Honors Biology- Evolution Vocabulary

Vestigial Structures

The wings of flightless birds, like the ostrich, are an example of this

Biochemistry

Study of nucleic acids and proteins to show evolutionary relationships

Gene Flow

Migration

Adaptation

A physical trait that increases an organism’s ability to survive in its environment

Mass Extinction

Sudden elimination of a species due to a catastrophic event

Punctuated Equilibrium

Rapid evolutionary change

Evolution

Biological change over long period of time that make descendants different from their ancestors

Descent with Modification

Principle of natural selection that explains how beneficial traits should become more common over time, causing a change in allele frequencies

Homologous Structures

Body structures that are similar in orientation, but completely different in function due to living in different environments

Embryology

Study of emryological development in vertebrates that has led to support the theory of common ancestry among vertebrates

Coevolution

When two organisms, such as predator and prey, evolve in response to one anotherS

Sexual Selection

When traits that favor reproduction, even thought that they may decrease an organism’s ability to survive, become more common over time

Genetic equilibrium

When allele frequencies are stable and unchanging, therefore evolution is not occurring

Speciation

When isolation, such as geographically, causes two populations of organisms to become so different that they so no longer reproduce with each other and create viable offspring.