Chapter 17 - Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

Question 1

Change over time; process by which modern organisms have descended from ancient organisms.

Answer 1

Evolution

Question 2

Preserved remains/traces of ancient organisms

Answer 2

Fossils

Question 3

1. Species very globally
2. Spices vary locally
3. Species vary over time

Answer 3

3 patterns of diversity

Question 4

Darwin noticed that different, yet ecologically similar, species inhabited ___, but ecologically similar, ___ around the globe.

Answer 4

separated; habitats

Question 5

Darwin noticed that different, yet related, species often occupied ___ habitats within a ___ area.

Answer 5

different; local

Question 6

Darwin noticed that the fossil record included many ___ animals that were similar, yet different from, ___ species.

Answer 6

extinct; living

Question 7

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

Answer 7

Artificial selection

Question 8

Hutton and Lyell concluded that Earth is extremely ___ and has been changing constantly over time, and that the same processes that caused global change in the past ___ in the present.

Answer 8

old; operate

Question 9

War, famine, disease

Answer 9

factors that limit population growth (according to Thomas Malthus)

Question 10

Erosion/Sedimentation, volcanism, uplift/sinking of land

Answer 10

Examples of processes that shape Earth

Question 11

In artificial selection, nature provides the ___ variations, and humans select those variants they find ___.

Answer 11

inherited; useful

Question 12

Heritable characteristics that increase an organism’s ability to survive and reproduce in an environment

Answer 12

Adaptation

Question 13

How well an organism can survive and reproduce in its environment

Answer 13

Fitness

Question 14

Process by which organisms that are most suited to their environment survive and reproduce more successfully; “survival of the fittest”

Answer 14

Natural selection

Question 15

1. struggle for existence (more individuals are born than can survive)
2. variation and adaptation (affects the ability to survive and reproduce)
3. differential reproductive success (fitness varies among individuals)

Answer 15

3 conditions necessary for the occurrence of natural selection

Question 16

According to the principle of ___ ___, all living/extinct species are united by descent from ancient common ancestors and exhibit diversity due to natural selection and adaptation.

Answer 16

common descent

Question 17

In evolutionary terms, ___ means surviving, reproducing, and passing adaptations on to the next generation.

Answer 17

“survival”

Question 18

Study of past and present distribution of organisms

Answer 18

Biogeography

Question 19

Structures that’re similar in different species of common ancestors

Answer 19

Homologous structures

Question 20

Structure that’s inherited from ancestors but which has lost much or all of its original function

Answer 20

Vestigial structure

Question 21

Body parts that share a common function, but not an evolutionary history

Answer 21

Analogous structure

Question 22

Patterns in the distribution of fossils and living species + info from geology tells us how modern organisms first ___ from their ancestors.

Answer 22

evolved

Question 23

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

Answer 23

Evolutionary theory; modification

Question 24

Study anatomical details, the way structures develop in embryos, and the pattern in which they appeared over evolutionary history

Answer 24

How biologists test if structures are homologous

Question 25

___ patterns of embryological development provide further evidence that organisms have descended from a common ancestor.

Answer 25

Similar

Question 26

At the molecular level, overwhelming similarities in the ___ ___ of all organisms, along with homologous genes and molecules, provide evidence of common descent.

Answer 26

genetic code

Question 27

1726-1797; one of the first geologists to challenge the age of Earth; “no vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end.”

Answer 27

James Hutton

Question 28

1797-1875; famous geologist of Darwin’s time; wrote “Principles of Geology” (1830), which Darwin read; discussed similarity of fossils from different continents

Answer 28

Charles Lyell

Question 29

1744-1829; first to hypothesize a mechanism for changes in
organisms over time and realize they were adapted to
their environments; thought that animals can pass on traits that they developed during their lifetime; coined the term biology

Answer 29

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

Question 30

1766- 1834; social economist; author of “Essay on the Principles of Population” (1798); argued that food supply
increased in a linear fashion, while population increased exponentially

Answer 30

Thomas Malthus

Question 31

1. Species were not created in
   their present form, but
   evolved with modifications
   from ancestral species.
2. Proposed a mechanism for
   evolution: NATURAL
   SELECTION
   Publish date?

Answer 31

2 main points from “On the Origin of Species by Means
of Natural Selection” by Charles Darwin; published in 1859

Question 32

Sexual reproduction (meiosis, crossing over, independent assortment, etc) promotes ___ in a species.

Answer 32

variation

Question 33

Populations tend to produce more ___ than the environment can support.

Answer 33

offspring

Question 34

When there’s the overproduction of offspring, the consequences is competition for things like ___, ___, and ___.

Answer 34

habitats, mates, and resources

Question 35

Natural selection increases the frequency of characteristics that make individuals better adapted and decreases the frequency of other characteristics leading to ___ ___ ___ within the species.

Answer 35

allele frequency changes

Question 36

1. Variation - individuals in a population vary from one another
2. Inheritance - parents pass on their traits to their offspring genetically
3. Selection - some characteristics are more successful and get reproduced more than others
4. Time - successful characteristics accumulate more over many generations

Answer 36

4 features of living systems of natural selection