Evolution and Adaptation
What do we call a group of organisms that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring?
Species
Traits are passed from parents to offspring through what biological unit?
Genes
What term describes the number of organisms in an area at a given time?
Population size
What do we call the feeding position of an organism in a food chain?
Trophic level
What term describes a group of individuals of the same species living in the same area?
Population
What term describes environmental factors that influence which traits are favored?
Selective pressures
What describes the number of individuals per unit area?
Population density
What organisms use photosynthesis or chemosynthesis to make their own food?
Producers
What process explains how populations change over many generations due to genetic changes?
Evolution
Closely related species that adapt to different environments tend to do what to their traits?
Diverge
What type of population growth occurs when a population increases by a fixed percentage each year?
Exponential growth
What type of organism breaks down dead matter and recycles nutrients back into the soil?
Decomposers
Traits that increase reproductive success tend to spread through a population. What is this process called?
Adaptation
Unrelated species in similar environments developing similar traits is called what?
Convergent evolution
Why does exponential growth usually only happen for a short time in nature?
Because resources become limited and competition increases
On the keystone species slide, which type of organism is shown at the top of the food web?
Top predator
Which two scientists independently proposed the idea of natural selection in the 1850s?
Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace
Give one example of a selective pressure shown or mentioned on the slides.
Predators, climate, food availability, competition, or disease
What usually happens to population growth when food or space becomes limited?
It slows down
Why are small, specialized populations especially vulnerable to extinction?
They cannot adapt quickly to rapid environmental change