Honors Bio Unit 3 Evolution Review Sheet

Question and Answer format

What influences an organism's fitness and leads to shifts in phenotypic and allele frequencies?

Environmental selective pressures influence an organism's fitness.

What is the difference between macroevolution and microevolution?

Macroevolution refers to large-scale evolutionary changes that occur over long periods, while microevolution refers to small-scale changes within a population.

What is natural selection?

Natural selection is the process by which individuals with favorable traits are more likely to survive and reproduce.

What does 'fitness' refer to in evolutionary biology?

Fitness refers to an organism's ability to survive, reproduce, and pass on its genes to the next generation.

What is adaptation?

Adaptation is a trait that enhances an organism's fitness in a specific environment.

What is genetic and phenotypic variation?

Genetic variation refers to differences in genes among individuals in a population, while phenotypic variation refers to differences in observable traits.

Define a gene pool.

A gene pool is the total collection of genes and alleles in a population.

What are the types of natural selection?

The types of natural selection include directional selection, disruptive selection, and stabilizing selection.

What are gene and allele frequencies?

Gene frequency is the proportion of a specific allele in a population, while allele frequency refers to how common an allele is compared to other alleles for that gene.

What are the five mechanisms of microevolution?

The five mechanisms of microevolution are natural selection, mutation, gene flow, genetic drift, and non-random mating.

What is Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium?

Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is the condition when a population is not evolving or changing.

How do selective pressures affect populations over time?

Selective pressures can lead to changes in allele and phenotypic frequencies in a population over time.

What contributes to the formation of new species?

Geographic separation events contribute to the formation of new species.

What is speciation?

Speciation is the process by which new species arise.

What are the types of isolation that facilitate speciation?

Geographic isolation and reproductive isolation are types of isolation that facilitate speciation.

Define divergent evolution.

Divergent evolution is the process where two or more related species become more dissimilar over time.

What is adaptive radiation?

Adaptive radiation is the rapid evolution of diversely adapted species from a common ancestor.

What is convergent evolution?

Convergent evolution is the process where unrelated species evolve similar traits due to similar environmental pressures.

What is coevolution?

Coevolution is the process where two or more species evolve in response to each other.

What is the purpose of a phylogenetic tree?

A phylogenetic tree illustrates evolutionary relationships among species.

What does binomial nomenclature refer to?

Binomial nomenclature is the two-part scientific naming system for organisms, consisting of genus and species.

What is meant by a common ancestor?

A common ancestor is an ancestral species from which multiple species have evolved.

What are shared traits?

Shared traits are characteristics that are common among species that arise from a common ancestor.

What skills should students have regarding phylogenetic trees?

Students should be able to interpret or create a simple phylogenetic tree.