Evolutionary Biology: Natural Selection, Fossils, and Species Divergence

What is artificial selection?

A process initiated by humans to select individuals with certain phenotypical traits.

What is experimental selection?

A method of selecting traits in organisms, often used in agriculture, such as with corn.

What is domestication?

The process by which humans impose selection on species for specific purposes, such as breeding pigeons.

What evidence supports the theory of evolution?

Fossils, which are remnants of once-living organisms.

What conditions are necessary for fossil formation?

Rapid burial by sediment, hardening of minerals, and preservation of organic material.

What is the significance of islands in evolution?

Islands often have species that have never connected to the mainland, leading to unique evolutionary paths.

What are the characteristics of the kingdom Metazoa?

Multicellular, heterotrophic organisms with no cell walls and active movement.

What is the difference between subkingdoms Eumetazoa and Parazoa?

Eumetazoa includes animals with true tissues and symmetry, while Parazoa includes sponges with no true symmetry.

Who is Charles Darwin?

A naturalist who proposed the theory of natural selection and published 'On the Origin of Species' in 1859.

What is natural selection?

The process by which individuals with favorable traits are more likely to survive and reproduce.

What is divergent evolution?

The process where two or more related species become more dissimilar over time, often due to different environments.

What are vestigial structures?

Structures that have no apparent function in a current organism but were functional in ancestral species.

What is biogeography?

The study of the geographic distribution of species and ecosystems.

What is convergent evolution?

The process where unrelated species evolve similar traits due to similar environments or pressures.

What is bio-stratification?

The layering of rock strata that can indicate the relative age of fossils within them.

What is the significance of Archaeopteryx?

A transitional fossil that provides evidence for the evolution of birds from reptiles.

What is Tiktaalik?

A fossil species that represents a link between fish and land-dwelling vertebrates.

What is the half-life in radiometric dating?

The time required for half of a radioactive substance to decay, used to date fossils.

What is the role of homologous structures in evolution?

Structures that are similar in different species due to shared ancestry, indicating evolutionary relationships.

What does the term 'speciation' refer to?

The process by which new species arise from existing species, often through natural selection.

What is the importance of the HMS Beagle voyage?

It was during this voyage that Darwin collected data that led to his theory of evolution.