Big Idea #1 Vocabulary

Question 1

A heritable trait that enhances an individual’s fitness

Answer 1

Adaptation

Question 2

The emergence of numerous species from a common ancestor introduced into a new environment, presenting a diversity of new opportunities and problems

Answer 2

Adaptive radiation

Question 3

Alternative versions of a gene that produce distinguishable phenotypic effects

Answer 3

Allele

Question 4

A mode of speciation induced when an ancestral population becomes segregated by a geographic barrier or is itself divided into two or more geographically isolated sub populations

Answer 4

Allopatric speciation

Question 5

Similar structures that evolved separately in different lineages

Answer 5

Analogous structures

Question 6

The ability of a microorganism to resist the effects of an antibiotic to which they were once sensitive

Answer 6

Antibiotic resistance

Question 7

The selective breeding of domesticated plants and animals to encourage the occurrence of desirable traits

Answer 7

Artificial selection

Question 8

genetic drift resulting from the reduction of a population, typically by natural disaster, such that the surviving population is no longer genetically representative of the original population

Answer 8

bottleneck effect

Question 9

diagram depicting patterns of shared characteristics among species

Answer 9

cladogram

Question 10

a group of species that includes an ancestral species and all its descendants

Answer 10

clades

Question 11

an organism that is an ancestor of two different organisms that are not related to each other`

Answer 11

common ancestor

Question 12

process whereby organisms, not closely related, independently evolve similar traits as a result of adapting to similar environments

Answer 12

convergent evolution

Question 13

natural selection that favors individuals on both extremes of a phenotypic range over intermediate phenotypes

Answer 13

disruptive selection

Question 14

natural selection that favors individuals at one end of the phenotypic range

Answer 14

directional selection

Question 15

process by which interbreeding populations or species diverges into two or more descendant species, resulting in becoming more dissimilar

Answer 15

divergent evolution

Question 16

movement of individuals out of a population

Answer 16

emigration

Question 17

All the changes that have transformed life on Earth from its earliest beginnings to the diversity that characterizes it today

Answer 17

evolution

Question 18

ability to produce offspring

Answer 18

fertility

Question 19

genetic drift that occurs when a few individuals become isolated from a larger population, with the result that the new population’s gene pool is not reflective of the original population

Answer 19

founder effect

Question 20

genetic additions to or subtractions from a population resulting from the movement of fertile individuals or gametes

Answer 20

gene flow

Question 21

the total aggregate of genes in a population at any one time

Answer 21

gene pool

Question 22

unpredictable fluctuations in allele frequencies from one generation to the next because of a population’s finite size

Answer 22

genetic drift

Question 23

structures in different species that are similar because of common ancestry

Answer 23

homologous structures

Question 24

the influx of new individuals from other areas

Answer 24

immigration

Question 25

six different mechanisms that prevent the sperm and egg from coming together

Answer 25

isolation types

Question 26

a resource which cannot be made available on a scale which can sustain its composition rate

Answer 26

limited resources

Question 27

a rare change in the DNA of a gene ultimately creating genetic diversity

Answer 27

mutation

Question 28

Differential success in the reproduction of different phenotypes resulting from the interaction of organisms with their environment. Evolution occurs when __________causes changes in relative frequencies of alleles in the gene pool.

Answer 28

natural selection

Question 29

A species or group of species that is closely related to the group of species being studied, but clearly not as closely related as any study-group members are to each other.

Answer 29

outgroup

Question 30

the physical and physiological traits of an organism, which are determined by its genetic makeup

Answer 30

phenotype

Question 31

A branching diagram that represents a hypothesis about evolutionary relationships.

Answer 31

phylogenetic tree

Question 32

A localized group of individuals that belong to the same biological species (that are capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring)

Answer 32

population

Question 33

An aggregate of abiotically produced molecules surrounded by a membrane or membrane-like structure

Answer 33

protobiont

Question 34

the choice of mates in which chance plays the biggest part

Answer 34

random mating

Question 35

the existence of biological factors (barriers) that impede members of two species from producing viable, fertile hybrids

Answer 35

reproductive isolation

Question 36

A model of the origin of eukaryotes consisting of a sequence of endosymbiotic events in which mitochondria, chloroplasts, and perhaps other cellular structures were derived from small prokaryotes that had been engulfed by larger cells.

Answer 36

serial endosymbiosis

Question 37

natural selection for mating success

Answer 37

sexual selection

Question 38

origin of a new species in evolution

Answer 38

speciation

Question 39

a group whose members possess similar anatomical characteristics and have the ability to interbreed

Answer 39

species

Question 40

natural selection that favors intermediate variants by acting against extreme phenotypes

Answer 40

stabilizing selection

Question 41

incapable of producing offspring

Answer 41

sterility

Question 42

a mode of speciation occurring as a result of a radical change in the genome of a subpopulation, reproductively isolating the subpopulation from the parent population

Answer 42

sympatric speciation

Question 43

differences between members of the same species

Answer 43

variation

Question 44

structures of marginal, if any, importance to the organism. they are historical remnants of structures that had important functions in ancestors.

Answer 44

vestigial organs

Question 45

capable of living

Answer 45

viability