evolution Flashcards
Who said, “Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution”?
Theodosius Dobzhansky (1964)
What is evolution?
Evolution is the change in inherited traits over time.
What is natural selection?
Differential survival and reproduction based on inherited characteristics.
What are the three principles of evolution by natural selection?
- Variation, 2. Inheritance, 3. Struggle for existence
What causes variation among organisms?
Genes, environment, or an interaction of both.
What does “transmission” mean in evolutionary theory?
Parents pass on traits to offspring via genetic inheritance.
What is the “struggle for existence”?
Not all offspring survive to reproduce due to limited resources and survival challenges.
What is fitness in evolutionary terms?
An organism’s ability to survive and produce fertile offspring.
What distinguishes natural selection from artificial selection?
Natural selection occurs in nature, while artificial selection is human-directed breeding.
How did Galapagos finches demonstrate natural selection?
Birds with smaller beaks survived better after a flood changed seed types, and passed on the trait.
What principle did the finch example illustrate?
All three: variation, inheritance, and struggle for existence.
How does antibiotic resistance illustrate natural selection?
Resistant microbes survive and pass on genes, increasing resistance over generations.
What is the Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness (EEA)?
The ancestral environment in which our evolutionary traits developed.
What are the four principles of Evolutionary Psychology (EP)?
- Evolved brain from EEA pressures 2. Gradual change 3. Universal human nature 4. Massive modularity
What does “adaptive lag” refer to?
Our brain evolved for past environments and may not be well-adapted to modern settings.
Why do we crave high-fat, high-sugar foods from an evolutionary perspective?
These foods were rare and valuable in the EEA, so we evolved to desire them.
What is the mirror self-recognition test?
A test of self-awareness; great apes (but not monkeys) recognize themselves in mirrors.
What physical and behavioral traits were selected in human evolution?
Larger brain size, especially cerebral cortex, and more cortical convolutions.
How does evolutionary psychology explain face recognition?
It evolved as a response to social and survival challenges in the EEA
