Evolution Vocab

Uniformitarianism

- is the idea that the natural laws observable around us now are also responsible for events in the past. One part of this view, for example, is the idea that Earth has been shaped by the cumulative action of gradual processes like sediment deposition and erosion.

Stratigraphy

- the branch of geology concerned with the order and relative position of strata and their relationship to the geological timescale.

Taxonomy

- is the science of describing, naming, and classifying species of living or fossil organisms.

Paleontology

- is the study of prehistoric life

 Extinction

- refers to the permanent loss of a species. It is marked by the death or failure to breed of the last individual.

Theory

- a supposition or a system of ideas intended to explain something, especially one based on general principles independent of the thing to be explained

Hypothesis

- a supposition or proposed explanation made on the basis of limited evidence as a starting point for further investigation

 Natural selection

-  is a mechanism that can lead to adaptive evolution, whereby differences in the phenotypes of individuals cause some of them to survive and reproduce more effectively than others.

 Sexual selection

- is a mechanism of evolution where the mating preferences of one sex determine the phenotype of the other sex within a species. It involves two main types of selection

  Heredity

-  is the transmission of characteristics from parent to offspring.

 Genetic drift

-  is evolution arising from random changes in the genetic composition of a population from one generation to the next.

Modern evolutionary synthesis

- is a framework that integrates the ideas of natural selection and Mendelian genetics to explain the mechanisms of evolution. It combines Darwin's theory of natural selection with Mendel's principles of inheritance, providing a comprehensive understanding of how evolutionary change occurs through genetic variation and environmental influences.

          Adaptation

- refers to the process by which organisms develop traits that enhance their survival and reproductive success in a specific environment, often as a result of natural selection.

 Stromatolite

- is a layered structure formed by the mineralization of bacteria

    Exaptation

- is a trait that initially carries out one function and is later co-opted for a new function. The original function may or may not be retained.

 Homology

- is a characteristic similar in two or more species because it is inherited from a common ancestor

 Monophyletic group

- describes a group of organisms that form a clade; that is, is made up of all of the descendants of a common ancestor.

  Polyphyletic group

-  describes a taxonomic group that does not share an immediate common ancestor and therefore does not form a clade.

  External node

- These nodes represent the ends of branches in a phylogenetic tree,

Internal node

- is located at the point where multiple branches meet and is crucial for understanding evolutionary relationships. 

Clade

a single “branch” in the tree of life; each clade represents an organism and all of its descendants

    Tip

the terminal end of an evolutionary tree, representing species, molecules, or populations being compared.

    Branch

is a lineage evolving through time that connects successive speciation or other branching events.

    Common ancestor

- is an ancestral group of organisms that is shared by multiple lineages.

Polytomy

-  describes an internal node of a phylogeny with more than two branches (that is, the order in which the branchings occurred is not resolved).

Synapomorphy

-  is a derived form of a trait that is shared by a group of related species (that is, one that evolved in the immediate common ancestor of the group and was inherited by all of its descendants).