Natural Selection Flashcards
DNA
contains information that a living thing inherits and needs to live.
Nucleotide
in a nucleic-acid chain, a sub unit that consists of a sugar, a phosphate, and a nitrogenous base.
Chargaff’s Rules
The rule that in DNA there is always equality in quantity between the bases A and T and between the bases G and C, … Also known as Chargaff’s ratios.
Watson and Crick
The two twentieth-century biologists (James D. Watson of the United States and Francis H. C. Crick of England) who discovered the double helix of DNA.
Rosalind Franklin
She was instrumental in discovering the molecular structure of DNA, though her vital contributions were only posthumously acknowledged.
Mutations
a change in the nucleotide-base sequence of a gene or DNA molecule.
Adaptation
a characteristic that improves an individual’s ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment.
Species
a group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding.
Evolution
the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth.
Fossils
the remains or impression of a prehistoric organism preserved in petrified form or as a mold or cast in rock.
Fossil Record
a historical sequence of life indicated by fossils found in layers of the Earth’s crust.
Charles Darwin
a British naturalist of the nineteenth century. He and others developed the theory of evolution.
Trait
a genetically determined characteristic.
Selective Breeding
selective breeding is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits by choosing which typically animal or plant males and females will sexually reproduce and have offspring together.
Natural Selection
the process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.
