Chapter 24 - Evolution

Question 0

Typological thinking

Answer 0

The way of thinking based on the idea that species are unchanging types and that variations within species are unimportant or misleading

Question 1

Evolution

Answer 1

The theory that all organisms on earth are related by common ancestry and that they have changed over time, predominately via natural selection. A change in allele frequencies over time.

Question 2

Population

Answer 2

A group of individuals of the same species living in the same geographic area at the same time

Question 3

Descent with modification

Answer 3

The phrase used by Darwin to describe his hypothesis of evolution by natural selection

Question 4

Relative dating

Answer 4

science of determining the relative order of past events, without necessarily determining their absolute age.

Question 5

Absolute dating

Answer 5

process of determining an approximate computed age

Question 6

Radiometric dating

Answer 6

Dating of rocks directly

Question 7

Transitional features

Answer 7

A trait that is intermediate between a condition observed in ancestral species and the condition observed in more derived species

Question 8

Law of succession

Answer 8

Fossils found in a certain geographic region frequently resemble the species currently living in that region

Question 9

Vestigial structures

Answer 9

Traits that have reduced or no function but are clearly related to functioning organs in related species

Question 10

Homology

Answer 10

Similarity among organisms of different species due to their inheritance from a common ancestor

Question 11

Morphology

Answer 11

Form or shape of an organism

Question 12

Vertebrates

Answer 12

One of the three major chordate lineages compromising animals with a dorsal column or cartilaginous or bony structures and a skull enclosing the brain

Question 13

Natural selection

Answer 13

The process by which individuals with certain heritable traits tend to produce more sourcing offspring then individuals without those traits

Question 14

Heritable traits

Answer 14

Traits that can be transmitted from one generation to the next

Question 15

Biological frequencies

Answer 15

The ability of an individual to produce viable offspring relative to others of the same species

Question 16

Adaptation

Answer 16

Any heritable trait that increases the fitness of an individual with that trait compared with individuals without that trait in a particular environment

Question 17

Selfish allele

Answer 17

An inescapable compromise between two traits that cannot be optimized simultaneously