Intro to Evolution Flashcards
paleontology definition
the study of fossils, largely developed by Georges Cuveir
Catastrophsim definition
speculating that each boundary between strata represents a catastrophe
Uniformitarianism definition
states that the mechanisms for change are constant over time
What did James Hutton and Charles Lyell perceive?
They perceived that changes in Earth’s surface can result from slow continuous actions still operating today
Lamarack’s Hypothesis of Evolution?
He hypothesized that species evolve through use and disuse of body parts and inehritance of acquired cahracteristics
Was Lamarack’s Hypothesis of Evolution correct or incorrect?
INCORRECT
What were the two main ideas Darwin developed?
Descent with modification and Natural Selection
What is descent with modification?
with modification, summarized Darwin’s view of the unity of life, referring to the view that all organisms are related through descent from an ancestor that lived in the remote past
What is Artificial selection?
When a species evolves in a controlled manner - humans modify other species by selecting and breeding individuals with desired traits
How many observations did Darwin make and how many inferences?
4 Observations and 2 Inferences
What was the first observation that Darwin made?
Members of a population often vary greatly in their traits
What was the second observation that Darwin made?
Traits are inherited from parents to offspring
What was the third observation that Darwin made?
All species are capable of producing more offspring than the environment can support
What was the fourth observation that Darwin made?
Many of these offspring to not survive by lack of food or other resources
What was Darwin’s first inference?
Individuals whose inherited traits give them a probability of surviving and reproducing in a given environment tend to leave more offspring than other individuals
What was Darwin’s second inference?
The unequal ability of individuals to survive and reproduce will lead to the accumulation of favourable traits in the population over generations
where are most fossils found?
sedimentary rock
What are the four types of fossils?
- whole animal/plant
- petrifaction
- imprints
- mould/casts
what is a whole animal/plant fossil + examples?
- preservation of soft and hard body parts very rare
- insects entombed in amber (preserved so well, to be studied as though they had just died-intact DNA)
- frozen Mammoth carcass and human remains (even after 40 000 years)
what is a petrifaction fossil + examples?
- remains of the organism are turned to stone
- organic substances (soft parts) decay, but water containing minerals soak into the cavities and pores of hard structures (bones, shells, eggs, etc.)
- water slowly dissolves original hard parts and replaces them with minerals (turns to rock)
what is an imprint fossil + examples?
- outlines of feaves, feathers, footprints
- significance of footprints :depth, size and distance between
- provide information about weight, length and bone structure
What is a mould/cast fossil?
- living organism is buried in mud/clay which eventually hardens (eventually to rock)
- body dissolves away, leaving a cavity within the hard material
- cavity is filled with stone in the shape of the original creature
What can fossils can tell?
- Body size
- weight
- age
- location
- migration
- cause of extinction
- diet
- common origins (missing links)
How can age be determined?
- can be determined by the location of the fossil deposits
- assuming chronology for strata and sequence of location of fossils in the layers
- absolute age can be found by radioactive dating
What is biogeography?
species tend to be more closely related to other species from the same area than to other species with the same way of life but living in different areas
What are analogous structures?
body parts that have the same function but different structures
What are vestigial structures?
strucutres present in a species that is of either marginal or no apprent use to the organisms of that species
What are the three major domains?
Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukaryota
Clade definition
A groupd of organism s that includes a common acestor and all the descendants - both living and extinct.
What is comparative embryology?
Comparing embryo formation