Chapter 15 Darwin's Theory of Evolution
About this set
Created by:
abc8561 on May 31, 2010
Subjects:
Biology, prentice hall biology, evolution, darwin
Description:
Prentice Hall Biology. Chapter 15: Darwin's theory of evolution.
15-1 The Puzzle of Life's Diversity
15-2 Ideas That Shaped Darwin's Thinking
15-3 Darwin Presents His Case
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19 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 evolution | change over time, the process that modern organisms have descended from ancient organisms |
| theory | a well supported testable explanation of phenomena that have occurred in the natural world |
| James Hutton and Charles Lyell | scientists who proposed the Earth was millions of years old due to their geological findings. |
| Jean-Baptiste Lamarck | he proposed that by selective use or disuse of organs, organisms could acquire or lose certain traits which are then passed on to their children and future generations, eventually changing the species |
| Thomas Malthus | he believed that war, famine, and disease limit the growth of populations |
| Alfred Russel Wallace | a naturalist who had the same thoughts on evolutionary change as Darwin |
| On the Origin of Species | Darwin's book published in 1859 that presented evidence and proposed a mechanism for evolution that he called natural selecion |
| natural variation | difference among individuals of a species |
| artificial selection | nature provided the variation among different organisms, humans select the traits that they find useful |
| struggle for existence | competition among members of a species for food, living space, and other necessities of life |
| fitness | the ability of an individual to survive and reproduce in its specific environment |
| adaptation | any inherited characteristic that increases an organism's chance of survival |
| survival of the fittest | process by which individuals that are better suited to their environment survive and reproduce most successfully (a.k.a. natural selection) |
| natural selection | process by which individuals that are better suited to their environment survive and reproduce most successfully (a.k.a. survival of the fittest) |
| descent with modification | principle that each living species has descended, with changes, from other species over time |
| common descent | principle that all living things have a common ancestor |
| homologous structure | structures that have different mature forms in different organisms but develop from the same embryonic tissues |
| vestigial organ | organ that serves no useful function in organism |
| evidence for evolution | can be found in fossil records, geographical distribution, homologous structures, similarities in early development |
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