Darwin/Evol

These flashcards cover key vocabulary terms and their definitions from the lecture on Darwin's theory of evolution.

Natural Selection

A process in which individuals with favorable inherited traits are more likely to survive and reproduce.

Descent with Modification

A term used by Darwin to describe the process of evolution, indicating that current species are descendants of ancestral species.

Gradualism

The concept that changes in Earth’s surface can result from slow continuous actions.

Uniformitarianism

The idea that the mechanisms of change are constant over time.

Homology

Similarity in characteristics resulting from shared ancestry.

Artificial Selection

A process by which humans breed other animals and plants for particular traits.

MRSA

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, a strain of bacteria that has become resistant to many antibiotics.

Microevolution

Changes in allele frequencies in a population over generations.

Speciation

The formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution.

Anatomical Homologies

Similar body structures in different species that indicate a common ancestry.