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Evolutionary Biology > L1: Concept, Evidences, and Theories of Evolution > Flashcards

L1: Concept, Evidences, and Theories of Evolution Flashcards

1
Q

Coined the term evolution

A

Herbert Spencer

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2
Q

The word evolution was derived from the Latin word […], meaning […] and […]

A
  • evolvere
  • e means out
  • volvere means to roll or unfold
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3
Q

When did Herbert Spencer’s first writings on evolution come about?

A

1851, eight years before Darwin’s On the Origin of Species

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4
Q

Described as changes through time in the physical or biological world

A

Evolution

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5
Q

Evolution at the molecular level

A

Chemical Evolution

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6
Q

Evolution at the level of physical objects

A

Physical Evolution

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7
Q

Evolution at the level of stars and planets

A

Stellar Evolution
or
Cosmic Evolution

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8
Q

Evolution at the level of living objects

A

Biological Evolution

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9
Q

Defined as the process of gradual changes in organisms to form more and more complex forms over a long period of time

A

Evolutionary Biology

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10
Q

Darwin defined as evolution as […]

A

descent with modification

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11
Q

[…] defined evolutionary biology as the study of history of evolution of newer and more complex forms of life on the Earth from pre-existing simpler ones over a period of time.

A

Theodor Dobzhansky

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12
Q

Introduced the term bioevolution or evolutionary biology or biological evolution or organic evolution

A

Ernst Mayr
(1970)

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13
Q

The central idea of biological evolution

A

All life on Earth share a common ancestor

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14
Q

Defined as the process of continuity of life with constant modifications

A

Biological Evolution

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15
Q

An organism’s inherent tendency to change in response to changing environmental conditions

A

Adaptability
or
Adaptation

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16
Q

The formation of several new species as a result of migration and adaptation

A

Divergent Evolution

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17
Q

The development of common features among distantly related groups as a result of a common habitat

A

Convergent Evolution

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18
Q

An evolutionary process by which different species of organisms tend to merge through a series of intermediate stages or grades

A

Intergradation

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19
Q

The concept of evolution first appeared in the writings of […]

A

Ancient Greeks
- Empedocles
- Anaximander

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20
Q

Proposed the theory of aquatic or marine origin of life

A

Thales
(624 - 548 BC)

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21
Q

Proposed that all living beings have arisen from a primordial fluid or slime to which they ultimately return

A

Anaximander
(611 - 547 BC)

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22
Q

Was called “the earliest evolutionist” by Osborn in 1894

A

Anaximander
(611 - 547 BC)

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23
Q

Proposed that simple life forms preceded more complex life forms

A

Anaximander
(611 - 547 BC)

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24
Q

Recognized that fossils are the remains or organisms from the past

A

Xenophanes
(576 - 480 BC)

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25
Q

Said that the existence of fossils of marine animals on dry land indicated that it was once under the sea and that life originated in the sea

A

Xenophanes
(576 - 480 BC)

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26
Q

Hailed as the “father of evolutionary idea” by Osborn

A

Empedocles
(504 - 433 BC)

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27
Q

Proposed that evolution of animals was a series of attempts by nature to produce more perfect forms

A

Empedocles
(504 - 433 BC)

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28
Q

The 4 mains points of Empedocles’s proposition

A
  • Higher forms of life evolved gradually
  • Imperfect forms were gradually replaced by perfect forms
  • Plant life came first, and animal life developed later
  • Perfect forms were produced by the extinction of imperfect forms
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29
Q

Called “the greatest investigator of antiquity” by Locy in 1923

A

Aristotle
(384 - 322 BC)

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30
Q

Proposed that living things were animated by a vital force or guiding intelligence which operates constantly and improves and perfects the living world

A

Aristotle
(384 - 322 BC)

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31
Q

Suggested that the various organisms constitute a series, the so-called ladder of life

A

Aristotle
(384 - 322 BC)

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32
Q

A series in which organisms can be arranged in a sequence of increasing complexity from non-living matter through plants to plant-like animals or lower animals and then to high animals, with man at the top of it

A

Aristotle’s Ladder of Life

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33
Q

The 4 levels in Aristotle’s Ladder of Life (in ascending order)

A
  • Non-living beings
  • Plants
  • Animals
  • Humans
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34
Q

Introduced the concept of teleology

A

Aristotle
(384 - 322 BC)

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35
Q

A concept that states that the natural processes such as development or evolution are guided by their final stage or final goal

A

Teleology

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36
Q

The […] indicates guidance of a process towards some specified end decided by an external mystical source

A

external teleology

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37
Q

The […] indicates the end point of a process that has an understandable materialistic basis that develops from the process itself

A

internal teleology

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38
Q

[…] and […] gave an evolutionary explanation of origin of plants and animals

A
  • Epicurus (341 - 271 BC)
  • Soretium (99 - 55 BC)
39
Q

Reviewed the Aristotelian idea and presumed that new species could arise from old species through the degenerative process caused by the mutability in the species

A

Francis Bacon
(1561 - 1626)

40
Q

Emphasized on variations as being the cause for the origin of new species from the old ones

A

Francis Bacon
(1561 - 1626)

41
Q

Proposed the Preformation Theory

A

Jan Swammerdam
(1637 - 1680)

42
Q

What is the Preformation Theory?

A

States that ova or sperm cells contain a miniature version of the adult in a preformed state called the homunculus

43
Q

Who discarded the Preformation Theory by observing chick embryos?

A

Caspar Friedrich Wolff
(1759)

44
Q

Suggested that development includes the division of one cell and the modifications in the cell produced by its division to form various organ systems

A

Caspar Friedrich Wolff
(1759)

45
Q

A theory that states that an embryo develops by the gradual differentiation of undifferentiated simple tissues into organs

A

Wolff’s Theory of Epigenesis

46
Q

Contributed mainly on the nature and formation of fossils

A

Benoit de Maillet
(1656 - 1738)

47
Q

Pointed out the similarities between aquatic and terrestrial forms and proposed that they have evolved from marine forms trapped in marshes

A

Benoit de Maillet
(1656 - 1738)

48
Q

First to propose a general theory of evolution

A

Pierre Louis Maupertuis
(1698 - 1759)

49
Q

Proposed that hereditary material was particulate matter, transmitted through both maternal and paternal sides of the family

A

Pierre Louis Maupertuis
(1698 - 1759)

50
Q

Proposed the Emboitement Theory or Encasement Theory

A

Charles Bonnet
(1706 - 1793)

51
Q

Discredited the Emboitement or Encasement Theory

A

Prevost
(1824)

52
Q

Known as the “Father of Taxonomy”

A

Carolus Linnaeus
(1707 - 1778)

53
Q

Believed in special creation, stating that species are created by God and are immutable and fixed entities

A

Carolus Linnaeus
(1707 - 1778)

54
Q

Believed in the inheritance of acquired characteristics and the direct effect of the environment on the structural modifications of organisms

A

Georges-Louis Leclerc De Buffon
(1707 - 1778)

55
Q

Postulated that volcanic activities bring magma up from Earth’s molten interior which on solidification forms new igneous rocks

A

James Hutton
(1726 - 1797)

56
Q

The theory that states that changes in the Earth’s crust during geological history have resulted from the action of continuous and uniform processes

A

Uniformitarianism

57
Q

Gave the first clear statement of the inheritance of acquired characters, according to which the effects produced by the environment on the organisms are transmitted to the offspring

A

Erasmus Darwin
(1731 - 1802)

58
Q

A theory that emphasizes the influence of the environment on living beings which is inherited by the next generation

A

Lamarck’s Theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characters

59
Q

Introduced the Theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characters

A

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck

60
Q

A theory formulated to explain differences in the past and present forms of life and sharp discontinuities in the fossil records present in stratified rocks

A

Theory of Catastrophism

61
Q

The 2 chief advocates of the Theory of Catastrophism

A
  • George Cuvier (1769 - 1832)
  • Orbigne (1802 - 1832)
62
Q

Considered to be the Father of Paleontology and Comparative Anatomy

A

George Cuvier
(1769 - 1832)

63
Q

Cuvier believed in […], an idea that each species is fixed in its physical form which it doesn’t change and placed in its current habitat from which it doesn’t move

A

fixity of species

64
Q

A theory that states that life has ever been in existence in the form as it exists today and will continue to be so forever

A

Theory of Eternity of Life

65
Q

The 2 people who established the concept of uniformitarianism

A
  • James Hutton (1785)
  • Charles Lyell (1832)
66
Q

The idea that changes on Earth occurred by small steps over long periods of time

A

Gradualism

67
Q

When did Charles Darwin formulate the theory of Origin of species by Natural Selection?

68
Q

A theory that states that each and every cell of the body produces minute primordia called gemmules or pangene which are carried by the blood to the gonads where these accumulate in the germ cells

A

Theory of Pangenesis

69
Q

A theory that states that there is always competition among males for the possession of females

A

Theory of Sexual Selection

70
Q

The systematic difference in form between individuals of different sex in the same species

A

Sexual Dimorphism

71
Q

The most common method used by humans for improving the races of domestic animals and cultivated plants and producing new varieties

A

Artificial Selection

72
Q

Proposed that the cytoplasm of the animal body is differentiated into somatoplasm and germplasm

A

August Weismann
(1892)

73
Q

A theory that states that the cytoplasm of the animal body is differentiated into somatoplasm and germplasm

A

Weismann’s Theory of Continuity of Germplasm

74
Q

Weismann’s Theory of Continuity of Germplasm

Situated in the germplasm are minute complex structures known as […]. The characteristics of the organisms are represented in the determinants in the form of minute physiological units called […]

A
  • determinants
  • determiners
75
Q

Weismann’s Theory of Continuity of Germplasm

The germplasm is composed of […], each of which contained a sufficient amount and variety of hereditary material to produce a complete organism of the relevant species

76
Q

Suggested that variations which are important for evolution are sudden and large, which he called mutations or saltations

A

Hugo de Vries
(1848 - 1935)

77
Q

Proposed the Mutation Theory in 1886 for the origin of species

A

Hugo de Vries
(1848 - 1935)

78
Q

Proposed that ‘Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny’

A

Ernst Haeckel
(1811)

79
Q

A theory that states that the stages of embryological development of an organism mirror the morphological stages of evolutionary development characteristic of the species

A

Recapitulation Theory of Haeckel

80
Q

A theory suggesting that successive members of an evolutionary series become increasingly modified in a single undeviating direction, guided by some undefined or inherent mystical force

A

Theory of Orthogenesis

81
Q

Theory of Orthogenesis

Believed in the presence of some mystical principle of progressive development in the living organisms which brings about the particular specialization

A

Karl Von Naegeli

82
Q

Theory of Orthogenesis

Believed that lines of evolution are determined by laws of organic growth, aided by inheritance of acquired characters and proceed in a specific direction

A

Theodor Eimar

83
Q

The theory that emphasized the role of isolation in evolution

A

Isolation Theory

84
Q

Proposed the Isolation Theory

A

Moritz Wagner

85
Q

Modern evolutionary theory has its foundation in the Evolutionary Synthesis or Modern Synthesis that is formulated on the basis of contributions from Genetics, Systematics, and Paleontology. It was named […].

A

Neo-Darwinian Theory

86
Q

Modern Evolutionary Theory

Emphasized the role of genetic changes in natural populations of Drosophila in the process of evolution

A

Theodosius Dobzhansky
(1900 - 1975)

87
Q

Modern Evolutionary Theory

Explained the mechanism of origin of variations in higher animals (2)

A
  • Julian Huxley (1924)
  • Ernst Mayr (1942)
88
Q

Modern Evolutionary Theory

Showed that a combination of gross chromosomal aberrations, rare combinations in balanced lethal systems, and obligate self-fertilization are important factors for variation and evolution

A
  • Cleveland
  • Blakeslee
  • Renner
  • et al.
89
Q

Modern Evolutionary Theory

Suggested that the forces operating for the origin of species also operate for the evolution of genera, families, and other higher categories

A

Rensch
(1960)

90
Q

Modern Evolutionary Theory

The 5 recognized basic processes of synthetic theory

A
  1. gene mutations
  2. changes in chromosome number
  3. genetic recombination
  4. natural selection
  5. reproductive isolation
91
Q

Modern Evolutionary Theory

The 3 accessory processes that contribute to the evolutionary phenomenon

A
  1. migration
  2. hybridization
  3. chance in small populations
92
Q

Evolution that includes changes in the frequency of genes in a population from one generation to the next

A

Small-scale Evolution
(Microevolution)

93
Q

Evolution that includes the descent of different species from a common ancestor over many generations

A

Large-scale Evolution
(Macroevolution)

Evolutionary Biology (6 decks)

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