BIO 235 Flashcards
(24 cards)
Evolution
The process by which organisms have developed and diversified from other forms
Bio Population
a group of species living together in a certain place
Heritability
A measure of how well differences in peoples genes account for different traits
Phenotypic plasticity
the ability of organisms to change in response to stimuli from an environment
Fitness
the ability of an organism to survive, reproduce, and pass on its genetic material
homology
when something has the same or similar relation such as position or structure
Natural selection
The process by which organisms that are better adapted to their environment survive and produce more offspring
Carl Linnaeus
Father of taxonomy
James Hutton
Processes produce small changes that accumulate over time
Charles Lyell
Observable natural processes are responsible for past events
Georges Cuvier
Paleontology provided evidence that life has changed.
Jean Lamarck
Adaptations occur through the inheritance of acquired changes
artificial selection
The process by which humans find the desirable traits in an organism and take steps that have those traits produced
Taxonomic scale
Domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species
How old is the earth?
4.6 billion years ago
When did life originate on earth?
3.5 billion years ago
Precambrian Life
prokaryotes diversified, eukaryotes appeared, sexual reproduction, and multicellularity
Cambrian explosion
541-485 mya, most living phyla appear suddently. This was the most dramatic adaptive radiation in the history of life
Paleozoic Era
541-252 mya, life diversified, large multicellular animals, plants evolved in oceans and land
End-Permian extinction
largest mass extinction, disappearance of 90% of all species
Mesozoic era
252-66 mya, age of reptiles, seed plants, insects, and dinosaurs
The K/T extinction
66 mya an asteroid hit te eath and killed many animals including the dinosaurs
How old is the universe?
13.7 billion years old
Cenozoic era
66 mya- present, age of the mammals
