Test Review: Effects of Urbanization and Natural Selection

These flashcards cover key vocabulary and concepts related to urbanization and natural selection within the context of evolution.

Natural Selection

The process where organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.

Adaptation

A feature that allows an organism to better survive and reproduce in its environment.

Interspecific Variation

Differences in traits among individuals of different species.

Intraspecific Variation

Differences in traits among individuals of the same species.

Artificial Selection

The intentional reproduction of individuals in a population that have desirable traits.

Gradualism

The idea that landforms change slowly over long periods of time.

Uniformitarianism

The theory that geologic processes that shape the Earth are uniform through time.

Catastrophism

The theory that the Earth’s features are the result of sudden, violent events.

Founder Effect

When a small group of individuals colonizes a new area, leading to a reduced genetic diversity.

Bottleneck Effect

A sharp reduction in the size of a population due to environmental events or human activities.

Homologous Structures

Anatomical features in different species that are similar due to shared ancestry.

Analogous Structures

Anatomical features in different species that serve similar functions but are not derived from a common ancestor.

Pseudogene

A gene that is no longer functional but is passed along with functional DNA through generations.

Genetic Variation

The diversity in gene frequencies among individuals within a population.

Mutation

A random change in the DNA sequence of a gene that can lead to new alleles.

Recombination

The process during meiosis where alleles are rearranged, resulting in genetic variation.

Phenotypic Variation

Variations in the observable traits of individuals within a population.

Descent with Modification

The passing down of traits from ancestors to descendants, with changes over time.

Gradual Change

The slow transformation of species over long periods of time instead of abrupt appearances.

Evolution

The process through which populations of organisms change over generations.

Biogeography

The study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time.