Chap. 14 Principles of Evolution: Darwin Flashcards
Study
Competition
A (not-so-friendly) interaction between organisms when they fight for resources like food, water, and shelter.
Adaptation
Changes/mutations in an organism that helps it survive in new conditions.
Fitness
An organism’s ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment
Natural selection
Darwin’s theory of how populations evolve & change. Organisms who more adapt to environment likely to survive/reproduce.
Coevolution
Evolution between pair/group of species as they interact. (Bee evolve with flower)
Predation
Animals eating other animals.
Georges Buffon
Believed species change over time, coined technique of comparing similar structures among different species. (comparative anatomy/biogeography)Made “Lost species” idea, Darwin studied, and related to fossils.
James Hutton
Developed Uniformitarianism, Inspired Darwin so much Uniformitarianism was in “Origin of Species”
Uniformitarianism
Earth’s mountains and oceans formed after a long period of gradual processes.
Catastrophism
Changes in the Earth’s landscape usually result from sudden violent & unusual events.
Georges Cuvier
Developed Catastrophism. His research in fossils produced knowledge that supported Darwin’s theory of evolution.
Alfred Russel Wallace
Formulated a theory of evolution that was almost identical to Darwin’s. This convinced Darwin to publish “Origin of Species”
Lamarck’s theory of evolution
Theory of acquired characteristics: If organism changes, those changes are given to offspring. Disproved by Weismann: Cut off mice’s tails - those mice’s children still had tails.
Evidences For evolution
fossils, homologous, vestigial, analogous structures, DNA, embryology
Fossils
Remains of animals who lived in a certain location
Homologous Structures
A pair of structures that have similar structure/function, maybe from same ancestor
Vestigial Structures
Body parts that lose their purpose as an organism evolves
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid: Genetic material for life on Earth
Embryology
The study of embryos and how they have a common ancestor because every organism looks similar in the womb
Darwin’s 5 postulates
- There are variations in individuals of a population.
- Some variations are favorable
- In populations, some individuals survive and reproduce successfully. (More birthed then survived)
- Individuals with favorable traits survive longest and reproduce most.
- A population will change over time.
Artificial Selection
Humans selectively breed some organisms with others, to get organisms with traits they want
