Evolution Word Scramble
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Question/Term | Answer/Definition |
What were Earth's first organisms? | Bacteria (prokaryotes) |
Gene Frequency | The amount of a specific gene within a population. |
Natural Selection | Organisms that survive and reproduce are those with traits best suited for their environment. |
Absolute Dating (radiometric/carbon dating) | The dating of fossils from by measuring the amount of shorter-lived radioactive elements (like carbon-14). |
Charles Darwin | Person who developed his theory of natural selection (evolution) after visiting the Galapagos Islands. |
Galapagos Islands | Islands where Darwin developed his theory of natural selection by observing finches (birds) and how their beaks differed along with tortoises. |
Convergent Evolution | Over many generations, unrelated species start to have similar traits due to a similar environment. Example: insect wings and bird wings. |
Divergent Evolution | When a common ancestor splits into separate species due to environmental factors. Example: finches on Galapagos Islands all originated from a common ancestor finch native to South America |
Homologous Structure | Structures on difference species that look similar, but do not perform the same function. This means that the species have a common ancestor. Example: Whale flipper bones, human leg bones, and bat wing bones all have similar bone structures. |
What evidence do we have for evolution? | Fossils, absolute and relative dating, structural similarities, embryos that look similar, geographic distribution, DNA (genetics) |
Phylogenetic Tree/Cladogram | A diagram that shows evolutionary relationships between species. |
Vestigial Structure | Structures within organisms that serve no purpose, but show us that at one point an ancestor of that species used it for something. Example would be appendix in humans, pelvis in whales, eyes in fish that live in caves. |
Gradualism | Evolution happens really slowly with changes to species happening gradually over time. |
Fitness | The ability for an organism to survive and reproduce within a population. |
Survival of the Fittest | A part of Darwin's theory where only those individuals within a population who are best suited to survive within the environment and reproduce are those who survive. |
Genetic Diversity | A population with a high amount of differences between individuals is more likely to survive environmental change because it is more likely that at least a few members of the population will have a trait that can survive the environment. |
In order for a species to change over time, what must happen to individuals within a population for there to be adaptations? | Mutations causing unique traits that just so happen to be better suited for the environment. |
Directional Selection | Natural selection where one of the extremes is better than the other. Example would be that the larger a lion is, the more likely it will survive. Smaller lions are often weak and killed. |
Stabilizing Selection | Natural selection where the average trait is better than either extreme. Example: human babies that are born too small, can lose heat easily and may not survive, while those that are too big may be have complications during childbirth (medium size=best) |
Disruptional Selection | Natural selection where both extremes are better than the average. Example: a population of rabbits that are black, white, or gray living in habitat with black rocks and white rocks. Gray rabbits would not survive since they have no area that matches. |
Artificial Selection (or selective breeding) | Form of selection where humans chose the traits that they want to pass on. Example would be dog breeds, where humans choose certain attributes of dogs that they like creating different breeds. |
Gene Pool | All the gene possibilities (and the traits they create) within a population |
Founder Effect | A loss of genetic variations occurs when a new population is established by leaving a larger population. |
Speciation | The creation of a new species due to environmental change and/or mutation. |
Behavioral Isolation | Certain behaviors that allow species that are similar to know who to mate with so there is no cross-species breeding. |
Adaptive Radiation | When a single species breaks into various groups, filling different ecological niches, and changing forms as they do. Rapid evolution. |
Coevolution | When two or more species evolve at the same time, at the same rate, due to evolutionary pressures. Example would be a flower and its pollinator changing over time to better suit each other's mutualistic relationship. |
Analagous Structure | Structures in unrelated species that have different internal features but serve the same function (like bat wing and insect wing). |
Punctuated Equilibrium | Times in evolutionary history where there are rapid speciation followed by times of little change. (think after the dinosaurs died off mammals evolved fast) |
Adaptation | modification to a species that makes it more fit for its environment to survive and reproduce. Can be structure or behavior. |
Created by:
Rylands
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