Evolution Key Ideas and Study Guide

Key Vocabulary

• Selective Pressure
• Natural Selection
• Evolution
• Evolutionary Fitness
• Hominin (Hominid)
• Variation
• Convergent Evolution
• Species
• Speciation
• "Survival of the Fittest"
• Reproductive Isolation
• Allopatric Speciation
• Sympatric Speciation
• Cladogram

Population Evolution: Main Ideas & History

• Five Key Steps:
    1. Limited Resources
    2. Increasing Populations
    3. Competition for Resources = winners/losers
    4. Selection + Inheritance
    5. Population shift towards "winners" adaptations

Role of Mutations in Evolution

• Mutations contribute to variation.
• Determination of mutation effect:
    - Good
    - Neutral
    - Bad

Mass Extinctions

• Causes and consequences of mass extinctions.

Darwin's Contributions

• Journey and publication evidence (e.g., Galapagos finches).

Evidence for Evolution

• Fossils
• Extinctions
• Transitional Forms (e.g., Tetrapod Evolution)
• Common Ancestor Relationships
• DNA/Molecular Evidence (similarities in coding & amino acid sequences)
• Comparative Anatomy:
    - Vestigial Structures
    - Homologous Structures
    - Analogous Structures
• Embryology
• Modern Direct Evidence
• Speciation

Species and Reproductive Isolation

• Definition of a species.
• Types of Reproductive Isolation:
    - Allopatric
    - Sympatric (e.g., Geographic, Habitat, Temporal, Behavioral, Mechanical)

Cladograms

• Organization and insights provided:
    - Monophyletic
    - Paraphyletic
    - Polyphyletic

Human (Hominin) Evolution

• Characteristics of common ancestors.
• Key adaptations differentiating early humans from apes.
• Migration patterns related to evolution.