A change in the DNA sequence
How well an organism is able to survive and reproduce in its environment
This person wrote On the Origin of Species after a long voyage to the Galapagos Islands
Who is Charles Darwin?
Preserved remains of ancient organisms
What are fossils?
What is natural selection?
A heritable trait that helps an organism better survive and reproduce in their environment
What is an adaptation?
When humans breed organisms for specific features
What is artificial selection?
An organism's adaptation to blend into an environment and stay undetected
What is camouflage?
In a dark forest, which peppered moth would survive?
What is a dark peppered moth?
A change in a species population distribution where traits towards the average are favored, and extreme traits provide a disadvantage.
What is stabilizing selection?
The whale's pelvic bones
What is vestigial structure?
Has similar functions but different structures and do not share a common ancestor
What are analogous structures?
An organism's unique sequence of DNA, usually a combination of two alleles.
What is genotype?
The expression of an organism's genes (observable characteristics)
What is phenotype?
Has similar bone structures and a common ancestor
What are homologous structures?
A decline in genetic variation when a small group becomes separated from a larger population
What is the founder effect?
When a species separates into 2 groups that are geographically isolated from each other, creating 2 separate species
What is Geographical (allopatric speciation) isolation?
A sharp decline in a population's genetic variation due to outside forces or random events such has hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc.
What is the bottleneck effect?
A change in population distribution of a species where one extreme trait is favored over the average
What is directional selection?
The evolutionary diversification of a single ancestral line where organisms display different adaptations in response to different selection pressures
What is adaptive radiation?
A change in population distribution where two extreme traits are favored over the average, often a precursor to speciation.
What is disruptive selection?
The process where organisms that are not closely related develop similar traits as adaptations to similar environments
What is convergent evolution?
Organisms moving from a population of one species to a separate population of the same species, changing the allele frequency or introducing new traits
What is gene flow