Biology Chapter 15

Describe an example of biochemical evidence for evolution.

Human proteins are

Define vestigial structure. give an example of a human vestigial structure.

In humans the vermiform appendix is a vestigial structure; it has lost much of its ancestral function. Vestigiality refers to genetically determined structures or attributes that have apparently lost most or all of their ancestral function in a given species, but have been retained through evolution. Darwin would, of course, go on to redefine the field of human biology some half-century later with On the Origin of Species, but it was his second book, 1871's The Descent of Man, where he listed a number of the structures we know today as vestigial for the first time, among them the appendix, tail bone, and wisdom teeth.

Contrast derived and ancestral traits

derived is when a trait shows up that was NOT present in a common ancestor. ancestral/primitive characters WERE present in a common ancestor. these terms are relative because it's when you're comparing 2+ species/populations

Define adaptive radiation

the diversification of a group of organisms into forms filling different ecological niches

Define evolution

the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth.