1st Semester Final - Vocabulary Flashcards
Darwin
The father of the biological evolutionary theory.
LaMarck
Lamarck suggested that organisms could change during their lifetimes by selectively using or not using various parts of their bodies. He also suggested that individuals could pass these acquired traits on to their offspring, enabling species to change over time.
Artificial variation
Selective breeding of plants and animals to promote the occurrence of desirable traits in offspring.
Adaption
Heritable characteristic that increases an organism’s ability to survive and reproduce in an environment.
Survival of the fittest
Individuals with adaption that allow them to reproduce and survive more successfully.
Natural selection
The process by which “survival of the fittest” occurs.
Species
Similar organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring.
Speciation
Formation of new species.
Reproductive isolation
When members of two populations do not interbreed.
Behavioral isolation
Differences in courtship
Geographic isolation
Populations separated by geographic barriers.
Temporal isolation
When two or more species reproduce at different times.
Homologous structures
Animals with similar structures may have evolved from a common ancestor with a basic version of that structure.
Vestigial structures
Inherited structures that have lost much or all of their original function.
Embryology
Early development stages of many vertebrates look very similar.
Paleontologists
Scientist that study fossils.
Fossils
Preserved remains of ancient organisms.
Relative dating
The age of the fossil is determined by comparing its placement with fossils in other layers of rock.
Index fossils
Distinctive fossil that is used to compare the relative ages of fossils.
Radioactive dating
Scientists calculating the age of a sample based on the amount of remaining radioactive isotopes it contains.
Taxonomy
The discipline of classifying organisms and assigning each organism a universally accepted name.
Linnaeus
Developed a naming standard that’ used today.
Binomial nomenclature
Each species is assigned a two-part scientific name.
Natural Variation
The genetic differences among individuals of a species.
