Evidence of Evolution Flashcards
What are the 4 types of evidence that support evolutionary theory?
- Evolution through natural selection
- Fossil Evidence
- Anatomical evidence
- Convergent evolution
What is Darwin’s hypothesis about finches?
Different beak shapes related to food gathering, and natural selection changed beak shaped according to food source.
What are the three conditions of natural selection?
- Phenotypic variation must exist in population
- Variation must lead to differences in reproductive success
- Phenotypic variation must be genetically heritable by next generation.
What is industrial melanism?
Darker individuals come to predominate over lighter ones
What is artificial selection?
Change initiated by humans
Rock fossils are created when what three events occur?
- Organisms are buried in sediment
- Calcium in bone or other hard tissue mineralizes
- Surrounding sediment hardens to form rock
What are fossils?
Fossils are the preserved remains of once living organisms
What is relative dating?
Fossils aged by their position in the sediment
What is absolute dating?
Age of fossils determined by rates of radioactive decay
What is half life?
The time it takes for 1/2 of the isotopes to decay
What is the oldest known bird fossil?
Archaeopteryx
What are homologous structures?
Are structures with different appearances and functions that are derived from the same body part in a common ancestor
What are vestigial structures?
They have no apparent function but resemble structures ancestors possessed
What are pseudogenes?
Genes that have lost function but are still found in the genome
In convergent evolution structures are what instead of homologous?
Homoplasious
