Biology 1010 - Evolution Review

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from Biology 1010 lecture notes on evolution.

Fertilization

Brings together combinations of alleles from two parents.

Change in Chromosome Number or Structure

Leads to the loss, duplication, or alteration of alleles.

Crossing Over at Meiosis

Leads to new combinations of alleles in chromosomes.

Gene Flow

Change in allele frequency due to individuals entering or leaving a population.

Allele Frequency

The abundance of each kind of allele in the entire population.

Neutral Mutations

Changes that are neither harmful nor helpful to the individual.

Microevolution

Changes in allele frequency due to mutation, genetic drift, and gene flow.

Lethal Mutation

Change in DNA that always results in death.

Alleles

Different forms of a gene (e.g., blue eyes vs. brown eyes).

Mutation

A heritable change in DNA.

Genetic Drift

Random fluctuation in allele frequencies due to chance.

Natural Selection

Change in allele frequency due to differences in survival and reproduction in a population.

Directional Selection

The type of selection where the environment chooses one extreme to survive.

Stabilizing Selection

The type of selection where what is most common continues to survive.

Disruptive Selection

The type of selection where both extremes are picked for survival.

Analogous Structures

Structures with similar functions that evolved independently in different lineages (e.g., shark, penguin and porpoise's ability to swim).

Homologous Structures

Structures in different species that have similar underlying anatomy due to descent from a common ancestor (e.g. human arm, the porpoise’s front flipper, the bird’s wing all contain the same bones).

Vestigial Structures

Remnants of structures that served a function in the organism’s ancestors but have little to no function in the current organism (e.g., pelvic bones of a whale).

Ecological Isolation

Potential mates occupy different local habitats within the same area.

Temporal Isolation

Potential mates live in the same range but reproduce at different times of the year.

Behavioral Isolation

Male and female birds engage in complex courtship rituals.

Mechanical Isolation

Mating is attempted but sperm cannot be successfully transferred.

Gamete Mortality

Sperm is transferred but the egg is not fertilized. Pollen grains from one species of plant is mismatched with gametes of another species.

Zygote Mortality

The egg is fertilized but the zygote dies.

Hybrid Offspring

The hybrid is sterile or partially sterile.

HMS Beagle

The British ship that Darwin was on for 5 years as a naturalist.

Charles Lyell

He wrote Principles of Geology, and suggested the earth was older than 6000 years.

Thomas Robert Malthus

He wrote an essay on populations that said people reproduced faster than resources could sustain them.

Galapagos Islands

Volcanic islands off the South American coast where Darwin correlated finches with their environment.

Natural Selection

Darwin’s key point in his theory of evolution: involves adaptive traits and inheritable variations.

Alfred Russel Wallace

This man independently came up with a theory of natural selection based on less evidence than Darwin.