Evolution Flashcards
The gradual process of change, is naturally occurring among populations at a negligible rate.
Evolution
“survival of the fittest”
Natural Selection
Selection of desirable traits leaving the population to evolve with human intervention.
Artificial Selection/Selective Breeding
It describes random fluctuations in allele frequencies in a population.
Genetic Drift
Portion of a population leaves creating anew.
Founder Effect
Population size is decreased severely and can be caused by natural disasters.
Bottleneck Effect
Involves the movement of genes into or out of a population.
Gene Flow
Are mutations that happen when there are changes in the nucleotide sequence of the DNA.
DNA Mutation
Are mutations that occur when there are changes or abnormalities in the structure and number of chromosomes.
Chromosomal Mutations
Creates genetic diversity at the level of genes that reflects differences in the DNA sequences of different organisms.
Recomnination
Name the Five Factors of the Hardy-Weinberg Principle
- No Gene Flow
- No Mutation
- No Natural Selection
- Random Mating
- Very Large Population Size
What does the phrase ‘descent with modification’ summarize?
All organisms are related through descent from an ancestor that lived in the remote past.
From what do species alive today descend?
Ancestral species that lived in a distant past.
What concept unites all organisms on Earth?
The tree of life.
What is the last universal common ancestor (LUCA)?
The ancestor of all life on Earth.
What principle did Darwin refer to as ‘descent with modification’?
The idea that each living species has descended with changes from other species over time.
What does ‘common descent’ emphasize?
All species, living or extinct, were derived from common ancestors.
What is speciation?
The process where multiple species derive from a single ancestral population.
How long does it take for speciation to happen?
Billions of years.
What evidence does Darwin use to support his theory of natural selection?
Fossil records, geographical distribution, homologous structures, and embryology.
What are phylogenetic trees based on?
Ribosomal RNA genes and molecular data.
What does common biochemistry imply about all known forms of life?
They are based on the same fundamental biochemical organization.
What is the significance of the genetic code being nearly identical across all life forms?
It is definitive evidence in favor of universal common descent.
What do selectively neutral similarities in proteins suggest?
Common descent.
What is an example of a universally shared protein found in all organisms?
Cytochrome c.
What does the analysis of 6,331 common genes suggest?
They may have arisen from a single common ancestor.
What is a key energy carrier in all living organisms?
Adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
True or False: Homology of the central subunits of Transmembrane ATPases supports the LUCA hypothesis.
True.
Fill in the blank: The process by which diverse species evolved from common ancestors is called _______.
Natural Selection.
What concept did ancient scientists believe regarding species on earth?
Essentialism
They argued that species were unchangeable creations of God.
Who is known as the ‘Father of Taxonomy’?
Carolus Linnaeus
He developed a system for classifying and naming plants.
What is the hierarchical taxonomic structure introduced by Linnaeus?
- Kingdom
- Phylum
- Class
- Order
- Family
- Genus
- Species
This structure is foundational to modern classification systems.
What is taxonomy?
A branch of science that deals with identification, description, classification, and nomenclature of organisms.
How do we classify organisms according to Linnaean Classification?
- Kingdom
- Phylum
- Class
- Order
- Family
- Genus
- Species
The classification starts from larger groups to smaller groups.
What is the highest level of category in biological classification?
Kingdom
What is the Binomial Nomenclature?
A system of naming organisms that uses two Latinized names: the genus and species.
In Binomial Nomenclature, how is the genus name formatted?
Always starts with a capital letter.
In Binomial Nomenclature, how is the species name formatted?
Always starts with a small letter.
Who proposed the idea that human populations can grow faster than resources?
Thomas Robert Malthus
What is the theory of catastrophism proposed by Georges Cuvier?
Natural history has been punctuated by catastrophic events that altered life development.
What did James Hutton contribute to the understanding of geological processes?
Theory of Gradualism, recognizing that the Earth is extremely old and shaped by ongoing processes.
What is uniformitarianism as supported by Charles Lyell?
The idea that geological processes observed in the present also operated in the past.
What did Jean Baptiste de Lamarck’s Theory of Use and Disuse suggest?
Organisms can reshape their traits based on the importance of those traits.
What is the Theory of Acquired Traits proposed by Lamarck?
Acquired traits can be passed on to offspring.
What is Charles Darwin known for?
Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection.
What is the key mechanism of Darwin’s theory of evolution?
Natural Selection
What does ‘fitness’ refer to in Darwin’s theory?
An organism’s relative ability to survive and produce fertile offspring.
What is speciation?
The process by which a species evolves into a new species over time.
What concept do Darwin and Lamarck agree on regarding evolution?
Life evolves from fewer, less complicated organisms to more complex organisms.
Who is known as the ‘Father of Heredity’?
Gregor Mendel
What did Gregor Mendel’s experiments on pea plants demonstrate?
How heredity works and the concepts of dominant and recessive traits.
Enumerate the eight scientists that contributed to the development of evolutionary thought.
- Carolus Linnaeus
- Thomas Robert Malthus
- Georges Cuvier
- James Hutton
- Charles Lyell
- Jean Baptiste de Lamarck
- Charles Darwin
- Gregor Mendel
Proposed a category above a kingdom, called domain.
Carl Woose
Worked together with Charles Darwin to produce the Theory of evolution by natural selection.
Alfred Russel Wallace
What are fossils?
Remains of ancient organisms trapped in rocks, tar pits, frozen in ice, or embedded in amber.
What do paleontologists study to trace the evolutionary history of plants and animals?
Fossils found in rocks.
What were the ancestors of modern horses primarily adapted to eat?
Broad-leaved plants, shrubs, and trees.
What is paleontology?
The study of fossils.
What are homologous structures?
Organs or bones with the same underlying anatomical features in different animals.
Give an example of homologous structures.
The arm of a human, the wing of a bird, the leg of a dog, and the flipper of a dolphin.
What are analogous structures?
Forms that perform the same function but have very different embryological development or structures.
Give an example of analogous structures.
Insect’s wing, bird’s wing, and bat’s wing.
What are vestigial structures?
Structures that have no apparent function and appear to be residual parts from past ancestors.
Name an example of a vestigial structure in humans.
Coccyx (tail bone).
What is embryology?
The study of structures that develop during an embryo’s various stages of growth.
What common features do all vertebrate embryos share?
Gill slits and tails.
What is molecular biology?
A branch of biology that deals with the structure and function of macromolecules essential to life.
How can molecular biology provide evidence for evolution?
By examining similarities and differences among biological molecules to determine species’ relatedness.
What does biogeography study?
The geographical distribution of fossils and living organisms.
What is an example of evolution intersecting with geography?
The evolution of unique species on islands.
What type of mammals primarily inhabit Australia?
Marsupials.
True or False: The wings of bats, birds, and insects are homologous structures.
False.
