Ch 2 evolution Flashcards
fossils
physical remains of part or all of once living organisms, mostly bones or teeth, that have becme mineralized by the replacement of organinc with inorganic materials
species
a group of related organisms that can interbreed and produce fertile, viable offspring
habitat
the specific area of the natureal environment in which an organism lives
adaptations
changes in ohysical structure, function, or behavior that allows an organism or species to survive and reproduce in a given environment
natural selection
the process by which some organisms, with features that enable them to adapt to the environment, preferentially survive and reproduce, thereby increasing the frequency of those features in the pop
adaptive radiation
the diversification of an acestral group of organisms into new forms that are adapted to specific environmental niches.
geology
the study of earth in regards to its composition, activity, and history
paleontology
the study of fossils
taxonomy
classificaiton of past and living forms
systematics
the study of biological relationships over time
demography
the study of population, especially with regard to birth, survival, and dath, and major factors that influence these key parts of life
evolutionary biology
the study of organisms and their changes, darwin founded this discipline
uniformitarianism
natural process operating today are the same processes that happened in the past
catastrophism
the doctrine asserting that cataclysmic events, rather that evolutionary processes, are responsible for geologic changes throughout earth’s history.
lamarckism
first proposed by Lamarack, the theory of evolution through the inheritnace of acquired characteristics in which an organism can pass on features aquired during its lifetime
gemmules
as proposed by darwin, units of inheritance, supposedly accumulated in the gametes so they could be passed on to offspring
blending inheritnace
an outdated, disreputed theory that the phenotype of an offspring was a uniform blend of the parents phenotype
gene
the basic unit of inheritance, a sequence of DNA on a chromosome, coded to produce a specific protien
allele
one or more alternative forms of a gene
dominant
refers to an allele that is expressed in an organisms phenotype and that simultanrously masks the effects on another allele, if one is present
resessive
exposed in phenotype if 2 copies are present, but is masked if the dominant allele is present
Mendelian inheritance
the basic principles associated with the trasnmision of geneti material, forming the basis of genetics, including the law of segregation and the law of independent assortment
genotype
the genetic make up of an organism, the combo of alleles for a given gene
phenotype
the ohysical expression of the genotype. it may ne influenced by the envrio
chromosomes
the strand of DNA found in the nucleus of eukaryotes that contains hundreds or thousands of genes
evolutionary synthesis
a unified theory of evolution that combines genetics with natural selection
pop genetics
a specialty within the field of genetics, it focuses on the changes in the gene frequency and the effects on those changes on adaptation and evolution
mutation
a randome change in a gene of chromosomes, creating a newtrait that may be advantageuos, deleterious, or neutral in its effects on the organism
gene flow
asmixture, or the exchange of alleles between 2 pops
genetic drift
the random change in allele frequency from one generation to the next. with greater effects in small pops
dna
a double stranded molecule that provides the genetic code for an organism, consisting of phosphate, deoxyribose dugar, and 4 types of N bases
