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evolution
Descent with modification; the process by which species accumulate differences from their ancestors as they adapt to different environments over time; also defined as a change in the genetic composition of a population from generation to generation.
natural selection
A process in which individuals that have certain favorable inherited traits tend to survive and reproduce at higher rates than other individuals because of those traits.
taxonomy
A scientific discipline concerned with naming and classifying the diverse forms of life.
fossils
A preserved remnant or impression of an organism that lived in the past, usually found in sedimentary rock.
catastrophism
The theory that Earth's geological features and major changes in life forms were primarily caused by sudden, violent, and short-lived catastrophic events like asteroid impacts or massive floods, rather than gradual processes, leading to mass extinctions and rapid shifts in the fossil record.
gradualism
The theory that evolution occurs through a slow and steady accumulation of small changes over long periods of time, meaning new species evolve from existing ones through gradual, often imperceptible changes rather than sudden, major leaps.
uniformitarianism
The principle that the same natural processes operating today have always operated throughout Earth's history, meaning that studying current geological processes can help us understand past events, often summarized as "the present is the key to the past.”
descent with modification
The concept that living species today are descendants of ancestral species, with gradual changes accumulating over generations through natural selection, resulting in the diversity of life we see today; essentially, it's another way of saying "evolution" as defined by Charles Darwin.
artificial selection
The selective breeding of domesticated plants and animals by humans to encourage the occurrence of desirable traits.
biogeography
The scientific study of the past and present geographic distribution of species. Also provides evidence of evolution.
homologous structures
Structures in different species that are similar because of common ancestry.
vestigial organs
A feature of an organism that is a historical remnant of a structure that served important functions in the organism’s ancestors, but serve no current purpose
gene pool
Consists of all the alleles for all loci in a population
Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
A population in which mating is random and none of the mechanisms of evolution are acting is in this. Allele and genotype frequencies remain constant from generation to generation for a population in this.
genetic drift
A process where allele frequencies fluctuate unpredictably from one generation to the next. It reduces genetic variation through loss of alleles, especially in small populations
bottleneck effect
The bottleneck effect can result from a drastic reduction in population size due to a sudden environmental change. By chance, the resulting gene pool may no longer be reflective of the original population’s gene pool
founder effect
Occurs when a few individuals become isolated from a larger population. Allele frequencies in the small population can be different from those in the larger parent population due to chance
polymorphism
The occurrence of two or more distinct forms or phenotypes within a population of the same species, meaning that individuals of the same species can exhibit different physical characteristics due to variations in their genes at a specific locus.
