Key terms

Question 1

Unity of life

Answer 1

organisms share many characteristics, this is because they all have a common ancestor

Question 2

allopatric speciation

Answer 2

separated individuals can evolve into separate species because of a change in selection pressure

Question 3

sympatric speciation

Answer 3

individuals in the same environment can differ

Question 4

Vestigial structures

Answer 4

remenants of features that served a function for our ancestors but don’t anymore

Question 5

convergent evolution

Answer 5

the independent evolution of similar features in different lineages (e.g. sugar glider and flying squirrel)

Question 6

Divergent evolution

Answer 6

two groups of organisms of the same species evolve different traits within those groups, forming new species

Question 7

Adaptive radiation

Answer 7

Organisms form new species in order to fill freed up ecological niches (freed up due to extinctions)

Question 8

Endosymbiosis

Answer 8

cells engulf another cell which then lives inside the host cell

Question 9

Bipedalism

Answer 9

standing on two legs

Question 10

paleoanthropology

Answer 10

study of human origins

Question 11

Macroevolution

Answer 11

Large scale evolutionary change

Question 12

Microevolution

Answer 12

Smale scale evolutionary changes within a species

Question 13

Population

Answer 13

group of individuals of the same species living in the same geographic area

Question 14

Karyotyping

Answer 14

organising chromosomes of an organism

Question 15

Binary fission

Answer 15

one cell divides into 2 of similar size

Question 16

Budding

Answer 16

new smaller cell splits off from parent cell

Question 17

parthenogenesis

Answer 17

development of unfertilised eggs

Question 18

fragmentation

Answer 18

can create new plants by taking a bit off another plant

Question 19

polyploidy

Answer 19

Organisms have more than 2 sets of chromosomes due to a fault in cell division

Question 20

gene pool

Answer 20

all copies of every type of allele in a population

Question 21

Hardy-Weinberg equation

Answer 21

p^2 + q^2 + 2pq = 1

Question 22

genetic drift

Answer 22

a change in the frequency of alleles occurs as a result of chance events

Question 23

prezygotic reproductive barriers

Answer 23

mating is impeded (e.g. geographic separation, incompatible sex organs)

Question 24

postzygotic reproductive barriers

Answer 24

can mate but offspring can not

Question 25

gradualism

Answer 25

slow but constant evolutionary change

Question 26

punctuated equilibrium

Answer 26

rapid change, then no change for a long time

Question 27

natural selection

Answer 27

increases an individuals chance of survival

Question 28

sexual selection

Answer 28

increases an individuals mating advantage

Question 29

Autopolyploidy

Answer 29

polyploidy due to an error in meiosis or mitosis causing a tetraploid in the offspring

Question 30

allopoliploidy

Answer 30

polyploidy due to interbreeding causing the chromosome number to double