Natural Selection
What process explains how individuals with traits that help them survive and reproduce are more likely to pass those traits to the next generation?
Natural Selection
What type of adaptation helps an animal blend into its environment to avoid predators?
Camouflage
What type of mutation involves a change in just one base pair in DNA?
Point Mutation
What term describes the formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution?
Speciation
What term describes how quickly or slowly species change over generations?
Rate of Evolutionary Change
A giraffe’s long neck is an example of what type of trait that increases its chance of survival by allowing it to reach high leaves?
Adaptation
What structures allow desert plants like cacti to store water and reduce water loss?
Succulent Stems/Leaves
If a mutation causes a premature stop codon, making the protein shorter than normal, it is called a...?
Nonsense Mutation
Charles Darwin observed examples of speciation on what islands...?
Galapagos
Charles Darwin observed that species adapt gradually over long periods, a concept called...?
Gradualism
Natural selection acts on what kinds of differences among individuals in a population, some of which give a survival or reproductive advantage?
Variations
Some birds migrate thousands of miles each year to find food or suitable breeding grounds, this is an example of what kind of adaptation?
Behavioral Adaptation
What type of mutation occurs when a nucleotide is inserted or deleted, often shifting the reading frame of the genetic code?
Frameshift Mutation
When populations of the same species become physically separated, preventing gene flow, what type of speciation may occur?
Allopatric Speciation
Fossil evidence showing a species staying relatively unchanged for millions of years supports what model of evolution?
Punctuated Equilibrium
Over many generations, natural selection can change the genetic makeup of a population, leading to what long-term process of change in species?
Evolution
The finches on the Galápagos Islands evolved different beak shapes depending on their diet, illustrating how what process drives adaptations across generations?
Natural Selection
Mutations caused by chemicals, radiation, or viruses are collectively known as...?
Mutagens
What type of speciation occurs within a single geographic area, often due to factors like differing food sources or mating behaviors?
Sympatric Speciation
Scientists sometimes measure the rate of evolutionary change by calculating the number of what per million years?
Mutations/Genetic Changes
Predators, climate, and competition are all examples of what environmental factors that influence which traits become more common in a population?
Selective Pressures
What type of adaptation involves changes in an organism’s body structure?
Structural Adaptation
When a mutation occurs in this type of cell, it can be passed on to offspring, potentially affecting an entire species.
Germ Cell Mutation
In this speciation mechanism, having more than two sets of chromosomes can lead to the rapid formation of a new plant species without geographic isolation.
Polyploid Speciation
When natural selection causes rapid changes in a population’s traits over a few generations, scientists call it...?
Microevolution