Exam 2: Evolution and the Definition of Species

Question 1

What is the biology definition of species?

Answer 1

Group of living things that can successfully reproduce

Question 2

Why can’t paleontologists define fossil species the same way living species are defined? What do they have to do instead?

Answer 2

Because paleontologists cannot see if fossils reproduce, so they have to base it on similar body shape and structure.

Question 3

group of similar species

Answer 3

genus

Question 4

All species names have 2 parts. The first word is the (genus/species) and the second word is the (genus/species)

Answer 4

genus; species

Question 5

What is the largest to smallest group classification that we can place species into?

Answer 5

1. Kingdom
2. Phylum
3. Class
4. Order
5. Family
6. Genus
7. Species

Question 6

changes in a population over time

Answer 6

evolution

Question 7

more than one species can evolve from a common ancestor; concept where one species is the ancestor for two or more species later in time

Answer 7

common ancestry

Question 8

What evidence led Charles Darwin to the idea of common ancestry?

Answer 8

Natural selection

Question 9

human control of breeding (ex: pigeon breeds created in England by humans for pigeon shows)

Answer 9

artificial selection

Question 10

What could cause species to evolve? (2 things)

Answer 10

1. Artificial Selection (human breeding)
2. Natural Selection (by the environment)

Question 11

What are the 4 conditions that if all are met, result in natural selection. If ANY of the these are not true, there will not be natural selection.

Answer 11

1. Not everyone in the population can survive and breed (producing more young than can survive)
2. Members of a species are different from each other (like size, color, etc; differences must already be there)
3. Some differences help or hurt survival and reproduction (the differences must have an effect on effect on the chances of survival or reproduction)
4. Differences are heritable (passed down to young)

Question 12

T or F: Selection always depends on the environment the species lives in and changes if the environment changes

Answer 12

True

Question 13

What does “survival of the fittest” mean?

Answer 13

Fitting into the environment, not just physical strength

Question 14

structures that are shared due to common ancestry (ex: human arm, cat arm, bat wing, and whale flipper are alike)

Answer 14

homologous structure

Question 15

How is homologous structures interpreted as evidence for evolution?

Answer 15

When different species have the same basic setup of bones, but they are used in different ways, they could have a common ancestry.

Question 16

T or F: Fossils can show us common ancestry.

Answer 16

True

Question 17

reduced versions of features that were present in the ancestor (things that are useless or harmful may get smaller and smaller over time; ex: why do humans not have tails but have a coccyx, known as the tailbone?= there could be a common ancestor that had a tail).

Answer 17

vestigial structures