Origin of the Species
Who is the father of evolution?
Charles Darwin
What are fossils?
Preserved remains of ancient organisms
What is a species?
A group of organisms that share similar characteristics and can reproduce among themselves.
What is Genetic Drift?
When gene frequencies are changed by chance or random events in an isolated population
What is Sexual Selection?
Nature selects a trait that increases an individual’s chance of mating
What is the mechanism of evolution?
Natural Selection
What are Homologous Structures?
Similar structures that evolved from a common ancestor such as bones humans, cats, bats, and whales have in common.
According to the modern theory of evolution, new traits are produced by
mutations
What is bottleneck effect?
When a catastrophe wipes out part of the population.
What is Stabilizing Selection?
Individuals with an intermediate value of an inherited phenotype have the advantage
What are adaptations?
Any inherited trait that increases an organism's chance of survival.
What are Analogous Structures?
Body structures on different organisms that are similar in function but did not evolve from the same ancestor (bird wing and butterfly wing)
What is the human practice of breeding animals or plants with certain desired traits?
Artificial selection
What is Founder Effect?
Several individuals from a population break off and form new population
What is Directional Selection?
Individuals of one extreme of a phenotype have the advantage over others
What is "fitness"
An organism's ability to survive and reproduce in its environment.
What is a transition fossil?
Any fossil which gives us information about a transition from one species to another; helps support the Theory of Evolution
What is a population?
A group of individuals of the same species that live in the same area and can potentially interbreed.
Suppose a small number of tree frogs migrate to a mat of vegetation that is already home to an established population of tree frogs and introduce new alleles into the native population's gene pool. In that case, what is this change referred to as?
What is gene flow?
What is Disruptive Selection?
An increase in the frequency of extreme types in a population.
What is the Theory of Evolution?
The well-substantiated explanation that living species are descendants of ancestral species that were different from present-day ones.
What are Vestigial Organs/Structures?
Organs/ structures that no longer serve a purpose and have disappeared or reduced in size
What is Microevolution?
Changes in the frequency of an allele in a population over a few generations.
The Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium states?
The frequency of each allele will remain constant in a population unless affected by other factors.
What is Selective pressure?
Conditions that control the number in a population by limiting the ability of an organism to survive.