Natural Selection
Biological change in populations over time
What is evolution?
Organisms well adapted to their environment will survive and reproduce
What is natural selection?
Dinosaurs all died after a catastrophic event. (Be specific.)
Mass extinction
Preserved remains of organisms
fossils
Evolutionary history of a species
Evolution affecting a single population
What is microevolution?
Migration of an individual into a new population
What is gene flow?
Whales evolved from land mammals. This was a slow process over thousands of years.
What is gradualism?
Study of development of a species from fertilization (zygote) to birth
What is embryology?
A digram used to predict evolutionary relationships
What is a phylogenetic tree?
Scientist who developed the theory of natural selection
Who is Charles Darwin?
Ultimate source of variation in a population
What is mutation?
Modern dogs and wolves share a common ancestor - the Grey Wolf.
What is divergent evolution?
Features that have little or no function; useless
What is vestigial structure?
Picture a phylogenetic tree. What do the points of branching indicate?
What is common ancestor?
All the available alleles in a population
What is gene pool?
Measure of an individual's ability to survive and reproduce
What is fitness?
A fossil record showing mollusk evolution indicates a short period of rapid change followed by stability in the species.
What is punctuated equilibrium?
Narwhal tusks ("horns") are incredibly sensitive and provide information about the environment to the narwhal, such as how salty the water is. This feature is similar to antennae of insects.
What is analogous structure?
The polar bear's scientific name is Ursus maritimus. Considering taxonomic classifications, what does "Ursus" indicate?
What is its genus?
List three principles of natural selection
variation
adaptation
descent with modification
Random change in frequency of alleles in a population
What is genetic drift?
A type of divergent evolution - the many species of finches that Darwin studied, all with specialized beaks, evolved from a common ancestor.
What is adaptive radiation?
Analysis of DNA sequences can provide evidence of common ancestry. The study of this field is...
What is biochemistry?
All living things can be classified in three domains. Name two of the domains.
Eubacteria
Archaebacteria
Eukarya