Term | Definition |
evolution | the processes that have transformed life on earth from its earliest forms to the vast diversity that characterizes it today
change in genes |
Jean Baptiste Lamarck | proposed "The inheritance of acquired characteristics" |
Charles Darwin | realized that natural forces gradually change Earth's surface and that the forces of the past are still operating in modern times |
Charles Darwin | wrote "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection" |
Charles Darwin | traveled to the Galapagos Islands to collect plants and animals, and he observed species that lived no where else in world |
Jean Baptiste Lamarck | proposed that by using or not using its body parts, an individual tends to develop certain characteristics, which it passes on to its offspring |
1. Species were not created in their present form, but evolved from ancestral species
2. Proposed a mechanism for evolution: NATURAL SELECTION | Darwin's two main points |
Differential Reproduction | Individuals with favorable traits are more likely to leave more offspring better suited for their environment |
Artificial Selection | the selective breeding of domesticated plants and animals by man |
1. Biogeography
2. Fossil Record
3. Evidence of Taxonomy
4. Homologous structures
5. Comparative embryology
6. Molecular biology | Evidence of evolution |
popular genetics | the science of genetic change in population |
population | a localized group of individuals belonging to the same species |
species | a group of populations whose individuals have the potential to interbreed and produce viable offspring |
gene pool | the total collection of genes in a population at any one time |
Hardy-Weinberg Principle | the concept that the shuffling of genes that occur during sexual reproduction, by itself, cannot change the overall genetic makeup of a population |
1. Very large population
2. Isolation from other populations
3. No net mutations
4. Random mating
5. No natural selection | The Hardy-Weinberg Principle will be maintained in nature only if all five of these conditions are met: |
macroevolution | the origin of taxonomic groups higher than the species level |
microevolution | a change in a population's gene pool over a secession of generations |
1. Genetic Drift
2. Gene Flow
3. Mutation
4. Non-random mating
5. Natural Selection | Five Mechanisms of Microevolution |
genetic drift | change in the gene pool over a secession of generations |
founder effect | genetic drift resulting from the colonization of a new location by a small number of individuals |
gene flow | the gain or loss of alleles from a population by the movement of individuals or gametes |
mutation | change in an organism's DNA that creates a new allele |
non-random mating | the selection of mates other than by chance |
natural selection | Differential reproduction |
1. Stabilizing selection
2. Directional selection
3. Diversifying selection | Natural Selection |
speciation | the evolution of new species |
convergent evolution | species from different evolutionary branches may come to resemble one another if they live in very similar environments |
coevolution | evolutionary change, in which one species act as a selective force on a second species, inducing adaptions that in turn act as selective force on the first species |
biogeography | geographical distribution of species |
fossil record | fossils and the order in which they appear in layers of sedimentary rock |
Evidence of Taxonomy | classification of life forms |
homologous structures | structures that are similar because of common ancestry |
comparative embryology | study of structures that appear during embryonic development |
molecular biology | DNA and proteins (amino acids) |