Exam 1 Vocabs

Question 1

Adaptation

Answer 1

A process in genetic change in a population where average stats of character becomes improved in reference to a specific function, thought to better suite them to the environment.

Question 2

evolution

Answer 2

origin of entities possessing different states of one or more characteristics and changes in the proportions of those entities over time.

Question 3

evolutionary synthsis

Answer 3

Modification of Darwin’s theory emphasizes the coaction of random mutation, selection, genetic drift, and gene flow.

Question 4

frequency

Answer 4

proportion

Question 5

genotype

Answer 5

The set of genes possessed by an individual organism; often, its genetic composition at a specific locus or set of loci singled out for discussion.
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Question 6

hypothesis

Answer 6

An informed conjecture or proposition of what might be true.

Question 7

macroevolution

Answer 7

evolution of substantial phenotypic changes great enough to place changed lineage, often in decedents in a distinct genus or higher taxa

Question 8

microevolution

Answer 8

short-term changes within a species

Question 9

natural selection

Answer 9

any consistent difference in fitness among different classes of biological entities

Question 10

phenotype

Answer 10

The morphological, physiological, biochemical, behavioral, and other properties of an organism manifested throughout its life; or any subset of such properties, especially those affected by a particular allele or other portion of the genotype.

Question 11

phylogeny

Answer 11

The history of descent of a group of taxa such as species from their common ancestors, including the order of branching and sometimes the absolute times of divergence.

Question 12

population

Answer 12

A group of conspecific organisms that occupy a more or less well-defined geographic region and exhibit reproductive continuity from generation to generation.

Question 13

proximate cause

Answer 13

how the behavior arises in an organism

Question 14

scientific theory

Answer 14

Coherent body of statements, based on reasoning and evidence that explains some aspect of nature by recourse to natural laws or processes.

Question 15

speciation

Answer 15

Evolution of reproductive isolation within and ancestral species, resulting in two or more descendent species.

Question 16

ultimate cause

Answer 16

evolutionary history and functional utility of an organism’s behavior

Question 17

adaptive radiation

Answer 17

Evolutionary divergence of members in a single phylogenetic lineages in different adaptive forms; lineages may become modified for different ways of life (the evolutionary radiation may be called adaptive radiation)

Question 18

anagenesis

Answer 18

evolutionary change of features within a single lineage (species)

Question 19

character

Answer 19

each trait of an organism (characters may have various character states)

Question 20

character state

Answer 20

: one of the variant conditions of a character; particular versions of a character. Ex. 5 toes in humans (6 if ur name is william), 3 in rhinoceros, 1 in horses

Question 21

clade

Answer 21

aka monophyletic group, formed by all descendants of one ancestor

Question 22

cladogenesis

Answer 22

branching of a lineage into two or more descendant lineages

Question 23

common ancestor

Answer 23

lineage that gives rise to two or more decedent lineages; shared ancestor

Question 24

convergence/ convergent evolution

Answer 24

evolution of similar features independently in different evolutionary lineages, usually from different antecedent features or by different developmental pathways. Distantly related,

Question 25

divergence/ divergent evolution

Answer 25

evolution of increasing differences between lineages in one or more characters.

Question 26

evolutionary reversal

Answer 26

evolution of a character from a derived state back toward a condition that resembles an earlier state.

Question 27

gene duplication

Answer 27

the process whereby new genes arise as copied of preexisting gene sequences; one of the most important process by which genomes have increased in size, one gene with one function becomes 2 genes w 2 functions

Question 28

haplotype

Answer 28

DNA sequence that differs from homologous sequences at one or more base pair sites; DNA sequences of a gene (gene tree/ gene genealogy: branching tree that portrays the history of haplotypes)

Question 29

homology

Answer 29

possession by 2 or more species of a character state derived, with or without modification, from their common ancestor; two species share a common character state that they both inherit from their common ancestor.

Question 30

homoplasy

Answer 30

the independent evolution of a character or character star in different taxa; independent evolution of the same character state in two taxa. Includes convergence, parallel evolution, evolutionary reversal.

Question 31

ingorup

Answer 31

taxa that the outgroup has diverged from; species of interest

Question 32

lineage

Answer 32

series of ancestral and descendant populations through time; “branch” that may split at an internal branch point or node, representing the formation of two descendant lineages by speciation of their common ancestor.

Question 33

monophyletic

Answer 33

refers to a taxon, or branch of a phylogenetic tree, that includes all the species/genes that descended from a common ancestor

Question 34

outgroup

Answer 34

taxon that diverged from the ingroup before they diverged from one another; taxon that we are sure (based on prior evidence) is more distantly related to the species of interest; most different species those presented.

Question 35

parallel evolution

Answer 35

evolution of similar or identical features independently in related lineages

Question 36

parsimony

Answer 36

a principle in systematics in which the minimal number of evolutionary changes to infer phylogenetic relationships is invoked; logic for estimating phylogenies (choose the simplest scientific explanation that fits the evidence)

Question 37

phylogenetic tree

Answer 37

diagram representing the evolutionary relationship among named groups of organisms; all species extant and extinct form a great “tree of life”

Question 38

polyphyletic

Answer 38

taxon/phylogenetic tree of members who diverged from different ancestry; does not include all ancestors

Question 39

sister group

Answer 39

two clades that originate from a common ancestor; one another’s closest relative

Question 40

altruism

Answer 40

Conferral of a benefit on other individuals at an apparent cost to the donor; behavior that benefits others at the cost of itself.

Question 41

character displacement

Answer 41

pattern of geographical variation in which a character differs more greatly between sympatric than between allopatric populations of two species.

Question 42

sympatric

Answer 42

Of two species or populations, occupying the same geographic locality so that the opportunity to interbreed is presented.

Question 43

allopatric

Answer 43

population of species, occupying a geographic region different and separated from that of another population species.

Question 44

comparative method

Answer 44

procedure for inferring the adaptive function of a character by correlating its states in various taxa with one or more variables, such as ecological factors hypothesized to affect its evolution.

Question 45

fitness

Answer 45

success of an entity in leaving descendants to the next generation.

Question 46

group selection

Answer 46

differential rate of origination or extinction of whole populations on the basis of differences among them in one or more characteristics.

Question 47

individual selection

Answer 47

from of natural selection consisting of nonrandom differences in fitness among different phenotypes within a population.

Question 48

kin selection

Answer 48

a form of selection where alleles differ in their rate of propagation by influencing the impact of their bearers on the reproductive success of individuals who carry the same alleles by common descent.

Question 49

levels of selection

Answer 49

Genes

Individual

Kin

Group

Species

Question 50

pre-adaptation

Answer 50

possession of the necessary properties to permit a shift to a new niche, habitat, or function.

Question 51

reproductive success

Answer 51

aka fitness; includes survival (cannot reproduce if dead); measures by the average per capita number of offspring.

Question 52

sexual selection

Answer 52

differential reproduction of offspring whose genetic constitution is a mixture of those of two potentially genetically different gametes.

Question 53

species selection

Answer 53

form of group selection in which species with different characteristics increase or decrease in number at different rates because of a difference in their characteristics.

Question 54

trade-off

Answer 54

existence of both a fitness benefit and a fitness cost of a mutation or character state, relative to another.