Chapter 2

Question 0

Adaptive radiation

Answer 0

The diversification of an ancestral group of organisms into new forms that are adapted to specific environmental niches.

Question 1

Adaptations

Answer 1

Changes in physical structure, function, or behavior that allow an organism or species to survive and reproduce in a given environment.

Question 2

Allele

Answer 2

One or more alternative forms of a gene

Question 3

Blending inheritance

Answer 3

An outdated, disreputed theory that the phenotype of an offspring was a uniform blend of the parents phenotypes.

Question 4

Catastrophism

Answer 4

The doctrine asserting that cataclysmic events (such as volcanoes, earthquakes, and floods), rather than evolutionary processes, are responsible for geologic changes throughout earths history

Question 5

Chromosomes

Answer 5

The strand of DNA found in the nucleus of eukaryotes that contain hundred of thousands of genes.

Question 6

Demography

Answer 6

The study of a populations features and vital statistics, including birth rate, death rate, population size, and population density

Question 7

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA)

Answer 7

A double stranded molecule that provided the genetic code for an organism, consisting of phosphate, deoxyribose sugar, and four types of nitrogen bases

Question 8

Dominant

Answer 8

Alleged to an allele that is expressed concern n an organism’s phenotype and that simultaneously masks the effects of another allele, if another one is present.

Question 9

Endemic

Answer 9

Refers to a characteristic or feature that is natural to a given population or environment.

Question 10

Evolutionary biology

Answer 10

A specialty within the field of biology; the study of the process of change in organisms.

Question 11

Evolutionary synthesis

Answer 11

A unified theory of evolution that combines genetics with natural selection.

Question 12

Fossils

Answer 12

Physical remains of part or all of once living organisms, mostly bones and teeth, that have become mineralized by the replacement of organic with inorganic materials.

Question 13

Gemmules

Answer 13

As proposed by Darwin, the units of inheritance, supposedly accumulated in the gametes so they could be passed on to offspring

Question 14

Gene

Answer 14

The basic unit of inheritance; a sequence of dna on a chromosome, coded to produce a specific protein

Question 15

Gene flow

Answer 15

Admixture, or the exchange of alleles between two populations

Question 16

Genetic drift

Answer 16

The random change in allele frequency from one generation to the next, with greater effect on small populations.

Question 17

Genotype

Answer 17

The genetic makeup of an organism; the combination of alleles for a given gene.

Question 18

Genus

Answer 18

A group of related species

Question 19

Geology

Answer 19

The study of earths physical history

Question 20

Habitat

Answer 20

The specific area of the natural environment in which an organism lives

Question 21

Lamarckism

Answer 21

First proposed by Lamarck, the theory of evolution through the inheritance of acquired characteristics in which an organism can pass on features during its lifetime

Question 22

Mendelian inheritance

Answer 22

The basic principles associated with the transmission of genetic material, forming the basis of genetics, including the law of segregation and the law of independent assortment

Question 23

Mutation

Answer 23

A random change in a gene or chromosome, creating s new travi that may be advantageous, deleterious, or neutral in its effects on the organism.

Question 24

Natural selection

Answer 24

The process by which some organisms, with features that enable them to adapt to the environment, preferentially survive and reproduce, thereby increasing the frequency of those features in the population

Question 25

Paleontology

Answer 25

The study of extinct life forms through the analysis of fossils.

Question 26

Phenotype

Answer 26

The physical expression of the genotype; it may be influenced by the environment.

Question 27

Population genetics

Answer 27

A specialty within a field of genetics; it focused on the changed in gene frequencies and the effects of those changes on adaptation and evolution

Question 28

Recessive

Answer 28

An allele that is expressed in an organism’s phenotype if two copies are present, but is masked if the dominant allele is present.

Question 29

Species

Answer 29

A group of related organisms that can interbreed and produce fertile, viable offspring.

Question 30

Systematics

Answer 30

The study and classification of living organisms to determine their evolutionary relationships with one another.

Question 31

Taxonomy

Answer 31

The classification of organisms into a system that reflects degree of relatedness.

Question 32

Uniformitarianism

Answer 32

The theory that processors that occurred in the geologic past are still at work today