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Flashcards in Evidence for Evolution Deck (51)
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1
Q

Populations

A

individuals of the same species that live in the same area at the same time

2
Q

Believes of special creation

A

1) all species are independent of one another
2) life on Earth is young (6000 years old)
3) species are immutable

3
Q

Immutable

A

incapable of change

special creation thought this

4
Q

Pattern component

A

part of a scientific theory

a statement that summarizes a series of observations about the natural world

about facts or how things ARE in nature

5
Q

Process component

A

part of a scientific theory

a mechanism that produces a pattern or set of observations

6
Q

Scientific theory

A

a broad class of observations that is widely supported by overwhelming evidence

7
Q

Plato and Typological Thinking

A

Plato claims that every organism was an example of a perfect essence, or type, created by God and that this type was unchanging

Plato explained slight variations as “perfect essence”

8
Q

Aristotle and the Scale of Nature

A

Linear scheme of species arranged in increasing size and complexity

“lower” and “higher” species

9
Q

Lamarck

A

proposed the first formal theory of evolution

believed that species were always producing “better” species

phenotype develops in response to environment (ex: giraffes neck grows)

10
Q

Evolution

A

species are not static, but change over time

11
Q

What was different about Darwin?

A

He claims that variation is crucial

12
Q

Population thinking

A

variation is key

13
Q

Typological thinking

A

variation is abnormal

species conform

the opposite of population thinking

14
Q

3 things that make Darwin’s ideas revolutionary

A

1) overturned the idea that species are static and unchanging (suggested change through time and common ancestry)
2) replaced typological thinking with population thinking
3) it was scientific. can make predictions through observation and experimentation

15
Q

Descent with modification

A

species that lived in the past are the ancestors of the species existing today, and that species change through time

16
Q

Pattern component of the theory of evolution

A

1) species change through time

2) species are related by common ancestry

17
Q

Evidence for change through time (show change)

A

fossils, extinction, transitional features

vestigial traits

contemporary populations: like bacterial resistance and weeds resistance to herbicides

18
Q

fossil

A

any trace of an organism that lived in the past

19
Q

fossil record

A

consists of all the fossils that have been found on Earth and described in scientific literature

20
Q

extant species

A

species living today

21
Q

James Hutton

A

geologist

principle of uniformitarianism: the idea that geological processes occurring today are what occurred in the past

22
Q

sedimentary rocks

A

form from sand or mud and other materials deposited in layers at locations such as beaches or river mouths

take long to form

23
Q

geologic time scale

A

a sequence of named intervals called eons, eras, and periods that represent major events in Earth’s history

a relative scale (exact age unknown)

24
Q

radioactive decay

A

half-life can function as an absolute dating

“natural clock”

25
Q

Earliest signs of life

A

3.4-3.8 billion years

26
Q

Baron Cuvier

A

published report that there are extinct species

his report focused on large species like mammoths because it is very unlikely that these large, distinctive terrestrial animals would remain undiscovered if alive

27
Q

law of succession

A

pattern of finding fossils of species with similarities to the living species succeeding them

Darwin connects that extinct forms are the ancestors of living forms

28
Q

transitional feature

A

a trait in a fossil species that is intermediate between those of ancestral and derived species

29
Q

Derived traits

A

a trait that differs from the ancestral trait

30
Q

Ancestral trait

A

a trait present in the ancestor of the species

31
Q

Is evolution goal-oriented or purposeful?

A

No

32
Q

Are individual fossils direct ancestors of later species?

A

Not necessarily

The individual fossil could be a relative of the direct ancestor

33
Q

vestigial trait

A

a reduced or incompletely developed structure that has no function but is clearly similar to functioning organs in ancestral species or closely related species

34
Q

Vestigial traits and special creation

A

special creation is disproved by vestigial traits because they show that species were not perfectly designed by a supernatural being

35
Q

Contemporary examples of change through time

A

Bacteria resistance

Herbicide resistance

Timing of bird migration and flower bloom due to climate change

36
Q

Evidence of descent from a common ancestor (shows relationships)

A

similar species are found in the same geographic area

similar species share homologies

current examples

37
Q

geographic similarities

A

Darwin discovered that the finches were distinct species on different islands but yet still very similar

Darwin proposes that the finches were similar because they had descended from the same common ancestor and then changed over time

38
Q

phylogenetic tree

A

a branching diagram that describes the ancestor-descendant relationships among species or other taxa

39
Q

homology

A

a similarity that exists in species due to common ancestry

40
Q

are vestigial structures homologous?

A

yes

they must be homologous to some structure in a common ancestor

41
Q

Genetic homology

A

occurs in DNA nucleotide sequences, RNA nucleotide sequences, or amino acid sequences

ex: the genetic code is very similar between organisms

42
Q

Developmental homology

A

observed in embryos

ex: chick, human, and cat embryos all have similar tails and pouches

43
Q

Structural homology

A

a similarity in adult morphology or form

44
Q

Relationships between three levels of homology

A

genetic homologies cause development homologies in embryos which then cause the structural homologies in adults

45
Q

Testing homologies experimentally

A

can insert homologous genes into different species and observe functioning development to showcase genetic homology

can test drugs on other organisms if they are homologous

46
Q

current examples of descent from a common ancestor

A

speciation in fruit flies and sunflowers

47
Q

internal consistency

A

most powerful support for a theory

the observation that data from independent sources agree in supporting predictions made by a theory

48
Q

Steps of the scientific method

A
Question
Hypothesis
Collect evidence
Make observations
Analyze
Draw conclusions
49
Q

Defining alive

A

Grows and develops
Responds to stimuli from its environment
Reproduce
Must take in nutrients (energy) and release wastes
Maintain homeostasis
Adaption: populations of individuals evolve over time
Order and organization
Stores information

50
Q

How does an organism maintain “alive”

A

all activities are mediated by biochemical activities within the cells

51
Q

What did Darwin and Wallace question?

A

They questioned the diversity and variety of species