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Evolution T7 PART A
This is the complete section A of evolution flashcards
Question | Answer |
---|---|
Mechanism | How something works |
Inherited characteristic | A characteristic that parents pass to their offspring through their DNA |
Acquired characteristic | A characteristic that parents get during their lifetime which cannot be passed to their offspring through their DNA |
Species | A group of organisms that can successfully reproduce with each other |
Evolution | The slow inherited change of a species over many many generations |
Natural selection | Darwin's explanation of how evolution happens based on four ideas: overproduction, variation, adaptation, and spread of successful variations |
Variation | Differences in an inherited trait among members of a species |
Adaptation | A variation that helps an organism to survive better than an organism without the variation |
Gradualism | Explanation of how fast evolution happens and how new species evolve; gradualism says new species evolve slowly by gradual change |
Punctuated equilibrium | Explanation of how fast evolution happens and how new species evolve; punctuated equilibrium says new species evolve "quickly" due to small genetic mutations and/or rapid environmental change, then stay the same for long periods of time |