A History of Evolutionary Thought - The Forces of Evolutionary Change (Chapter 12)

Vocabulary flashcards covering key people, concepts, and ideas from the evolution-focused lecture notes.

Evolution

The process by which modern organisms have descended with modification from common ancestors through gradual changes over time.

Natural selection

Differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to heritable variation, leading to evolution.

Descent with modification

Darwin & Wallace’s idea that successful traits become more frequent in future generations, changing populations.

Common ancestry

The concept that different species are related through shared ancestors.

Variation

Differences among individuals within a population that can be inherited.

Heritable variation

Genetic or inherited differences that can be passed from parents to offspring.

Overproduction

Producing more offspring than resources can support, leading to competition.

Struggle for existence

Competition among individuals for limited resources, affecting survival and reproduction.

Adaptation

A heritable trait that increases an organism’s fitness in a given environment.

Inheritance of acquired characteristics

Lamarck’s idea that traits developed during life can be passed to offspring (now discredited).

Essentialism

Belief that each species has an immutable essence or type.

Uniformitarianism

Idea that earth’s features arise from slow, observable processes; proponents include Hutton and Lyell.

Catastrophism

Theory that major Earth changes occur through sudden, destructive events; associated with Cuvier.

Fossil record

The preserved remains of past life, providing evidence for past forms and extinction.

Extinction

The disappearance of a species; a key concept in discussions of evolution and past life.

Beagle voyage

Charles Darwin’s voyage aboard HMS Beagle, which yielded observations contributing to evolutionary theory.

Charles Darwin

Naturalist who proposed natural selection and descent with modification; author of On the Origin of Species (1859).

Alfred Russel Wallace

Naturalist who independently conceived natural selection; co-presented ideas with Darwin in 1858.

Darwin’s finches

Galapagos finches showing island-specific variation, illustrating adaptation and natural selection.

Deep time

The vast age of the Earth, enabling gradual evolutionary processes to accumulate.

Buffon

French naturalist who suggested species change as they spread from their original locations.

Lyell

Geologist who argued for gradual, uniform changes over long time periods (Principles of Geology).

Hutton

Geologist who helped establish deep time and uniformitarianism.

Cuvier

Naturalist who argued catastrophism and extinction; skeptical of transformism; noted fossils indicate past life and extinctions.

Transformism

Idea that species transform into other species; viewed as absurd by Cuvier.

Malthus

Economist whose ideas about limited resources influenced Darwin and Wallace’s thinking on population.