Unit 9: Evolution Flashcards
natural selection
- mechanism for evolution
- process in which organisms with traits well suited to an environment are more likely to survive and to produce offspring
- the traits being selected contribute to an organism’s fitness in it’s environment
- natural affection can affect the distributions of phenotypes in 3 ways….
1. directional selection
2. stabilizing selection
3. disruptive selection - principles…..
1. Natural variation
2. Overproduction
3. Competition
4. Survival of the fittest
evolution
- a change in genetic makeup of a species over time
- any change over time in the relative frequencies of alleles in a population
- populations evolve
population
-all individuals of a species that live together in one place at one time
Charels Darwin
- English naturalist
- wrote “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection,” which proposes that species evole ahd how evolution occurs
- presented evidence that evolution has been taking place for millions of years and continues in all living things
- he did this without any knowledge of ehat we know now about genetics
- he compared processes in nature to artificial selection
- realized thathigh burth rates and a shortage of lifes’ basic resources would force organisms to compete for resources
- proposed that fitness is the result of adaptation
- he refered to survival of the fittest as natural selection b/c of its similarities to naturla selection
- Age 22= jouney on the Beagle, as a naturalist
fitness
-the ability of an individual to survive and reproduce in its specifc environment
adaptation
- any inherited characteristic that increases an organism’s chance of survival
- become better suited to it’s environment
homologous structures
- structures that have different mature forms but share a common anscestry
- come from the same embyonic tissues
- not all serve important functions
- EX: forelimbs in vertebrates
divergence
-the development of differenves between a similar species
punctuated equilibrium
-the hypothesis that evolution of a species happened in periods of fast change separated by periods of little or no change
subspecies
- populations of the same species that differ genetically because they have adapted to different living conditions?
gradualism
- the hypothesis that evolution of differnt species happens at a slow constant rate
- over a ling period of time
isolation
-condition in which popoulations of the same species cannot breed with one another
extinct
-when a species permanently disappears
mesonychids
-one hypothesized link betweenn modern whales and hoofed animals
fossil record
- how links between major classes of vertebrates are established
- by comparing fossils form older rock layers with fossils from younger rock layers, scientists can document that life on Earth had changed over time
scientists agree that……..
- the Earth of 4.5 billion years old
- Earth has supported life for most of its history
- living organism share ancestry with earlier, simpler life-forms
paleontologist
- scientist who studies fossils
- radiometric dating to determine the age of fossils
fossils
- a trace of long-dead organisms
- form when rapidly buriedin fine sediment
- found in layers of sendimane
- shows a long history of life on Earth.