Natural Selection Lecture Notes

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from lecture notes on natural selection.

Natural Selection

The process that enables species to adapt and evolve over time, allowing populations to become genetically better adapted to their environment.

Charles Darwin

The scientist who first discovered natural selection while studying finches on the Galapagos Islands.

Advantageous Traits

The environment determines whether a trait is helpful or not.

How Natural Selection Works

A population has varying traits, and those with the best traits survive and reproduce, passing those traits to the next generation.

Importance of Genetic Variation

For natural selection to occur, there must be different alleles (traits) in a population to select from.

Sources of Genetic Variation

Recombination (crossing over) during meiosis and random mutations

Adaptations

Inherited, genetic traits suited to the environment.

Acclimations

Non-genetic behaviors or changes made during an organism’s lifetime.

Sexual Dimorphism

When males and females in a population have noticeable differences in their physical appearances.

Sexual Selection

A type of natural selection where one sex of a species is selected for certain characteristics.

Sexual Selection & Batesman’s Principle

Female gametes are fewer and higher in nutrients, male gametes are abundant and smaller.

Batesman’s Principle

Males experience more variability in reproductive success than females.

Evolution

The change of species over time.

Natural Selection

The process of how evolution occurs.