General Vocabulary
These are two groups of organisms that cannot reproduce with each other.
Species
These structures likely share a common ancestor but have different functions between species.
Homologous Structures
A collection of remains from the past that are used to support the idea that organisms have changed over time.
Fossil Record
When a trait in a population changes over time.
Evolution
In a bird population where bright colored feathers are more likely to attract mates than dull colored feathers, we would expect what to happen after multiple generations?
Brighter colored feathers likely become more common.
The characteristics an organism has based on the environment they live in.
Ecomorph
Structures on two different species that have a similar function but are built differently, they do not suggest a common ancestor.
Analogous Structures
The study of developmental stages of organisms, organisms that show similar developmental stages are thought to be more closely related to one another.
Embryology
The ability to survive and reproduce.
Fitness or Biological Fitness
In a bird population where bright colored feathers are more likely to attract mates than dull colored feathers, but predators are also more easily able to spot those brighter colors, what would we expect to happen after multiple generations?
Feathers would likely find a middle ground of brightness, allowing them to attract mates while not calling too much attention from predators.
A specific trait that has evolved to increase the biological fitness of a population.
Adaptation
The bones in a bat's wing, bird's wing, human arm, cat's arm, and a whale's pectoral fin are examples of
Homologous structures
This is the study of where living things live around the planet.
Biogeography
How different the traits and genetics of a population are.
Genetic Diversity or Genetic Variation
A small population of birds is blown from the mainland population onto an island during a storm. Explain how this example could lead to a new species of bird that is different from the original bird population.
The population of island birds will have less genetic variation so some traits will likely have a stronger impact of natural selection especially in a new environment. Over time enough genetic variation occurs and the island population of birds becomes unable to breed with the mainland population. When this happens a new species has been created.
A group of cells that has a nucleus and membrane bound organelles.
Eukaryotes
Scientists believe that these structures have been passed down from common ancestors but have little or no current function compared to their ancestors' version.
Vestigial Structures
The evolutionary history of a group of organisms.
Phylogeny
The process by which individuals that are better fit to an environment are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing on their genes to the next generation.
Natural Selection
What are the four components needed for natural selection to cause a population to evolve?
1. Variation of a trait that is connected to genes
2. Struggle to survive, not all can survive to mate.
3. A variation of the trait needs to have greater fitness than other variants.
4. Time goes by and the trait becomes common among the population (I.e. evolution has happened).
A population of organisms that divided into multiple species, or a shared relative between two different species.
Common Ancestors
Analogous structures
This form of evidence for evolution remained undetected and unused until the late 1990's and early 2000's
DNA evidence or DNA sequencing
Two populations that are unable to breed with one another are said to have
Reproductive isolation
Both mitochondria and the chloroplast have all of their own unique prokaryotic features and are found within a eukaryotic cell.