Chapter 2

Question 1

natural selection

Answer 1

most critical mechanism of evolutionary change, first described by Darwin; refers to genetic change or changes in the frequencies of certain traits in populations due to differential reproductive success between individuals

Question 2

fixity of species

Answer 2

notion that species, once created, can never change is diametrically opposed to theories of biological evolution

Question 3

paradigm shift

Answer 3

transition from one conceptual framework or prevailing and widely accepted viewpoint to another; acceptance of the discovery that the sun is the center of our solar system is a paradigm shift

Question 4

reproductively isolated

Answer 4

pertaining to groups of organisms that, mainly because of genetic differences, are prevented from mating and producing offspring with members of other such groups; ex: dogs cannot mate and produce offspring with cats

Question 5

binomial nomenclature

Answer 5

binomial: “two names”; in taxonomy, the convention established by Carolus Linnaeus whereby genus and species names are used to refer to living things; ex: “homo sapiens” refer to human beings

Question 6

taxonomy

Answer 6

branch of science concerned with the rules of classifying organisms on the basis of evolutionary relationships

Question 7

catastrophism

Answer 7

the view that the earth’s geological landscape is the result of violent cataclysmic events; Cuvier promoted this view, especially in opposition to Lamarck

Question 8

uniformitarianism

Answer 8

the theory that the earth’s features are the result of long-term processes that continue to operate in the present just as they did in the past; Lyell elaborated on this theory, opposing catastrophism and greatly contributed to the concept of immense geological time

Question 9

fitness

Answer 9

pertaining to natural selection, a measure of the relative reproductive success of individuals; can be measured by an individual’s genetic contribution to the next generation compared with that of other individuals (also called genetic fitness, reproductive fitness, and differential net reproductive success)

Question 10

reproductive success

Answer 10

the number of offspring an individual produces and rears to reproductive age, or an individual’s genetic contribution to the next generation

Question 11

selective pressures

Answer 11

forces in the environment that influence reproductive success in individuals

Question 12

fertility

Answer 12

the ability to conceive and produce healthy offspring

Question 13

genome

Answer 13

the entire genetic makeup of an individual or species

Question 14

biological continuity

Answer 14

a biological continuum; when expressions of a phenomenon continuously grade into one another so that there are no discrete categories, they exist on a continuum; color is one such phenomenon, and life-forms are another

Question 15

Christian fundamentalists

Answer 15

adherents to a movement in American Protestantism that began in the early twentieth century; this group holds that the teachings of the bible are infallible and should be taken literally