Quiz 1 Flashcards
Great Chain of Being
- Recasting of Aristotle’s Scala Naturae in Judeo-Christian themes
- Hierarchical organization of all life forms
- Organisms fixed in position on the chain
Carl Linnaeus
- Swedish botanist; developed comprehensive classification system for all known plants and animals
- Binomial Nomenclature
Linnaean System
Classification system based on similarities among physical characteristics of species
Taxonomy
The science of classification
Taxon (plural: taxa)
group of organisms in a taxonomy
Linnaean Hierarchy
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Georges-Louis Leclerc (1707-1788)
French naturalist who proposed species are created via modifications of their original form by environmental factors after creation
Georges Cuvier (1769-1832)
- French naturalist who discovered extinction
- Proposed catastrophism
Catastrophism
Fossils represented species that had gone extinct in cataclysms
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829)
Proposed that ‘use and disuse’ of traits is what drove changes in organismal characteristics through time, ultimately resulting in new species
Principles of Natural Selection
- Traits vary within a population
- Traits are heritable
- Individuals with traits that allow them to survive and reproduce pass those traits on to the next generation
James Hutton (1726-1797)
- Argued that features of ancient rocks could be explained by processes that were operating today, but happen very slowly
- Discoveries supported Deep Time (Earth was very old)
Charles Lyell (1797-1875)
- Proposed uniformitarianism; geological processes have always occurred at uniform rates
- Discoveries supported Deep Time (Earth was very old)
Thomas Malthus (1766-1834)
- Wrote ‘Population’ that emphasized a struggle for existence; populations expand faster than their resources
- Inspired Darwin’s theory of natural selection
Natural Selection
The differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotypes (physical traits)
‘On the Origin of Species’
- Published in 1859; presented evidence that evolution had occurred
- Explained evolutionary change occurs via natural selection
Evolution
Change in the allele frequencies (old: heritable characteristics) of biological populations over successive generations
Blending Inheritance
- 19th century model of inheritance
- Physical characteristics of offspring were a uniform blend of parents
- Refuted: After all traits have been ‘blended’ all variation disappears
Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)
- Augustinian monk who worked out the rules governing the inheritance of traits
- Each trait controlled by single gene
Genotype
Genetic signal
Phenotype
Physical expression (morphology) of the genotype
Gene
Unit of heredity passed from parent to offspring that codes for a particular trait
Allele
One or more alternative forms of a gene
Modern Evolutionary Synthesis
1) Genes are the units of inheritance
2) Phenotype is distinct from genotype. Phenotypes are outcomes of genetic/environmental factors.
3) Evolution is a change in the genetic structure of populations due to mutation, gene flow, genetic drift, and natural selection. Individuals do not evolve, populations do.
4) Speciation results from a gradual accumulation of small genetic changes
5) All organisms form a phylogeny that emerged by the branching of common ancestors into diverse lineages via speciation.