Evolution Flashcards
Members if each species compete to obtain food living space and necessities of life
Struggle for existence
Change in a kind of organism
Evolution
Ability of an individual to survive in reproduce in its environment
Fitness
Any inherited characteristics that increases and organisms chance of survival
Adaptation
Process by which individuals that are better suited to their environment survive and reproduce most successfully; otherwise known as natural selection
Survival of the fittest
Principle that each living species has descended with changes from other species overtime
Descent with modification
All things are derived from common ancestors
Common descent
Structures that have different mature forms the different organisms but develop from the same embryonic tissues
Homologous structures
Structures with similar functions that did not come from sharing a common ancestor, but from sharing a similar environment
Analogous structures
A organ that serves no useful function in an organism
Vestigial organ
Combined genetic information of all the members of a particular population
Gene pool
Form of natural selection in which the entire curve moves; occurs when individuals at one end of the distribution curve have higher fitness than individuals in the middle or at the other end of the curb
Directional selection
The type of selection which occurs when individuals near the center of the curve are favored
Stabilizing selection
Form of natural selection in which a single curves with into two; occurs when individuals at the upper and lower inns up a normal distribution curve have higher fitness than those need the center of the curve
Disruptive selection
A random change in allele frequencies that occurs in small populations
Genetic drift
Situation in which allele frequencies remain constant
Genetic equilibrium
Separation of species or population so that they cannot interbreed and produce fertile offspring
Reproductive isolation
Form of reproduction isolation in which two populations have differences in courtship rituals or other types of behavior that prevent them from interbreeding
Behavioral isolation
Form of reproductive isolation in which two populations are separated physically by geographic areas such as rivers mountains or stretches of water
Geographic isolation
Form of reproductive isolation in which two populations reproduce at different times
Temporel isolation
Information about past life, including the structure of organisms, what the eight, what ate them, in what environment they lived, in the order in which they lived
Fossil record
Method of determining the age of a fossil by comparing its placement with that of fossils in other layers of rock
Relative dating
A recognizable fossil other an organism that lived for short period of time, but over a wide geographic range; used to compare the relative ages of fossils
Index fossils
Length of time for half of the radioactive Adams in a sample to decay
Half life
Using the half-life of an isotope to find the absolute age of a fossil
Radioactive dating
When multiple species permanently die out during the same time frame
Mass extinction
Process by which a single species or small group of species evolves into several different forms that live in different ways; rapid growth in the diversity of a group of organisms
Adaptive radiation
Process by which unrelated organisms independently evolve similarities when adapting to similar environments
Convergent evolution
Process by which two species evolve in response to changes in each other
Convolution
A pattern of evolution where Long staple periods are interrupted by brief periods of rapid change
Punctuated equilibrium
Diagram that shows the evolutionary relationships among a group of organisms
Cladogram
A key used in the identification of organisms based on a series of choices between alternative characters
Dichotomous key
