Honors Biology

Evolution

Change over time; the process by which modern organisms have descended from ancient organisms

Fossil

Preserved remains or traces of ancient organism

Artificial Selection

Selective breeding of plants and animals to promote the occurrence of desirable traits in offspring

Adaptation

Heritable characteristic that increases an organism's ability to survive and reproduce in an environment

Fitness

How well an organism can survive and reproduce in its environment

Natural Selection

Process by which organism that are most suited to their environment survive and reproduce most successfully; also called survival of the fittest

Biogeography

The study of past and present distribution of organism.

Homologous Structure

Structure that are similar in different species of common ancestry

Analogous Structures

Body Parts that share a common function, but not structure

Vestigial Structure

Structure that is inherited from ancestors but has lost most or all of its original function

Darwin noticed that many organisms seemed well suited to....

Survive in the environment in which they lived

Which of the following ideas is supported by Darwin's observation of local variation among tortoises in the Galapagos?

Adaptation

In the 1800s, Lyell emphasized....

Past geological events must be explained in terms of processes observable today

Lamark's ideas about evolution includes the concept that differences among the traits of organisms arise as a result of ......

The body actions of organisms as they use or fail to use body structures

The economist Thomas Malthus suggested that...

Without certain checks on population size, there would soon be insufficient food for the growing human population.

When a dairy farmer chooses to breed the cows that give the most milk in the herd, the farmers are following the principle of....

Artificial Selection

Each of the following is a condition necessary for natural selection to occur EXCEPT.....

Population size is very large

Which statement about the members of a population that live long enough to reproduce is consistent with the theory of evolution by natural selection?

They are the ones that are best adapted to survive in their environment.

The principle of common descent helps explain why....

birds and reptiles share a number of inherited characteristics.

Darwin's concept of natural selection was NOT influenced by.....

the work of Gregor Mendel.

Charles Darwin viewed the fossil record as....

useful support for his theory.

Modern sea star larvae resemble some primitive vertebrate larvae. This similarity may suggest that primitive vertebrates....

share a common ancestor with sea stars.

Molecular evidence in support of natural selection includes...

the nearly universal genetic code.

Which characteristic of Galápagos finches helped the Grants show the results of natural selection?

the size and shape of their beaks.

Which observation caused Malthus to form his theory about population growth?

Human birth rate was higher than the death rate

Which of the following is an idea attributed to Malthus?

If the human population grew unchecked, there wouldn't be enough space and food for everyone.

Malthus's ideas led Darwin to conclude that....

Organisms are able to evolve through a process known as artificial selection.

Which of Lamark's ideas turned to be true? Which turned out to be false?

Lamark's idea that turned to be true was that there is a link between an organisms environment and body structures. Lamark's idea that turned to be false was that traits passed downy organism is acquired

James Hutton

-Said that the Earth was million of years old

-Convinced Darwin that there was enough time for evolution

Charles Lyell

-Argued that laws of nature are constant over time

-Also fought that Earth was older than a few thousand years

Jean-Bapitste Lamarck

-First scientist to recognize evolution had already taken place

-First to say and explain evolution scientifically using natural processes

Thomas Malthus

-Reason that all the human population becomes too populated. There will be no space or food for people.

Which of the following hypotheses did the Grants test?

Differences in beak size and shape produce differences in fitness

The data that the Grants collected proved that there is....

Great variation of heritable traits among Galapagos finches

The grants conducted their experiment to test which of the following process?

Natural Selection

How does artificial selection differ from natural selection?

In artificial selection, we the people do the "selecting" which is choosing traits people want to appear in future genetics. In natural selection on the other hand, the environment that the species lives around is doing the "selecting".

How is the idea of common descent supported by examples of homologous structures as shown in Figure 16-3?

The idea of common descent is supported by homologous structures because

What was the scientific value of the specimens that Charles Darwin brought back to England?

Darwins collected modern organism examples as well as fossil that were never known. These findings helped him form his theory of evolution by natural selection.

What are the three distinctive patterns of biology diversity

1) Species vary globally

2) Species vary locally

3) Species vary over time

Why do Species vary globally?

Species vary globally because of Darwin noticing that different but similar animals inhabited separated, but stayed in ecologically similar habitats around the globe.

Ex. Rheas and Ostriches living on different sides of the planet

Why do Species vary locally?

Darwin noticed that different, but somewhat related animal species occupied different habitats within a close area.

Ex. -Isabella Island Tortoise that has vegetation abundant that closer to the group

- Hood Island Tortoise that has a longer neck enabling it to reach island's sparse high vegetation.

Why do species vary over time?

People realized that Species have varied over time once Darwin realized that some fossils of the extinct animals were similar and or closely looked like a living species.

Ex. Glyptodont being excitant while the armadillo is still a living animal.

Hutton realized that Earth was much \_____ than previously believed.

Older

Lyell though most geologic process operated extremely \____.

Slow

\__ work explained how large geological figures could be built up or torn down over long periods of time.

Lyell's

How did Lamarck pave the way for the work of later biologists?

Lamarck was the first to try and explain evolution using natural selection.

Natural Selection depends on the ability of organisms to \___, which means to leave descendants.

Survive

Every organism alive today \___ from ancestors who survived and reproduced.

Came

Over many generations, adaptation could cause successful species to \____ into new species.

Reproduce

Common Descent suggest that all species, living and extinct, are \___.

Alike

Distantly related organisms may be similar if they live in \_____.

Similar Environment

All living cells use \____ and \___ to code their heritable information.

DNA, RNA

The science of \___ provides molecular evidence that supports evolutionary theory.

Genetics

At the molecular level, the universal genetic code and homologous molecules provide evidence of \___ \____.

Common Descent

Proteins that are \____ share extensive structural and chemical similarities.

Homologous

Homologous genes called Hox Genes control timing and growth in \____.

Embryos

What does RNA do?

RNA acts as the link between DNA in the nucleus & the protein products of the ribosomes.

How is RNA different from DNA?

1) has ribose not deoxyribose 2) contains Uracil (U) instead of Thymine 3) usually single stranded

What are the three types of RNA?

messenger RNA, transfer RNA, ribosomal RNA

What does mRNA do?

carries info from DNA out into the cytoplasm

What does rRNA do?

makes up ribosomes

What does tRNA do?

It transfers amino acids to a growing protein chain on the ribosome.

What is transcription?

The process of making RNA from DNA

Describe what happens in transcription.

Transcription occurs in the nucleus. DNA has a code, but it can't leave the nucleus, so the code is translated to an mRNA Strand

What are introns?

Introns are pre-mRNA molecules that have bits and pieces cut out of them before they go into action.

What are exons?

The remaining pieces of pre-mRNA that are spliced together to form the final mRNA.

What are polypeptides?

long chains of amino acids

What is translation?

the decoding of an mRNA message into a protein

What are mutations?

heritable changes in genetic information

What are point mutations?

gene mutations that involve changes in one or a few nucleotides

What are the three point mutations?

substitution, insertion, deletion

What are substitutions?

when a random base in the DNA sequence is changed to a different base

What are insertions and deletions?

point mutations in which one base is inserted or removed from the DNA sequence

What are frameshift mutations?

insertions or deletions of base pairs that cause the whole later sequence to be off, shifted by one or more. Easier to catch than substitutions.

What are chromosomal mutations?

changes in the number or structure of chromosomes

What are the four types of chromosomal mutations?

deletion, duplication, inversion, translocation

What is deletion?

loss of all or part of a chromosome

What is duplication?

produces an extra copy of all or part of a chromosome

What is inversion?

reverses the direction of parts of a chromosome

What are the nitrogenous bases in RNA?

Adenine, Uracil, Guanine, Cytosine

What is protein synthesis?

Forming proteins based on information in DNA and carried out by RNA

What is a ribosome?

site of protein synthesis

What is amino acid?

monomer (building block) for making proteins, held together by peptide bonds

What does a proteins structure determine?

its function

What is a genetic code?

collection of codons of mRNA, each of which directs the incorporation of a particular amino acid into a protein during protein synthesis

What is a codon?

a sequence of three nucleotides that together form a unit of genetic code in a DNA or RNA molecule.

What is the anticodon?

group of three bases on a tRNA molecule that are complementary to an mRNA codon

What is gene expression?

the process by which DNA directs protein synthesis

What is a mutagen?

A chemical or physical agent that interacts with DNA and causes a mutation.

What is RNA interference?

Occurs when small bits of RNA (miRNA or siRNA) inhibit gene expression by binding to the messenger RNA and either degrading it or preventing translation.

What is cell differentiation?

the process by which cells become specialized