Scientific Theories and Laws
This is the relationship between scientific theories and scientific laws.
What is theories explain phenomena, and laws describe relationships?
This mechanism describes random changes in allele frequencies, especially in small populations.
What is genetic drift?
This type of evidence includes fossils that show changes in species over time.
What are transitional fossils?
This type of natural selection favors one extreme phenotype over the others.
What is directional selection?
Speciation occurs when populations of the same species become this.
What is reproductively isolated?
Scientific explanations must have this characteristic to be considered valid.
What is being supported by available data and evidence?
This mechanism introduces genetic material from one population to another.
What is gene flow?
Similarities in early-stage embryos of vertebrates provide evidence for this.
What is common ancestry?
When intermediate phenotypes are favored, this type of natural selection is at work.
What is stabilizing selection?
A road separating a population of squirrels into two groups is an example of this type of isolation.
What is geographic isolation?
A student asked if a theory could become a law with enough evidence. This is the best response.
What is no, theories explain how something happens, and laws describe relationships?
This mechanism occurs when new traits arise due to duplication, insertion, or deletion in the genetic code.
What is mutation?
Structures like the human appendix, which have lost their original function, are called this.
What are vestigial structures?
This term describes the competition for resources within a population that drives natural selection.
What is the struggle for existence?
Two frog species in the same pond breed at different times of the year, demonstrating this type of isolation.
What is temporal isolation?
This characteristic differentiates a scientific theory from popular opinion.
What is being supported by evidence rather than opinion?
A drastic reduction in population size caused by an environmental event is referred to as this.
What is the bottleneck effect?
The DNA of humans and chimpanzees being 98% identical is an example of this type of evidence.
What is molecular biology?
This is why adaptations beneficial in one area may not be beneficial elsewhere.
What is environmental differences?
Behavioral isolation occurs when populations develop differences in these.
What are courtship rituals or mating behaviors?
This is why scientific theories, like the theory of evolution, remain widely accepted.
What is their ability to explain and predict phenomena based on evidence?
This mechanism is responsible for the movement of alleles through migration.
What is gene flow?
This describes the relationship between the fossil record and molecular biology in evolutionary studies.
What is they both provide evidence for shared ancestry?
Faster running speeds in animals evolving over time is an example of this process.
What is natural selection?
This term describes the effect of isolation that prevents two populations from interbreeding.
What is reproductive isolation?