Reading...
Play button
Play button
Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
29 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
What is Biological Diversity?
|
The variety of living things on earth.
|
|
|
What is Evolution?
|
Change over time
|
|
|
What is Evolutionary Theory?
|
A scientific theory which explains how modern organisms descended from ancient organisms.
|
|
|
What is a scientific theory?
|
A well supported, testable explanation of phenomena that have occurred in the natural world.
|
|
|
Who first proposed the theory of evolution?
|
Charles Darwin
|
|
|
What was the Beagle?
|
The ship Darwin sailed on allowing him to collect plant and animal specimens from around the world.
|
|
|
What are fossils?
|
preserved remains of ancient organisms
|
|
|
What islands influenced Darwin the most?
|
Galapagos Islands -- south of South America
|
|
|
What did Darwin notice about diversity in the Galapagos Islands?
|
Characteristics of many animals and plants varied noticably among the different islands.
|
|
|
What did most Europeans believe about Earth at the time of Darwin's travels?
|
That Earth and all its forms of life were only a few thousand years old and that original creation had not changed.
|
|
|
What scientists helped recognize that the Earth is many millions of years old?
|
Hutton and Lyell
|
|
|
How did Hutton and Lyell's work influence Darwin?
|
Hutton and Lyell's suggested that geological forces were changing earth slowly over time and Darwin thought life forms might be changing as well.
|
|
|
Which French naturalist came up with early hypotheses about evolution?
|
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
|
|
|
What did Lamarck believe about evolution?
|
That organisms acquired or lost traits during their lifetime through use and disuse of organs. These traits were then passed on to their offspring which led to change in species.
|
|
|
How was Lamarck's hypothesis flawed?
|
Because Lamarck did not understand heredity. By his theory if someone worked out and developed stronger muscles the stronger muscles would be passed on to offspring.
|
|
|
What English economist influenced Darwin?
|
Thomas Malthus who noted that babies were being born faster than people were dying which would result in not enough food and space for humans over time.
|
|
|
How did Malthus book influence Darwin?
|
It made Darwin question why other species that had far more offspring had not overrun the earth. He questioned why so many offspring did not survive
|
|
|
What book did Darwin publish in 1859
|
On the Origin of Species
|
|
|
What is Artificial Selection?
|
Nature provides variations and humans select and produce the variations they find useful (plants and animals)
|
|
|
What is "survival of the fittest"?
|
Darwin suggested that individuals compete for food and space and to produce offspring. Those that are better suited to their environment survive while those that are not don't
|
|
|
What is Natural Selection?
|
Over time natural selection results in changes in inherited characteristics of a population that increase a species' fitness in its environment.
|
|
|
What is adaptation?
|
any inherited characteristic that increases an organisms chance of survival
|
|
|
What is fitness?
|
the ability of an individual to survive and reproduce in its specific environment.
|
|
|
What is descent with modification?
|
Each living species had descended, with changes from other species over time.
|
|
|
What is common descent?
|
The principle that says all species, living and extinct, were derived from common ancestors.
|
|
|
What evidence do scientists have of Darwins theory of evolution?
|
Fossil records that document different stages of evolution between species that are now extinct and modern species.
|
|
|
What are homologous body structures?
|
Structures that have different mature forms, but develop from the same embryonic tissues.
|
|
|
What evolutionary evidence do homologous structures provide?
|
That all four limbed vertebrates have descended with modifications from common ancestors.
|
|
|
What are vestigial organs?
|
Organs in animals that are reduced in size so that they are just vestiges or traces of homologous organs in other species.
|
