Evolution and Darwin (Ch. 17)

Question 1

What is artificial selection? How is it different from natural selection?

Answer 1

Selective breeding for certain traits- it differs because in natural selection traits are gained/lost for an advantage in living in the wild.

Question 2

What are adaptations? How are they beneficial?

Answer 2

A feature that helps organisms be better suited to their environment - they allow organisms to be better suited to live in a particular environment.

Question 3

Define fitness. How does that support Darwin’s ideas?

Answer 3

Fitness is the ability to be able to successfully create offspring- it supports Darwin’s ideas because it implies that species with specific traits are more likely to reproduce than others, which causes natural selection.

Question 4

Define homologous structures, analogous structures, and vestigial structures.

Answer 4

Homologous structures share an ancestor but serve a different function, analogous structures serve a similar function but do not share an ancestor, and vestigial structures are traits that were once needed but no longer are.

Question 5

Explain the idea of ancient common ancestry.

Answer 5

The idea that organisms that are present on Earth can be traced back by a single or a few progenitors or ancestors.