Bio Natural Selection and Evolution

Which scientific concept did Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace independently discover?

Natural selection

Speciation

a formation of a new species

Adaptation

a heritable trait or behavior in an organism thaty aids in its survival in its present environment

Founder effect

a magnification of genetic drift in a small poluation thay migrates away from a large parent population carrying with it an unrepresentative set of alleles

Macroevolution

a broader scale of evolutionary changes seen over paleontological time

What is a situation that will lead to natural selection?

1.) The seeds of two plants land near each other and one grows larger than the other 2.)Two types of fish eat the same kind of food, and one is better able to gather food than the other 3.)Male lions compete for the right to mate with females, with only one possible winner

Why do scientists consider vestigial structures evidence for evolution?

A Vestigal structure is an example of a homologous structure that has apparently been reduced through evolution o a non-functional state because its function is no longer utilized by the species exhibiting it; therefore, any mutations which might reduce its structure are not selected against. The fact that the species has vestiges of the structure rather than no structure at all is evidence that it was present in an ancestor and evolved to non-functionality through accumulation of random mutations

What situation would most likely lead to allopatric speciation?

A flood causes the formation of a new lake

Why is the statement "the monkey has evolved more than the mouse" incorrect?

Because this is implying that their is a goal to evolution. There is no degree of evolution which means the mouse and monkey could be well adapted in their environments.

The fact that DNA sequences are more similar in more closely related organisms is evidence of what>

Descent with modification

The word "theory" in theory of evolution is best replaces by _____.

Fact

When two different finches live on two different islands, some finches fly to the other to stay. This changes the allele frequencies of the population through which mechanism?

Gene flow

What variable increases the likelihood of allopatric speciation taking place more quickly

Longer distance between divided groups

What is the difference between micro- and macroevolution?

Microevolution describes the evolution of populations, while macroevolution describes the emergence of new species over long period of time

In which pairs do both evolutionary processes introduce new genetic variation into a population?

Mutation and gene flow

Difference between dispersal and vicariance?

One involves the movement of the organism, whereas the other involves a change in the environment

If a person scatters a handful of plant seeds from one species in an area, how would natural selection work in this situation?

The plants that can best use the resources of the area, including competing with other individuals for those resources, will produce more seeds themselves and those traits that allowed them to better use the resources will increase int he population of the next generation

Describe natural selection and give an example of natural selection at work in a population.

The theory of natural selection stems from the observations that some individuals in a population survive longer and have more offspring than others, thus passing on more of their genes to the next generation. For example, a big, powerful male gorilla is much more likely than a smaller, weaker gorilla to become the populations silverback, pack leader. This silverback will have more mates and father more offspring sharing half of his genes. These offsprings will grow big and strong. Over time the genes for large size in the population will grow and the population will grow in size.

Why are alternative scientific theories to evolution not taught in public school?

There is no viable scientific alternatives

Inheritance of acquired characteristics

a phrase that describes the mechanism of evolution proposed by Lamarck in which traits acquired by individuals through us of disuse could be passed on to their ooffsprings thus leading to evolutionary change in the population

Vestigial structure

a physical structure present in an organism but that has no apparent function and appears to be form a functional structure in a a distant ancestor

Sympatric speciation

a speciation that occurs in the same geographic space

Allopatric speciation

a speciation that occurs via a geographic separation

Adaptive Radiation

a speciation when one species radiates out to form several other species

Homologous structure

a structure that is similar because of descent from a common ancestor

Analogous Structure

a structure that is similar because of evolution in response to similar section pressures resulting in convergent evolution, not similar because of descent from a common ancestor

Gene pool

all of the alleles carried by all of the individuals in the population

Dispersal

an allopatric speciation that occurs when a few members of a s[ecies move to a new geographical area

Vicariance

an allopatric speciation that occurs when something in the environment separates organisms of the same species into separate groups

Divergent evolution

an evolution that results in different forms in two species with a common ancestor

Convergent evolution

an evolution that results in similar forms of different species

The wing of a bird and the arm of a human are exampled of _____.

homologous structures

Population genetics is the study of __________.

how allele frequencies in a popoulation change over time

Microevolution

the changes in a population's genetic structure (i.e., allele frequency)

Genetic drift

the effect of chance on a populations gene pool

Gene flow

the flow of alleles in and out of a population due to the migration of individuals or gametes

Natural selection

the greater relative survival and reproduction if individuals in a population that have favorable heritable traits, leading to evolutionary change

Bottleneck effect

the magnification of genetic rift as a result of natural events or catastrophes

Migration

the movement of individuals of a population to a new location; in population genetics it refers to the movement of individuals and their alleles from one population to another, potentially changing allele frequencies in both the old and the new population

Modern synthesis

the overarching evolutionary paradigm that took shape by the 19402 and is generally accepted today

Population genetics

the study of how selective forces change the allele frequencies in a population over time

Variation

the variety of alleles in a pollation