more fit than the intermediate/average phenotype |
| Origins of DNA | DNA started as simpler biomolecules that could store information, and over time, it became complex |
| Molecular homologies | Similarities in DNA to common ancestry |
| Biogeography | Distribution of life forms over geographical areas |
Created by:
absanford
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