Biodiversity and Diversification
The term used to describe the variety of living things on earth.
Biodiversity
The mechanism by which advantageous traits become more common in populations over generations.
Natural selection
The scientist who formulated natural selection after observing variation in finches.
Charles Darwin
The concept that species evolve slowly and gradually over long periods.
Gradualism
Features that improve an organism's survival or reproduction in its environment.
Adaptations
Variation in DNA sequences among individuals in a population that allows natural selection to act.
Genetic diversity
Small genetic changes in populations that accumulate over generations.
Microevolution
The scientist who independently developed the theory of natural selection after observing species diversity in Southeast Aisa.
Alfred Wallace
The theory that species remain mostly unchanged for long periods, then undergo rapid evolutionary change.
Punctuated equilibrium
The type of adaptation that involves changes in an organisim's actions that help it survive in its environment.
Behavioural adaptations
The process by which a single lineage splits into multiple, distinct evolutionary pathways or species.
Evolutionary diversification
The changes in the horse's ancestral species show gradual modifications in body size and limb structure over time.
Cumulative evolutionary change
The islands where Darwin studied finches, leading to observations that helped explain species adaptation and natural selection.
The Galapagos Islands
The main difference between gradualism and punctuated equilibrium.
The speed and timing of evolutionary change
Body structures descended from a common ancestor but serve different functions.
Homologous structures
The process by which new species emerge and occupy different ecological roles over time
Species diversification
The platypus shows unique adaptations like egg-laying and venomous spurs, demonstrating gradual trait evolution.
Adaptive specialisation
The evolution of different traits in closely related species adapting to different environments.
Divergent evolution
Fossil records show the sudden appearances of species with few transitional forms.
Punctuated evolutionary patterns
One ancestral species giving rise to multiple species in different ecological niches.
Adaptive radiation
The decline in species numbers and ecosystem complexity caused by habitat destruction.
Reduction in biodiversity
When populations diverge to the point that they can no longer interbreed successfully.
Reproductive isolation - Speciation
The evolution of similar traits is unrelated species exposed to similar environmental pressures.
Convergent evolution
Environmental events such as mass extinctions can trigger this type of rapid species change.
Burst evolution
The process that causes random changes in allele frequencies in a population which can lead to evolution over time.
Genetic drift