Evolution

Evolution

A change in the gene pool over time, meaning the frequency change in alleles due natural selection, “descent with modification”

Natural Selection

A differential production of different genotypes, “survival of the fittest”

Gene pool

The sum total of alleles

Selective Pressure

Something that affects an organism’s ability to reproduce

Fitness is measured in

Offspring

Fossils

Imprints or remnants of organisms that lived in the past

Strata

Layers of Rock

Fossil Record

The chronicle of evolution over millions of years of

Artificial selection

The selective breeding of domesticated plants and animals to promote the occurrence of desirable traits in offspring

Natural selection can amplify or diminish

Heritable traits

Evolution is not __________ ; it does not lead to ____________

Goal-oriented; perfectly-adapted organisms

Homologous Sturctures

Similar structures due to common ancestry

Vestigial Structures

Parts that aren’t necessary anymore (they are remnant of once necessary organisms)

Sedimentation

Where two heavy particles settle at the bottom of of liquid

Lithification

The compression of sedimentary layers

Sedimentary Rock

Rock that forms from sedimentation and lithification

Igneous Rock

Rock formed from liquid molten rock

Metamorphic Rock

Rock that formed from squeezing and heating but not melted

Out Crops

where rocks are formed at the surface of the Earth

Rock Dating is done by

Radioisotopes

Age of strata, from top to bottom, is

Youngest to oldest

Which are the oldest fossils?

Single-celled organisms

Which are the youngest fossils?

Multicellular Organisms

Transitional fossils

Fossils that show evolution in an organism

Definition of Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium

The state of a population in which frequencies of alleles and genotypes in a population remain constant from generation to generation, provided that only Mendelian segregation and recombination of alleles are at work.

Criteria for Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium

No mutation, sexual selection, genetic drift, natural selection, or gene flow

What is the prevailing notion prior to the time of Lyell and Darwin?

Earth is a few thousand years old, and populations are changing.

Punctured Equilibrium

A theory that proposes that once a species appears in the fossil record, the population will become stable with little evolutionary change

From whom did Darwin get his ancient age?

Charles Lyell

Which of the naturalists developed a concept of natural selection independently of Darwin?

Alfred Wallace

What is Natural selection not?

Individuals adapt to their environments and therefore evolve

The correct sequence of evolution

Variation, Selective Pressure, Natural Selection, Adaptation

Which of Darwin’s ideas had the strongest connection to Darwin having read Malthus’ essay on human population growth?

The Earth is much older than 300 years

Following the demise of dinosaurs, mammals evolved into many diverse species — a process known as

Adaptive radiation

Allopatric Speciation

A mode of speciation that occurs when biological populations become geographically isolated from each other to an extent that prevents/interferes with gene flow

Disruptive Selection

Changes in population genetics in which extreme values for a trait are favored over two intermediate values