Concise Evolution Vocab Quiz

Embryo

Unborn offspring that is developing through the 2nd to 8th week after fertilization

Evolution

The gradual change in organisms over generations due to changes from inherited characteristics

Homologous structure:

Physical features found in different organisms that share a common ancestor.

Allele

A specific version of a gene that determines variations in inherited traits.

Vestigial

A feature that a species inherited from an ancestor but that is now less functional than in the ancestor.

GOSD

Genetic variation

Overproduction of offspring

Struggle for survival

Differential survival and reproduction

Genetic Variation

the differences in DNA sequences between individuals within a species

Overproduction of offspring

Organisms can produce more offspring than the environment can support

Struggle for survival

Competition for food, land, and resources which makes it so not all individuals survive until adulthood

Differential survival and reproduction

Adaptations that help animals survive get passed down since they lived long enough to reproduce

Natural Selection

A process in which individuals that have certain inherited traits tend to survive and reproduce at higher rates than other individuals because of those traits.

theory

a statement based on repeated observations that explains why or how a natural phenomenon occurs

Law

a statement based on repeated observations that describes what happens in a natural phenomenon

Industrial melanism

the increase of dark-colored varieties of animals (especially moths) in industrial areas where they are better camouflaged against predators than paler forms.

LUCA

Last Universal Common Ancestor. The shared ancestor proposed to be the cause of all life

amino acid

Molecules made of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur that combine to form proteins

protocell

A protocell is a hypothetical, self-organized, spherical structure considered to be a primitive precursor to living cells

COLT

Characteristics of Living Things

COLT Examples

Made of cells

Contain DNA (inheritable traits)

Maintain stable internal balance (homeostasis)

React in a survival manner to changes in the environment (stimuli)

Obtain and use energy/nutrients

Grow and develop

Reproduce

protein

basis of body structures and functions, made of chains of amino acids.

What do proteins help with

Provide structure, enable biochemical reactions (as enzymes), support immune defense, and regulate various biological processes.