Chapter 14: Principles Of Evolution

Front 1

Structures that evolve separately to perform a similar function are analogous. The wings of birds, bats, and insects, for example, have different embryological origins but are all designed for flight.

Back 1

analogous structures

Front 2

Artificial selection is the intentional breeding of certain traits, or combinations of traits, over others. It was originally defined by Charles Darwin in contrast to the process of natural selection, in which the differential reproduction of organisms with certain traits is attributed to improved survival and reproductive ability in the natural habitat of the organism.

Back 2

artificial selection

Front 3

- anatomical structures of organisms in a species, which have lost much or all of their original function through evolution.
- They are typically in a degenerate, atrophied, or rudimentary condition.
- largely or entirely functionless

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vestigial structure

Front 4

A refers to the principle that the same processes that shape the universe occurred in the past as they do now, and that the same laws of physics apply in all parts of the knowable universe.
(e.g. the forces that build mountains and erode mountains and the rates at which these forces operate are the same today as in the past.)

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uniformitarianism

Front 5

the collection of people or organisms of a particular species living in a given geographic area or space, usually measured by a census.

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population

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- the process by which favorable traits that are heritable become more common in successive generations of a population of reproducing organisms, and unfavorable traits that are heritable become less common.
- Natural selection acts on the phenotype, or the observable characteristics of an organism, such that individuals with favorable phenotypes are more likely to survive and reproduce than those with less favorable phenotypes.

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natural selection

Front 7

Anatomical structures that perform the same function in different biological species and evolved from the same structure in some ancestor species are homologous.

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homologous structures

Front 8

the theory that Earth has been affected by sudden, short-lived, violent events that were sometimes worldwide in scope.

The dominant paradigm of geology has been uniformitarianism (also sometimes described as gradualism), but recently a more inclusive and integrated view of geologic events has developed resulting in a gradual change in the scientific consensus, reflecting acceptance of some catastrophic events.

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catastrophism

Front 9

the process whereby organisms not closely related, independently evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments or ecological niches.
(e.g. the similar nature of the flight/wings of insects, birds, pterosaurs, and bats. All four serve the same function and are similar in structure, but each evolved independently.)

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convergent evolution

Front 10

the mineralized or otherwise preserved remains or traces (such as footprints) of animals, plants, and other organisms.

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fossil

Front 11

Living organisms can modify their bodies through use or disuse of parts, and these modifications can be inherited by their offspring. This theory is invalid because characteristics such as these are not inherited.

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Lamarck’s theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics