Chapter 22: Descent with Modification - A Darwinian View of Life

Vocabulary flashcards for reviewing key concepts from Chapter 22: Descent with Modification.

Descent with Modification

Shared ancestry and the accumulation of differences leading to the diversity of life.

Adaptations

Inherited characteristics that enhance an organism's survival and reproduction in specific environments.

Natural Selection

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

Common Ancestry

All organisms are related by descent from a common ancestor that lived in the past.

Artificial Selection

Humans modify species by breeding only individuals with desired traits.

Natural Selection

Individuals with certain heritable traits survive and reproduce at a higher rate than other individuals

Homology

Similarity resulting from common ancestry; evidence for evolution.

Homologous Structures

Anatomical resemblances that represent variations on a structural theme present in a common ancestor.

Vestigial Structures

Remnants of features that served a function in the organism's ancestors.

Convergent Evolution

Evolution of similar, or analogous, features in distantly related groups.

Biogeography

Scientific study of the geographic distribution of species; provides support for evolution.

Continental Drift

The gradual movement of Earth’s landmasses.

Hutton

1790- proposes his principle of gradualism

Malthus

1798- publishes “Ess

Hutton

Proposes gradualism in 1795

Malthus

Publishes "Essay on the Principle of Population" in 1798

Lamarck

1809 Publishes hypothesis of evolution

Cuvier

Publishes studies of vertebrate fossils in 1812

Publishes Principles of

Wallace

Natural Selection in 1858, independently proposing a theory of evolution similar to Darwin's.