Evolution
hypothetical process of change in all forms of life over generations
What is the theory of evolution?
A species of plant or animal that have become so rare they are in danger of becoming extinct.
What is an endangered species?
the scientific study of naming, defining, and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics
What is taxonomy?
Which scientist came up with the theory of evolution that is still used today?
Who is Charles Darwin?
When an organism ceases to exist in a chosen geographic area of study, though it still exists elsewhere.
What is local extinction?
Permanent, heritable change in the nucleotide sequence (DNA). The process by which such a change occurs in a gene.
What is a mutation?
A species that is likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future.
What is a threatened species?
Two classification categories are used for the scientific name of an organism.
What are genus and species?
On the Galapagos Islands, different types of finches (birds) changed and adapted to the food sources on their respective islands. This process of change could be called ______ and led to more than a dozen types of finches, called "Darwin's finches" today.
What is speciation?
Also known as the normal extinction rate, this refers to the standard rate of extinction in Earth's geological and biological history before humans became a primary contributor to extinctions.
What is background extinction?
A specific characteristic of an organism- can be determined by genes, the environment, or more commonly by interactions between them.
What is a trait?
A region with a high level of plant species and animals- irreplaceable. This area is also threatened (typically by human contact).
What is a hotspot?
One species is the most recent ancestor that two or more species share later in time.
What is the most recent common ancestor (MRCA)?
Monarch butterflies and birds have developed behaviors/bodies that benefit one another, as well as bees and flowers. This process is called ____.
What is coevolution?
______ species like raccoons can eat a variety of foods and thrive in a range of habitats
Two terms that relate to differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype- these differences often increase the fitness of an organism in a habitat.
What are natural selection and adaptation?
Number of types of living organisms and abundance of each kind that live in a particular location.
What is species diversity?
A diagram/map that shows the graphical representation of the hypothetical relationship between different groups of organisms.
What is a cladogram/phylogenetic tree?
The "Law of Superposition" states that in undisturbed rock sequences, the bottom layers are older than the top layers. If this is true, is a fish fossil found 0.5 km deep or a plant fossil found 0.25 km deep older?
What is fish fossil?
This sixth (6th) period of extinction is primarily due to human intervention and activity in nature.
What is the Holocene extinction?
Name three processes that can lead to the speciation of living organisms.
What is ecological, temporal, behavioral, mechanical/chemical, and geographical isolation?
Collection of seeds, plants, or animals, maintained as a repository of genetic material, typically to preserve genetic diversity.
What is a gene bank?
List the classification categories from most broad to most specific.
What is domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species, subspecies?
One cougar has 2 offspring and lived for 20 years. Another cougar has 4 offspring and lived for 8 years. Which cougar has the higher fitness?
What is the second cougar that lived 8 years?
Both the physical and environmental conditions a species requires (like temperature or terrain) and the interactions it has with other species
What is an ecological niche?