Chapter 18 Vocab Flashcards
Evolution
The accumulation of genetic changes within a population over time.
Population
A group of individuals of one species that live in the same geographic area at the same time.
Species
A group of similar organisms that are capable of interbreeding with one another.
Microevolution
The minor evolutionary changes of populations usually viewed over a few generations.
Macroevolution
The major evolutionary events usually viewed over a long period, such as the formation of different species from common ancestors.
Charles Darwin
Proposed all species currently living on our plant arose from earlier ones by a process of gradual evolution.
Aristotle
Visualized organisms as “moving toward a more perfect state”
Leonardo da Vinci
Correctly interpreted fossils as the remains of once existing animals that had become extinct.
Jean Baptiste de Lamarck
Suggested that organisms pass traits they acquired during their lifetimes to their offspring.
Artificial selection
Human choice of parental stock
Adaptation
An evolutionary modification that improves the chanced of survival and reproductive success in a given environment.
Eventually the accumulation of modifications might result in a new species.
Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection
Better adapted organisms are more likely to survive and become the parents of the next generation.
As a result of natural selection, the population changed over successive generations.
Favorable traits increase, less favorable traits become scarce.
Variation
Individuals in a population exhibit variation in traits and some improve the chances of survival and reproductive success
Overproduction
A species has the capacity to produce more offspring than can survive.
Limits on population growth
Organisms compete for limited resourced and not all survive to reproduce.
