CHAPTER 15 Flashcards
evolution
the genetic change of species over time
vestigial structures
darwin based his conclusions on changes in animals during development, animal breeding by humans, and the presence of vestigial structures (anatomical structures that apparently functioned in an ancestor but have since lost most or all of their function in a descendant)
paleontology
darwin founded the study of fossils
catastrophism
suggested there had been world wide catostrophes and god had created new sets of species to repopulate tthe world
inheritance of acquired characteristics
the environment can produce physical changes in an organism during its lifetime that are inheritable
uniformitarianism
states that the natural processes witnessed today are the same processes that occurred in the past
biogeography
the study of the geographic distribution of organisms throughout the world
natural selection
based on the following observations:
1. organisms exhibit variation that can be passed from one generation to the next, that is they have heritable variation
2. organisms compete for available resources
3. individuals within a population different in terms of their reproductive success
4. organisms become adapted to conditions as the environment changes
fitness
the reproductive success of an individual relative to other members of a population
adaptation
any evolved trait that helps an organism be more suited to its environment
artificial selection
selective breeding, only possible because the og population exhibits a variety of characteristics, allowing humans to select the traits they prefer
fossils
the remains and traces of past liffe or any other direct evidence of past life
transitional fossils
bear a resemblance to two groups that in the present are classified separately
homologous
structures that are anatomically similar because they are inherited from a common ancestora
analogous
serve the same function but originated independently in different groups of organisms that do not share a common ancestor
