Chapter 7: Evolution and Natural Selection Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering core terms, historical scientists, and key mechanisms of evolution from Chapter 11 General Biology notes.

Charles Darwin

British naturalist who published On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection on November 24, 1859, proposing natural selection as the primary mechanism of evolution.

On the Origin of Species

Landmark book published by Charles Darwin on November 24, 1859, introducing the concepts of evolution and natural selection.

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

One of the first scientists to suggest that species change over time through evolution.

Charles Lyell

Geologist who suggested that an old Earth had gradually changed through slow, accumulating processes.

Voyage of the Beagle

Charles Darwin's travels from 1831 to 1836, during which he observed nature and compared species from different regions.

Overproduction

The observation that populations produce more individuals than can be supported by the environment.

Limited Resources

The observation that environmental resources such as food, water, shelter, and sunlight stay relatively constant over time.

Competition

The struggle among organisms resulting from more offspring being born than can be supported by limited resources.

Variation

The observation that no two individuals in a species or population are exactly alike.

Natural Selection

The mechanism of evolution in which individuals with variations best suited to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce.

Heritability

The principle that traits of an organism are genetically coded and passed from one generation to the next.

Evolution

A generation-to-generation change in a population over time, making it better suited to its environment.

Artificial Selection

The deliberate breeding of plants or animals by humans for specific traits over millennia, such as modern dog breeds from the gray wolf (Canis lupus).

Antibiotic Resistance

An example of natural selection in action where bacterial populations evolve resistance to antibiotics over time.

Adaptation

The accumulation of favorable traits in a population over time that enhance survival and reproduction.

Fossil Record

The ordered sequence of fossils found within layers of sedimentary rock, revealing the appearance of life on Earth over geological time.

Transitional Forms

Fossils that connect past organisms to modern species by displaying intermediate features, such as fossil whales (Basilosaurus) with rear legs.

Biogeography

The study of the geographic distribution of species, such as the dominance of marsupial mammals due to Australia's geographic isolation.

Comparative Anatomy

The study and comparison of body structures in modern organisms, such as the similar bone arrangements in mammalian forelimbs.

Bioinformatics

The field that uses computational tools to process and compare genetic data, such as DNA and protein sequences among primates.

Population

A group of individuals of the same species living in the same place at the same time; it is the smallest unit that can evolve.

Gene Pool

All versions of all genes carried by all individuals in a population.

Microevolution

A generation-to-generation change in a population's gene pool, representing evolution on its smallest scale.