evolution study guide Flashcards
Individuals that are better adapted to survive in an environment reproduce and pass on genetics.
Natural selection
A group of similar organisms that can mate and successfully reproduce offspring.
Species
A trait that helps an organism survive and reproduce.
Adaptations
What four factors affect natural selection?
Overproduction, competition, successful reproduction, and inherited variation.
Species produce more offspring than the environment can hold.
Overproduction
Offspring always differ from each other. Helps individuals be more successful at times.
Inherited variation
Organism best adapted to their environment are likely to have many more offspring that survive.
Successful reproduction
What two variations in color are possible for moths in Manchester?
Peppered moths and dark
How did predators fine one moth color variation more useful than the other?
The dark moth was more visible against trees making it easier to hunt and eat.
When pollution darkened the tree bark, how did it the useful color variation for moths change? Why was a different color more useful?
The light moth used to be able to camouflage against the trees better, but after the industrial revolution and the trees darkened the peppered moths were easier to hunt. Therefore, predators ate it.
The trace or remains of an organism that lived long ago, most commonly preserved in sedimentary rock.
Fossils
The process in which inherited characteristics within a population change over generations such that new species sometimes arise.
Evolution
Explain offspring must compete for resources. Those that succeed live on to pass their traits.
Competition
Offspring always differ from each other. Sometimes it helps individuals be more successful.
Variation
Something that can be passed down through generations.
Trait
