Evolution: Understanding How Life Changes Over Time

Flashcards covering the fundamentals of evolution, thinking styles, evidence for evolution, biogeography, and the mechanisms of natural selection and speciation.

Evolution is fundamentally defined as __________ + replication = evolution → divergence.

variation

The branching process that explores relatedness and the sequence of events is known as __________.

Phlyogeny

__________ thinking considers variation inherent within a population, while Typological and Essentialism thinking views it as an error.

Population

In __________ and Essentialism thinking, there is only one ideal type known as a 'type species'.

Typological

Shared traits due to common ancestry are called __________.

Homologous

Convergent shared traits due to similar selection are also known as __________ traits.

Analogous

Structures that are present but no longer functional, such as __________ structures, are still considered homologous.

Vestigial

While Darwin had access to evidence like the fossil record and biogeography, __________ Evidence (both pattern and process) was not available to him.

Molecular

The __________ record provides evidence through the preservation of past organisms and the discovery of transitional forms.

Fossil

While rock layers were questioned in the 1700s, __________ dating did not come until the 1900’s.

Radioactive

Natural Selection, Mutation, Genetic Drift, and Sexual selection are categorized as __________.

Process

Extant Species, Homology, and Speciation are categorized as __________.

Pattern

__________ islands were once part of a continent but split from the continental shelf, housing organisms that are typically poor dispersers.

Continental

__________ islands are formed via volcanic action and were never part of a continent.

Oceanic

Oceanic islands often feature __________ species and undergo adaptive radiation to fill unique niches.

endemic

Freshwater stickleback fish are distinct from saltwater ones because they __________ armor due to different predation pressures.

lost

In Paxton Lake, reproductively isolated fish populations are categorized as __________ (lake bottom) and Limnetic (open water).

Benthic

The three requirements for natural selection are variation in a trait, variation in fitness, and an __________ between variation in fitness and variation in the trait.

association

The unit of natural selection that can make a copy of itself is called a __________.

Replicator

For natural selection to cause evolution, the trait must be __________.

HERITABLE

In Darwin’s Finches, increased beak size and divergence is associated with the gene __________.

BMP4

__________ is the proportion of the variation observed in a population that is due to a variation in genes.

Heritability

Natural selection benefits the __________ and not the entire species or population, a concept referred to as selfishness.

individual