Evolution vocab

Question 1

Evolution

Answer 1

The process of different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth

Question 2

Natural selection

Answer 2

Natural selection is the process through which populations of living organisms adapt and change. Individuals in a population are naturally variable, meaning that they’re all different in some ways. This variation means that some individuals have traits better suited to the environment than others.

Question 3

Artificial selection

Answer 3

Artificial selection is the selection of strong traits in organisms to produce domesticated animals or plants with more desirable traits to suit them better to their environment.

Ex. This happened with dogs to create the companion we have now

Ex. Farmers also use this to create plants that will withstand chemicals like pesticides or just grow better in general

Question 4

Bell curve distribution

Answer 4

Traits within a population typically occur at a normal or a bell curve distribution

Question 5

Directional selection

Answer 5

Directional selection occurs when one extreme of a trait is favored

Question 6

Stabilizing selection

Answer 6

Stabilizing selection occurs when the average trait is favored within a population

Question 7

Disruptive selection

Answer 7

Disruptive selection occurs when both extremes of a trait are favored

Question 8

Mutation

Answer 8

A mutation is a change that occurs in our DNA sequence, either due to mistakes when the DNA is copied or as a result of environmental factors

Question 9

Genetic drift

Answer 9

Genetic drift is the change in allele frequencies of a population due to random chance events, such as natural disasters.

Question 10

Bottleneck effect

Answer 10

The bottleneck affect is an extreme example of genetic drift that happens when the size of a population is severely reduced. Events like natural disasters ( earthquakes, floods, fires ) can decimate a population, killing most individuals and leaving behind a small, random assortment of survivors.

Question 11

The founder effect

Answer 11

The founder effect is the reduction in genetic variation that results when a small subset of a large population is used to establish a new colony. The new population may be very different from the original population, both in terms of its genotype and phenotypes.

Question 12

Gene flow

Answer 12

Gene flow is the introduction of genetic material (by interbreeding)from one population of a species to another, thereby changing the composition of the gene pool of the receiving population.

Question 13

Non-random mating

Answer 13

Meeting that has not occurred due to chance, and therefore has not had human interference.

Ex. people who look alike meet more often than they would under totally random conditions.

Question 14

Speciation

Answer 14

Speciation is how a new kind of plant or animal species is created. Speciation occurs when a group within a species separates from other members of a species and develops its own unique characteristics

Question 15

Geographic isolation

Answer 15

Geographic isolation is when organisms are physically separated from one another

Question 16

Reproductive isolation

Answer 16

Reproductive isolation is when organisms simply cannot successfully reproduce together

Question 17

Fossil record

Answer 17

The fossil record shows slow, evolutionary change throughout the millennia

Question 18

Embryology

Answer 18

Embryology is similar features found in embryos of very different organisms. Suggests a common ancestor.

Question 19

Anatomical record

Answer 19

The anatomical record is evidence for evolution in the similarities found between embryonic forms of varying vertebrates or similarities brought about by convergent evolution, meaning populations in like environments developing the same traits in an adaptation

Question 20

Homologous structures

Answer 20

Similar anatomy, different functions

Question 21

Analogous structures

Answer 21

Analogous structures are different anatomy same function. Suggest common evolutionary pressures on different organisms

Question 22

Vestigial structures

Answer 22

Vestigial structures are relics from earlier common ancestors. Suggest similar evidence as the fossil record, shows the process of evolution itself.

Question 23

Phylogeny

Answer 23

Phylogeny, the history of the evolution of a species or group, especially in reference to lines of decent and relationships among broad groups of organisms.

Question 24

Cladogram

Answer 24

A branching diagram showing the cladistic relationship between a number of species

Question 25

Clade

Answer 25

A clade, also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that monophyletic that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendans.

Question 26

Shared derived characteristics

Answer 26

A shared character is one that two lineages have in common, and a derived character is one that evolved in the lineage leading up to a clade and that sets members of that clade apart from other individuals. Shared derived characters can be used to group organisms into clades.

Question 27

Outgroup

Answer 27

In cladistics or phylogenetics, an outgroup is a more distantly related group of organisms that serves as a reference group when determining the evolutionary relationships of the ingroup, the set of organisms under study, and is distinct from sociological outgroups.

Question 28

Ingroup

Answer 28

A species or group of species whose evolutionary relationships we seek to determine

Question 29

Nodes

Answer 29

A point in a plant stem at which one or more leaves are attached. The source of lymph or lymphocytes