Human Evolution Quiz 1

Front 1

Mutation

Back 1

"Any...change in the genetic constitution of an organism." Ultimate source of all genetic variation.

Front 2

Adaption

Back 2

"Any alteration in structure or function by which an organism becomes better fitted to survive and reproduce in a given environment." The result of natural selection.

Front 3

Amino Acid

Back 3

"one of twenty unit molecules that are the common building blocks of proteins."

Front 4

Environment

Back 4

"Surroundings of an organism"; anything external to the individual, organic (animals and plants) and inorganic or chemical (hydrogen, oxygen, etc.) We usually think of this in physical terms external to the organism, but cells also inhabit environments in our bodies, e.g., as a fetus inhabits the environment of the amniotic sac.

Front 5

Enzyme

Back 5

"protein produced by living cells that speeds up a specific chemical reaction."

Front 6

Evolution

Back 6

"Change in a lineage of organisms over time. The process in which organisms are descended with modification from previous organisms."

Front 7

Evolutionary forces

Back 7

"Mechanisms that can cause changes in [gene] frequencies from one generation to the next. There are almost 20 known, but the four most commonly cited are: mutation, genetic drift, gene flow [or migration], and natural selection."

Front 8

Fallback food

Back 8

A food that increases in frequency in the diet of an animal when other more preferred foods become unavailable.

Front 9

Founder effect

Back 9

"Special case of synchronic genetic drift in which a small population of individuals buds off from a parent population and founds a new colony. The colony may possess only a small proportion of the former genetic variation present in the parent population."

Front 10

Frequency

Back 10

"Rate of occurrence" In population genetics, expressed as a percentage of a gene representation in a group of individuals from 0 to 100% or a proportion from 0 to 1.

Front 11

Gene

Back 11

"Basic unit of the Mendelian inheritance responsible for a certain physical character or biological function...an ultramicroscopic structure consisting of DNA."

Front 12

Gene flow

Back 12

"Spread of genes from one breeding population to others due to dispersal of...individuals. Gene flow may cause changes in [gene] frequency and is one of the recognized mechanisms [or forces] of evolution.

Front 13

Genetic Drift

Back 13

"Change in [gene] frequency that occurs when
1. small groups of individuals are separated from or leave a larger population. (founder effect)
2. when offspring differ genetically from the parent population (sampling error)

Front 14

Macroevolution

Back 14

"Genetic change sufficient to form new species. A large amount of change or significant number of evolutionary steps." Change in a lineage of organisms that takes place of significant period of time (hundreds of generations)

Front 15

Mate choice

Back 15

Evolution of a preference for a mate exhibiting specific physical traits or behaviors.

Front 16

Microevolution

Back 16

small changes in the frequency of a gene that occur over relatively short periods of time (generations) due to one or more evolutionary force.

Front 17

Migration

Back 17

"Movement of individuals and cultural materials from one population to another...transfer of genetic information by the movement of individuals from one population to another."

Front 18

Natural Selection

Back 18

"Nonrandom process by which some individuals in a species who possess adaptive...traits have a higher net reproductive success than individuals without those traits...This was the first mechanism proposed (by Charles Darwin, 1859) to account for evolution, in which forces in the environment select which individuals will leave the most offspring."

Front 19

Population

Back 19

"Group of interbreeding organisms coexisting within a geographical range."

Front 20

Random

Back 20

"...having no recognizable pattern.