Darwin & Evolution Basics
This naturalist traveled on the HMS Beagle and proposed evolution by natural selection.
Who is Charles Darwin?
Preserved remains or traces of ancient organisms are called this.
What is a fossil?
This is the process where organisms better adapted to their environment survive and reproduce.
What is natural selection?
This is the splitting of one species into two or more species.
What is speciation?
This experiment attempted to simulate early Earth conditions to form organic molecules.
What is the Miller-Urey experiment?
The islands where Darwin observed his famous finches.
What is the Galapagos islands?
Structures that are similar in different species due to shared ancestry are called these.
What are homologous structures?
This term refers to an organism’s ability to successfully reproduce.
What is fitness?
This occurs when populations spread into new environments and evolve differently.
What is adaptive radiation?
This term refers to life arising from non-living matter.
What is abiogenesis?
This term describes the idea that organisms slowly change over time.
What is biological evolution?
Structures that no longer serve a useful function are called these.
What are vestigial structures?
This type of selection favors one extreme of a population.
What is directional selection?
Small, isolated populations tend to experience this type of evolutionary change speed.
What is faster change?
These missing links in the fossil record are often cited as a problem for evolution.
What are transitional forms?
This phrase means all organisms come from common ancestors and change over generations.
What is descent with modification?
This dating method compares unstable and stable carbon isotopes to estimate age.
What is radiocarbon dating?
This type of selection favors both extremes and selects against the middle.
What is disruptive selection?
This prevents species from reproducing with one another.
What is a reproductive barrier?
This concept argues that some biological systems are too complex to function if any part is missing.
What is irreducible complexity?
This type of trait increases an organism’s chances of survival and reproduction.
What is an adaptation?
This diagram shows evolutionary relationships among organisms.
What is a phylogenetic tree?
Darwin did not know this mechanism, now known to involve DNA and mutations.
What is genetics?
This tool uses mutation rates to estimate when species diverged.
What is molecular clock?
This idea applies “survival of the fittest” to human society, often leading to harmful consequences.
What is social Darwinism?