Natural Selection
This scientist developed the theory of natural selection after studying finches in the Galápagos Islands.
Who is Charles Darwin?
The ability of an ecosystem to remain stable despite disturbances, often due to biodiversity and interconnected species.
What is ecological resilience?
This process, intensified by human activities, occurs when greenhouse gases like CO₂ and CH₄ trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere, leading to rising global temperatures.
What is the enhanced greenhouse effect?
The structural, behavioral, or physiological traits that help organisms survive in their environment.
What are adaptations?
This term describes the process where humans selectively breed organisms for desired traits.
What is artificial selection?
A genetic change that introduces new traits into a population, sometimes providing an advantage for survival.
What is a mutation?
The process by which populations of organisms change over time due to natural selection, leading to the development of new species.
What is evolution?
In a dangerous feedback loop, melting permafrost releases large amounts of this greenhouse gas, further accelerating global warming.
What is methane?
This process occurs when species evolve in response to changes in another species, such as predator-prey relationships.
What is coevolution?
The process by which human activities cause rapid changes in species traits, such as antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
What is human-driven evolution?
The term for the ability of an organism to survive and reproduce in its environment, often influenced by its adaptations.
(What is fitness?)
When environmental changes favor one extreme trait over another, shifting a population’s traits over time.
What is directional selection?
As temperatures rise, boreal forests may reach a critical threshold where they emit more carbon than they absorb, causing widespread ecological and climatic consequences.
What is a carbon sink-to-source transition?
The phenomenon where organisms with similar traits develop independently due to facing similar environmental pressures.
What is convergent evolution?
Climate change and habitat destruction have increased the rate of this phenomenon, where species disappear permanently.
What is extinction?
This form of selection occurs when individuals with extreme traits are favored over intermediate ones, leading to two distinct forms in a population.
What is disruptive selection?
The concept that small environmental changes can have long-term impacts on ecosystems and species.
What is the butterfly effect?
This natural process, essential for bringing deep, nutrient-rich water to the ocean’s surface, is disrupted by rising sea temperatures, reducing food availability for marine ecosystems.
What is nutrient upwelling?
The ability of an organism to modify its behavior or physiology to survive short-term environmental changes.
What is acclimatization?
Deforestation and urbanization lead to this type of habitat destruction, where species become isolated in fragmented environments.
What is habitat fragmentation?
A special case of natural selection where traits evolve because they improve mating success, rather than survival.
What is sexual selection?
A dramatic decrease in population size due to environmental events or human activities, reducing genetic diversity.
What is a bottleneck effect?
This climate mitigation strategy involves capturing and storing atmospheric CO₂ through natural and artificial processes, including afforestation, biochar application, and direct air capture, to reduce greenhouse gas concentrations.
What is carbon sequestration?
An example of natural selection in action, this type of moth changed color due to industrial pollution in 19th-century England.
What is the peppered moth?
Scientists use this field of study to predict how climate change may influence the evolution of species over time.
What is evolutionary biology?