Chapter 13 Flashcards
What is evolution?
Change over time of a population’s characteristics
What is biogeography?
The study of the distribution of species across the world.
What are fossils?
Remains and impressions of organisms that lived in the past.
How can fossils be ordered?
They can be ordered chronologically through their position in rock stratigraphy.
What is Cuvier’s Theory of Catastrophism?
Some species go extinct after catastrophes while others grow to noticeable numbers.
What is Lamarck?
The inheritance of acquired characteristics.
When was Charles Darwin alive?
From 1809 to 1882
How long did Darwin study medicine?
Two years, in Edinburg.
When did Darwin travel on the H.M.S. Beagle?
From 1831 to 1836.
How many postulates are there in the evolution of species?
There are four postulates.
What is the first postulate?
The individual members of a population are different from each other.
What is the second postulate?
Some of the differences in individuals of a population are due to characteristics that may be passed on to offspring.
What is the third postulate?
In a population, some members survive and reproduce successfully. Others do not.
What is the fourth postulate?
Natural selection.
What is natural selection?
The members of a population with advantageous traits survive and reproduce the most.
Who aided Darwin in the developing of his ideas?
Alfred Wallace.
How long did Alfred Wallace live?
From 1823 to 1913.
Genetic diversity in a population comes from two main sources:
Mutation and sexual reproduction.
What is mutation?
A change in DNA. The ultimate source of new alleles.
How does sexual reproduction lead to genetic diversity?
Sexual reproduction produces genetically diverse offspring.
What is modern synthesis?
Integration of genetics with the theory of evolution.
What is micro-evolution?
Changes of frequencies of alleles in a population over time.
What is macro-evolution?
The birth of a new species.
What is the Hardy Weinburg rule?
It says that evolution will not occur if there are no evolutionary forces at play.
What does heritability tell us?
It tells us how much phenotypic variation is due to genetic traits. As opposed to acquired traits.
What is genetic drift?
Changes in allele frequencies due to chance.
What is population bottleneck?
A population is drastically reduces due to a natural disaster.
What is the founder effect?
When an isolated colony is formed by part of the population.
What is gene flow?
The transfer of genetic material from one population to another.
What are some types of natural selection?
Stabilizing selection, directional selection, and frequency-dependent selection.