Bio Chapter 16

Question 1

Define: Evolution

Answer 1

change over time: the process by which modern organisms have descended from ancient organisms.

Question 2

Define: Fossil

Answer 2

preserved remains or traces of ancient organisms

Question 3

Define: Artificial Selection

Answer 3

selective breeding of plants and animals to promote the occurrence of desirable traits in offspring.

Question 4

Define: Adaptation

Answer 4

heritable characteristic that increases an organism’s ability to survive and reproduce in an environment.

Question 5

Define: Fitness

Answer 5

how well an organism can survive and reproduce in its environment.

Question 6

Define: Natural Selection

Answer 6

Process by which organisms that are most suited to their environment survive & reproduce most successfully; also called survival of the fittest.

Question 7

Define: Biogeography

Answer 7

study of the past and present distribution of organisms

Question 8

Define: Homologous Structure

Answer 8

structures that are similar i different species of common ancestry

Question 9

Define: Analogous Structure

Answer 9

body part that share a common function, but not structure

Question 10

Define: Vestigial Structure

Answer 10

structure that is inherited from ancestors but has lost much or all of its original function

Question 11

What was Charles Darwin’s contribution to science?

Answer 11

Darwin developed a scientific theory of biological evolution that explains how modern organisms evolved over long periods of time through decent from common ancestors.

Question 12

What ideas were changing in the scientific community at the time of Darwin’s travels? How might those new ideas have influenced Darwin?

Answer 12

Geologist were suggesting that earth was ancient and had changed over time. Biologists were suggesting that life on Earth also changed. Those ideas introduced evolution and Darwin is the one who finds out how organisms evolved.

Question 13

List the three patterns of biodiversity that Darwin noted.

Answer 13

#1: Species vary globally
#2: Species vary locally
#3: Species vary over time

Question 14

Darwin found fossils of many organisms that did not resemble any living species. How might this finding have affected his understanding of life’s diversity?

Answer 14

That even though some organisms evolved to be able to live longer, some organisms don’t and they die.

Question 15

1: Species vary globally (ex. of pattern)

Answer 15

Rheas(grasslands of S. America), Ostriches(Africa) & Emu(Australia): Ground-dwelling birds that can’t fly

Question 16

2: Species vary locally (ex. of pattern)

Answer 16

2 species of rheas in S America. One in Argentina’s grasslands and other in colder, harsher grass and scrubland to the south.
Galapagos tortoises: each island=different shells

Question 17

3 Species vary over time (ex. of pattern)

Answer 17

some of the fossils look like modern animals. Giant armored animal that is now extinct (glyptodont) looks a lot like the modern day armadillo, but armadillo =smaller

Question 18

Summarize the conclusions drawn by Hutton about Earth’s history.

Answer 18

Hutton concluded that Earth is extremely old and that the process that changed Earth in the past are the same processes that operate in the present.

Question 19

Describe Lyell’s uniformitarianism.

Answer 19

That that laws of nature are constant over time and that scientists must explain past events in terms of processes they can observe in the present. That the geological processes that we see today are the same ones that shaped the Earth millions of years ago.

Question 20

How did Lamarck propose that species evolved?

Answer 20

He proposed that organisms could change during their lifetimes by selectively using or nor using various parts of their bodies. He also suggested that individuals could pass these acquired traits onto their offspring, enabling species to change over time.

Question 21

What was Malthus’s view of population growth?

Answer 21

He reasoned that if the human population grew unchecked, there wouldn’t be enough living space and food for everyone.

Question 22

Under that conditions does natural selection occur?

Answer 22

It occurs in any situation in which more individuals are born than can survive (the struggle for existence), there is natural heritable variation (variation and adaptation), and there is variable fitness among individuals (survival of the fittest).

Question 23

What does Darwin’s mechanism for evolution suggest about living and extinct species?

Answer 23

According to the principle of common descent, all species-living and extinct-are descended from ancient common ancestors

Question 24

What do evolutionary trees show? What does a tree of life imply about all species living and extinct?

Answer 24

it shows that all organisms are related. that all organisms share the same common ancestors.

Question 25

How does the geographical distribution of species today relate to their evolutionary history?

Answer 25

Patterns in the distribution of living and fossil species tell us how modern organisms evolved from their ancestors.

Question 26

Explain how fossils and the fossil record document the descent of modern species from ancient ancestors.

Answer 26

Many recently discovered fossils form series that trace the evolution of modern species form extinct ancestors.

Question 27

Describe what homologous structures and embryology suggest about the process of evolutionary change.

Answer 27

evolutionary theory explains the existence of homologous structures adapted to different purposes as the result of descent with modification from a common ancestor.

Question 28

Explain the difference between homologous and analogous structures. Which are more important to evolutionary biologists? Why?

Answer 28

H: structures that are similar in different species of common ancestry
A:Share bod parts that have common function but not structure
H, cuz they have the same ancestor

Question 29

How do the Grants’ data show that genetic variation is important in the survival of a species?

Answer 29

The Grants have documented that natural selection takes place in wild finch population frequently, and sometimes rapidly.