Evolution Study Guide

How did homologues structure develop?

Structures were inherited from a common ancestor.

Which of the following would an animal breeder use to increase the number of cows that give the most milk?

Artificial Selection

In addition to observing living organisms, Darwin studied the preserved remains of ancient organisms called what?

Fossils

Define evolution in genetic terms.

Mutations produce genetic variation in populations, and the environment interacts with this variation to select those individuals best adapted to their surroundings, this causes evolution.

A student claims that monarch butterflies and milkweed plants evolved together as an example of co-evolution. What type of evidence could support this claim?

Once the caterpillar hatches, it must contend with a bed of dense hairs that are a barrier to consumption of the leaf. But monarchs are patient, and have coevolved with the milkweed. So their first strategy is to shave that bed of hairs such that the caterpillar has access to the leaves that lie beneath.

Use the examples of body shape in sharks, dolphins, and penguins to explain convergent evolution.

Since these animals thrive in an aquatic environment, they developed fins and flippers, which are modified limbs for swimming, due to convergent evolution and not from a common ancestor.

A scientist discovers a new species of vertebrate, or animals with a backbone, in a desert ecosystem. According to Darwin and to modern ideas about evolution, what kinds of traits can the species be expected to display? Include traits at the molecular level.

The new species would exhibit characteristics that suit the desert environment and similar traits with other vertebrates and desert animals. These characteristics may include: a. thin body fur which allows heat loss b. absence of sweat glands and concentration of urine to avoid dehydration c. burrowing or staying under the rocks to avoid direct sunlight d. nocturnale. Hox gene clusters would be the same with other vertebrates f. share homologous traits or structures with other vertebrates g. share analogous traits or structures with other desert animals

The Miller-Urey experiment demonstrated that the atmosphere of early Earth could support the development of what?

amino acids

mutations that improve an individual's ability to survive and reproduce are?

beneficial

Explain what determines the number of phenotypes for a given trait.

depends on how many genes control the trait

Why are many islands, such as the Galapagos Islands, home to species that differ from those on the nearby mainland?

evolution

The combined genetic information of all member of a particular population forms a what?

gene pool

The evolution of species at a slow relatively constant rate is called?

gradualism

Intermediate fossils forms are important evidence of evolution because they show?

how organisms changed over time

Earth atmosphere contained?

little or no oxygen. mostly hydrogen and helium.

In convergent evolution similar traits develop in two species that are...?

not closely related

When two populations no longer interbreed, what is the result?

reproductive isolation

Fossils are most often found in?

sedimentary rock

The type of selection in which individuals of average size have a greater fitness than small or large individuals is called?

stabilizing selection

What is measured by the half-life of an element?

the time taken for the radioactivity of a specified isotope to fall to half its original value.