Lecture 3: Basic Evolutionary Biology

Question 1

Define creation

Answer 1

fixity of species

Question 2

Define evoultion

Answer 2

Descent with modification,
important components
- microevolution, speciation, macroevolution, common ancestory

Question 3

Define microevolution

Answer 3

species change over time

Question 4

Define speciation

Answer 4

lineages split and diverge

Question 5

Define macroevolution

Answer 5

new life-forms derive from older forms

Question 6

Define common ancestory

Answer 6

all life-forms are related

Question 7

What is artificial selection and what is it evidence for?

Answer 7

variation under domestication, evidence for microevolution

Question 8

What are vestigial structures?

Answer 8

structures reduced following lack of use, implies that maintaining these structures is costly

Question 9

What is the law of succesion

Answer 9

the general pattern of correspondence between fossil and living forms from the same local, extant forms resemble extinct form from the same region

Question 10

What is the significance of “transitional” fossils?

Answer 10

they display traits of of different species, including traits of ancestral populations and novel traits seen in later descendants. (not linear progression, but a branching tree)