chapter 20 ~ evolution

Question 1

The process by which some individuals in a population experience changes in their DNA and pass those modified instructions to their offspring.

Answer 1

Biological evolution

Question 2

The branch of biology that examines the form and variety of organisms in their natural environments.

Answer 2

Natural history

Question 3

A belief that knowledge of god may be acquired through the study of natural phenomena.

Answer 3

Natural theology

Question 4

The science of the classification of organisms into an ordered system that indicates natural relationships.

Answer 4

Taxonomy

Question 5

The study of the geographical distributions of plants and animals.

Answer 5

Biogeography

Question 6

The form or shape of an organism, or of a part of an organism.

Answer 6

Morphology

Question 7

An anatomical feature of living organisms that no longer retains its ancestral function.

Answer 7

Vestigial structures

Question 8

The remains or traces of an organism of past geologic age embedded and preserved in earths crust.

Answer 8

Fossils

Question 9

The study of ancient organisms.

Answer 9

Paleobiology

Question 10

The theory that earth has been affected by sudden, violent events that were sometimes worldwide in scope.

Answer 10

Catastrophism

Question 11

The view that Earth and its living systems changed slowly over its history.

Answer 11

Gradualism

Question 12

The concept that the geological processes that sculpted earth’s surface over long periods of time— such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, erosion, and the formation and movement of glaciers — are exactly the same as the processes observed today.

Answer 12

Uniformitarianism

Question 13

Selective breeding of organisms to ensure that certain desirable traits appear at higher frequency in successive generations.

Answer 13

Artificial selection

Question 14

The evolutionary process by which alleles that increase the likelihood of survival and the reproductive output of the individuals that carry them become more common in subsequent generations.

Answer 14

Natural selection

Question 15

A genetically based characteristic, preserved by natural selection, that increases an organism’s likelihood of survival or its reproduction output.

Answer 15

Adaptive traits

Question 16

A process whereby natural selection or genetic drift causes populations to become more different over time.

Answer 16

Evolutionary divergence

Question 17

Biological evolution.

Answer 17

Descent with modification

Question 18

The branch of science that studies the prevalence and variation in genes among populations of individuals.

Answer 18

Population genetics

Question 19

A unified theory of evolution developed in the middle of the twentieth century.

Answer 19

Modern synthesis

Question 20

Small-scale genetic changes within populations, often in response to shifting environmental circumstances or chance events.

Answer 20

Microevolution

Question 21

Large-scale evolutionary patterns in the history of life, producing major changes in species and higher taxonomic groups.

Answer 21

Macroevolution

Question 22

An evolutionary sequence of ancestral organisms and their descendants.

Answer 22

Biological lineages

Question 23

The study of the geographical distributions of plants and animals in relation to their evolutionary history.

Answer 23

Historical biogeography

Question 24

Analysis of the structure of living and extinct organisms.

Answer 24

Comparative morphology

Question 25

Characteristics that are similar in two species because they inherited the genetic basis of the trait from their common ancestor.

Answer 25

Homologous traits

Question 26

An obsolete theory that evolution is goal oriented, striving to perfect organisms.

Answer 26

Orthogenesis