Evolution

  1. Evolution
    The process of biological change by which descendants come to differ from their ancestors
  2. Linnaeus ideas
    Developed a classification system for all organisms known at that time. Proposed that organisms could have arisen through hybridization.
  3. Buffon ideas
    Species shared ancestors instead of arising separately. Rejected idea that earth was only 6,000 years old.
  4. Erasmus Darwin
    All living things were descended from a common ancestor and complex forms of life came from simpler forms of life.
  5. Lamarck ideas
    Organisms evolved towards perfection and complexity. Species must have evolved into different forms instead of becoming extinct. Changes in an environment caused an organisms behavior to change, causing disuse of structures. Giraffes.
  6. Species
    Group of organisms so similar to one another that they can reproduce and have fertile offspring
  7. Fossils
    Traces of organisms that existed in the past. Cuvier
  8. Catastrophism
    Natural disasters such as floods and volcanic eruptions have happened often during Earth's long history. Cuvier
  9. Gradualism
    Changes in landforms resulted from slow changes over a long period of time. Hutton
  10. Unformitarianism
    Geological processes that shape Earth are uniform through time.
  11. Variation
    Difference in physical traits of an individual from those of other individuals in the group that it belongs.
  12. Adaptation
    A feature that allows an organism to better survive in its environment
  13. Artificial Selection
    The process by which humans change a species by breeding it for certain traits
  14. Heritability
    The ability of a trait to be passed down from one generation to the next
  15. Natural Selection
    A mechanism by which individuals that have inherited beneficial adaptations produce more offspring on average than do other individuals.
  16. Population
    All the individuals of a species that live in an area
  17. Four main principles of natural selection
    • Variation
    • Overproduction
    • Adaptation
    • Descent with modification (same traits in population)
  18. Fitness
    The measure of the ability to survive and produce more offspring relative to the other members of the population in a given environment
  19. Biogeography
    The study of the distribution of organisms around the world
  20. Homologous Structures
    Features that are similar in structure but appear in different organisms and have different functions.
  21. Analogous Structures
    Structures that perform a similar function but are not similar in origin.
  22. Vestigial Structures
    Remnants of organs or structures that had a function in an early ancestor.
  23. Paleontology
    The study of fossils or extinct organisms that continues to provide new information and support current hypothesis about how evolution occurs
  24. Homeobox Genes
    Genes that control the development of specific structures. Found in almost every organism, suggest a common ancestry
  25. Pseudogenes
    sequences of DNA nucleotides that no longer function but are still carried along. They can change as they are passed down through generations.
  26. Proteins
    cells from different species that have the same proteins most likely come from a common ancestor.
  27. Reproductive isolation
    Occurs when members of different populations can no longer mate succesfully with one another.
  28. Speciation
    The rise of two or more species from one existing species
  29. Behavioral isolation
    Isolation caused by differences in courtship or mating behaviours
  30. Geographical Isolation
    Involves physical barriers that divide a population into two or more groups.
  31. Temporal isolation
    Exists when timing prevents reproduction between populations
  32. Convergent evolution
    Evolution towards similar characteristics in unrelated species
  33. Divergent evolution
    When closely related species evolve in different directions
  34. Coevolution
    the process in which two or more species evolve in response to changes in eachother
  35. Extinction
    The elimination of a species from Earth
  36. Punctuated equilibrium
    Episodes of speciation occur suddenly in geological time and are followed by long periods of little evolutionary change
  37. Adaptive radiation
    The diversification of one ancestral species into many descendent species
Author
Anonymous
ID
8583
Card Set
Evolution
Description
Evolution
Updated