Evolution Flashcards
What is Darwin’s theory of evolution?
all species of living things have evolved from simple life forms that developed over billions of years ago
How does natural selection work?
- produce large number of offspring
- variation - difference in genes
- (survival of the fittest: competition)
- organisms most suited to environment are more likely to survive and reproduce
- genes which enable organisms to survive is passed on to their offspring
How does mutation affect evolution?-
- new gene may be better adapted to environment
- survive and reproduce
- passed onto offspring
What is the name of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck’s theory of evolution?
Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics
What does Lamarck’s theory state?
characteristics which develop during an organism’s lifetime can be passed onto offspring
Objections against Lamarck’s theory
- conflict of religion: all things were created by God
- evident that characteristics were not passed on (experiments did not support his hypothesis)
- people were not happy that we evolved from worms
Objections against Darwiny’s theory
- conflict of religion: all things were created by God
- not enough evidence (gaps in fossil records)
- people did not understand how genes and DNA work
Why has Darwin’s theory been accepted?
it explains how the best adapted organisms survive to breed
What is classification?
organisation of living things into groups according to their similarities
What is the name of system used to study the similarities and differences between organisms?
natural classification system
What are the largest groups in the classification system?
kingdoms
What are the main kingdoms?
- animal
- plant
- microorganism
What are the smallest groups in the classification system?
species
What do evolutionary trees show?
relationships between organisms
How does the evolutionary tree show the relationship between organisms?
the more recent the common ancestor (along timeline), the more closely related
