rbp; Flashcards
full name of darwins famous book
on the origin of species by means of natural selection
date darwin published origin of species
november 24, 1859
the origin of species focused biologists’ attention on _______
the great diversity of organisms
darwin’s 2 major points in the origin of species
- he presented evidence that the many species of organisms presently inhabiting earth are descendants of ancestral species that were different from the modern species
- he proposed a mechanism for this evolutionary process – natural selection
the basic idea of natural selection is that ________
a population can change over generations if individuls that possess certain heritable traits leave more offspring than other individuals
the result of natural selection is _______
evolutionary adaptation – an accumulation of inherited characteristics that enhance organisms’ ability to survive and reproduce in specific environments
we can define evolution as
a change over time in the genetic composition of a population
we can also use the tem evolution on a grand scale to mean ________
the gradual appearance of all biological diversity
aristotle’s views in evolution
he views species as unchanging. through his observations, he recognized certain “affinities” among living things. he concluded that life-forms could be arranged on a ladder, or cale, of increasing complexity, later called the scala naturae
scala naturae
“scale of nature”
each form of life, perfect and permanent, had its allotted rung on this ladder.
it was a ladder of increasing complexity
carolus linnaeus
swedish physician and botanist who sought to classify life’s diversity “for the greater glory of god”
linnaeus founded ______ and developed ______
taxonomy;
binomial system of naming organisms according to genus and species
taxonomy
the branch of biology concerned with naming and classifying organisms
the scalar naturae system was a ______ ______
linear hierarchy
to linnaeus, the observation that some species resemble each other
didn’t imply evolutionary kinship, but rather the pattern of their creation
_____ helped to lay the groundwork for darwin’s ideas
the study of fossils
fossils
remains or traces of organisms from the past, found in sedimentary rocks
sedimantary rocks
formed from the sand and mud that settle to the bottom of seas, lakes, and marshes. new layers of sediment cover older ones and compress them into superimposed layers of rock called strata
paleontology
study of fossils; largely developed by french scientist Georges Cuvier
in examining rock layers in the paris region, cuvier noted that
the deeper the strata, the more dissimilar the fossils are from current life. also, from one stratum to the next, some new species appear while others disappear
cuvier staunchly opposed
the idea of gradual evolutionary change
cuvier advocated
catastrophism, speculating that each boundary between strata represents a catastrophe, such as a flood or drought, that destroyed many of the species living at the time
cuvier proposed that periodic catastrophes
were usually confined to local geographic regions, which were repopulated by species immigrating from other areas
gradualism
the idea that profound change can take place through the cumulative effect of slow but continuous processes