Vocabulary Terms
The change in a species over a long period of time.
What is evolution?
A population of beetles shows variation in shell color. Birds can see lighter-colored beetles more easily. Over several generations, the beetle population becomes darker overall. This is an example of. . .
What is natural selection?
Scientists can examine the structure of hemoglobin in many species to show evolutionary relationships. Explain how blood cells can be used to prove these evolutionary relationships.
Hemoglobin is a protein coded for genes. If species have similar genes, then they are more closely related to one another.
This scientist developed the theory of evolution by natural selection after studying finches on the Galápagos Islands.
Who is Charles Darwin?
These biomolecules store information and dictate life functions to help organisms survive and reproduce.
What are nucleic acids?
A genetically determined trait that helps an organism adapt to its environment to survive and reproduce.
What is an adaptation?
These preserved remains or traces of ancient organisms show how species have changed over millions of years.
What is the fossil record?
This type of diagram shows evolutionary relationships among species, illustrating how they branched from common ancestors.
What is a phylogenetic tree or cladogram?
This organ helps with the absorption of water and nutrients from our diets so that we can eventually make energy.
What is the intestine?
The process of selecting for advantageous traits through competition for resources.
What is natural selection?
Describe how a mutation can lead to an adaptation in a population over time.
A mutation could randomly occur and increase the chances of that organism's survival, therefore allowing it to reproduce and pass on the advantageous trait.
These similar body structures—like the human arm, bat wing, and whale flipper—indicate that different species share a common ancestor.
What are homologous structures?
These features appear similar because unrelated species evolved under similar environmental pressures, like shark and dolphin body shapes.
What are analogous structures?
This process occurs in the mitochondria to produce ATP from glucose and oxygen.
What is cellular respiration?
A trait that helps an organism survive and reproduce. Overtime, these traits increase in the population.
What is a selective advantage?
Which statement best describes a requirement for natural selection to occur?
a. All individuals must have identical traits
b. The environment must remain constant
c. There must be variation within a population
d. Individuals choose their adaptations?
What is C?
These structures are found in modern day organisms and their common ancestors, but they do not function in modern day species.
What are vestigial structures?
This process explains how organisms that are not closely related evolve similar traits because they live in similar environments.
What is convergent evolution?
_______________________ copies down DNA into mRNA so it can leave the nucleus to complete _________________ at the ribosome to develop the primary structure of a protein.
What is transcription and translation?
The process of identifying organisms and classifying them into the tree of life based on their characteristics.
What is taxonomy?
A population of plants shows variation in leaf thickness. In a dry climate, thicker leaves help conserve water. Explain what may happen overtime to the population of plants if the climate remains the same.
Overtime, the large leaves would become more prevalent in the population because it is an advantageous trait.
Why might two species that are very different today share similar embryonic structures?
They share a common ancestor. The genes that code for the development of embryos would be similar, meaning that they inherited the same genetic sequence from their ancestors.
Which population will evolve the fastest?
a. small population, many mutations
b. large population, no variation
c. small population, no environmental pressure
d. large population with limited resources
What is A?
A ___________________ binds to the _______________ site of an __________________ so that molecules can be synthesized or digested.
What are substrate, active, enzyme?