Study Unit 1.1

Question 1

Biological evolution

Answer 1

Inherited change in the properties of groups of organisms over the course of generations
(Decent with modification)

Question 2

Divergence

Answer 2

If different change transpires in several populations

Question 3

Hypothesis

Answer 3

Informed conjecture or statement of what might be true

-testable through obtaining evidence

Question 4

Fact meanings

Answer 4

• simple, confirmed observations

- a hypothesis that has acquired so much supporting evidence that we act as if it is true

Question 5

Scientific theory

Answer 5

A comprehensive, coherent body of interconnected statements, based on reasoning and evidence, that explain some aspect of nature.

Question 6

Uniformitarianism

Answer 6

The same process operated in the past as it does in the present

Question 7

Lamarckism

Answer 7

Inheritance of acquired characteristics

Multiple genesis lineages

Question 8

Darwin’s 5 components of evolution

Answer 8

Evolution as such - change in characteristics of organisms
Common descent - one great family tree
Gradualism - small increments
Population change - change in frequencies of variants
Natural selection - adaptions

Question 9

Microevolution

Answer 9

Evolution within a species

- gene flow, natural selection, genetic drift, mutation

Question 10

Macro evolution

Answer 10

Evolution of major alterations that distinguish higher taxa

Question 11

Neutral theory of molecular evolution

Answer 11

Most alleles that are polymorphic within populations and that become fixed do not significantly alter fitness, and they evolve by genetic drift

Question 12

Proximate cause of biological phenomena

Answer 12

Immediate, mechanistic causes

-studied through cell biology, immunology, neurobiology and molecular biology

Question 13

Ultimate cause of biological phenomena

Answer 13

Historical causes

- natural selection

Question 14

Decent with modification

Answer 14

All species have descended, without interruption, from one or a few original forms of life
Diverging species are at first very similar
Accumulate differences over long periods of time due to natural selection

Question 15

Natural selection

Answer 15

Main cause of evolutionary change
Survival of the fittest in relation to number of offspring
The frequency of a variant form with an advantage will increase in a population over generations
New variants continuously arise