Darwin and Evolution Study Notes L4

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from the lecture on Darwin and Evolution, including definitions of evolution, natural selection, genetic mechanisms, and types of evolutionary change.

Evolution

Heritable change in a population of organisms from one generation to the next.

Population

A group of individuals of the same species inhabiting the same area with the potential for interbreeding.

Charles Darwin

English naturalist, geologist, and biologist who proposed that all species descended from a common ancestor and developed the theory of natural selection.

Natural Selection

The process by which individuals less likely to survive and reproduce in a particular environment are eliminated, while individuals with traits conferring greater reproductive success increase in number.

Descent with Modification

Darwin's theory that existing species result from modifications of pre-existing ones, sharing common ancestors.

Variation in Traits

Heritable traits passed from parent to offspring, underlying the raw material for natural selection.

DNA (Deoxyribonucleic Acid)

The blueprint for the organization, development, and function of living things, stable across generations and passed from parents to offspring.

Genes

Segments of DNA that govern the characteristics or traits of organisms by encoding proteins.

Proteins

Functional tools of life, whose formation can be altered by changes in genetic material.

Mutations

Heritable changes in the genetic material (DNA), which can be neutral, beneficial, or detrimental.

Phenotype

The set of observable characteristics of an individual, resulting from the interaction of its genotype with the environment.

Vertical Evolution / Vertical Descent with Mutation

Evolutionary change within a lineage of common ancestry, where genetic material is passed down across generations and mutations accumulate over time.

Fossil Records

Provides evidence for evolutionary change, such as the evolution of whales from terrestrial mammals.

Atavistic Trait

A modification of a biological structure where an ancestral genetic trait reappears after having been lost through evolutionary change in previous generations (e.g., small hind limb remnants in whales).

Horizontal Gene Transfer

The transfer of genes between organisms, not necessarily between parent and offspring or within the same species, relatively widespread in bacteria.

Antibiotic Resistance

An example of evolutionary change often facilitated by horizontal gene transfer in bacteria.

On the Origin of Species (1859)

The influential book written by Charles Darwin, famous for proposing natural selection as the mechanism of evolution.

Fitness

An organism's ability to survive and reproduce in a given environment.

Homologous Structures

Similar structures in different species due to common ancestry (e.g., bat wing, dolphin flipper, human arm).

Analogous Structures

Similar structures in different species due to convergent evolution, not common ancestry (e.g., squid eye vs. human eye).