Origin of Life (Biology)

Uniformitarianism

A process in past happpenend at the same rate as they do in the present

Catastrophism

That many species are created initially but catastrophes destroyed some leaving their remains as fossils

Extinct

Has no current members living

Fossils

Remains and traces of past life

Fitness

Fitness of an organism for its environment, including the process by which it becomes fit and is able to survive and reproduce

Evolution

All changes that have occurred in living things since the beginning of life

Micro evolution

The process by which characteristics of individuals in a population change over time

Marcoevolution

That all changes that occurred in living things since the beginning of life due to differential reproductive success

Transitional links

They are fossils that show evidence between evolutionary groups

Speciation

Process by which new species form

Cladogram

Shows groupings by characteristics that share a common ancestry

Phylogenetic Tree

Can construct a “family tree” based on the evolution of organism

Phylogeny

Evolutionary relationship among taxa

Taxonomy

Naming, describing and classifying organism

Systematics

Study of the evolutionary history of biodiversity

Punctuated Equilibrium

Rapid speciation with few intermediates

Gradualistic model

Slow but steady change

Adaptive radiation

A species may give rise to many new species if they invade a variety of new habitats that have varied ecological conditions

Sympatric speciation

Speciation within the same geographical area

Allopatric speciation

Two populations are geographically isolated from each other

Species

Groups of actual or potentially interbreeding natural populations that are reproductively isolated from other such groups

Adaptation

An organism for its environment including the process by which it becomes fit and is able to survive and reproduce

Disruptive Selection

Both extremes are favored and intermediate phenotypes is selected against

Directional Selection

One extreme of phenotype is favored

Stabilizing Selection

Intermediate phenotype is favored

Natural Selection

Individuals baring certain alleles leave more offspring than do other individuals with different alleles

Bottleneck Effect

When a population is drastically reduced in size by natural factors or human interference

Founder Effect

Isolated colonies are founded by only a few individuals

Genetic Drift

Changes in allele frequency due to chance

Emigration

When an individual leaves a population

Immigration

A new individual comes into the population

Gene flow

Movement of alleles between populations, helps to maintain organism over a large area as one species

Allele frequency

Relative proportion of each allele of a gene in a population

Gene Pool

Sum of all the alleles of the genes in a population

Population Genetics

Frequency distribution and patterns of inheritance of alleles in a population

Population

All members of a single species in an area at the same time

Analogous Structures

Structures that have evolved due to a similar purpose but are evolutionarily unrelated

Vestigial Structures

Structures that are present but not functional— are homologous to structures that are functional in similar organism

Homologous Structures

structures that are similar in structure because they have a common evolutionary origin

Continental Drift

That continents (and oceans)are not fixed and more over time

Biogeography

The study of the distribution of species (life) throughout the world