Chapter 22 Vocab
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35 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 natural selection | a natural process resulting in the evolution of organisms best adapted to the environment |
| evolutionary adaptation | the accumulation of favorable variations in a population over time |
| taxonomy | practice of classifying plants and animals according to their presumed natural relationships |
| fossils | the preserved trace, imprint, or remains of a plant or animal |
| paleontology | the earth science that studies fossil organisms and related remains |
| gradualism | The theory that evolution occurs slowly but steadily |
| uniformitarianism | Charles Lyell's idea that geologic processes have not changed throughout Earth's history. |
| Jean Baptise Lamarck | also developed a theory of evolution but proposed that by selective use or disuse of organs, organisms acquired or lost certain traits during their lifetime. These traits could then be passed onto their offspring. Over time, this process led to change in species. His theory is wrong. |
| Charles Darwin | English naturalist. He studied the plants and animals of South America and the Pacific islands, and in his book On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859) set forth his theory of evolution. (p. 715) |
| Descent with modification | principle that each living species has descended, with changes, from other species over time |
| Darwinian Theories | "survival of the fittest:" 1)individuals vary genetically 2)organisms produce more offspring than the environment can support 3) population size is limited bedcause of limiting factors; food availability, space, water availability, disease resistence, predators 4) the environment is constantly changing; struggle for existence, competition for resources, certain members of a populations posess traits that increase their survivability: adaptations 5) b/c of these limiting factors in a changing environment populations are constantly in a "struggle for existence" 6) individuals with FAVORABLE variations are more likely to survive and reproduce; this is the heart of his theory by NATURAL SELECTION, nature does the selection 7) good adaptations "selected" by nature eventually spread theough the population with the result that it has changed or EVOLVED. overall: organisms that posess adaptations which increase their survivability in their own certain environment will live and reproduce offspring with those traits; "survival of the fittest" |
| Artificial selection | selection by humans for breeding of useful traits from the natural variation among different organisms |
| population | a group of organisms of the same species populating a given area |
| heritable traits | A trait that can be passed on genetically from parent to offspring. |
| homology | Similarity in characteristics resulting from a shared ancestry. |
| homologous structures | Structures in different species that are similar because of common ancestry. |
| vestigial organs | organ that serves no useful function in an organism |
| embryological homologies | homologies not obvious in adult organism but evident at embryonic development |
| molecular homologies | homology of the genes and DNA between species due to a common ancestor |
| biogeography | dealing with the geographical distribution of animals and plants |
| endemic | native to or confined to a certain region |
| Charles Lyell | Principles on Geology- the earth is a very old planet that is constantly changing; slowly- gradualism |
| James Hutton | Geologist who developed the principle of Uniformitarianism, considered the father of modern geology. |
| Thomas Malthus | an English economist who argued that increases in population would outgrow increases in the means of subsistence (1766-1834) |
| Alfred Wallace | a British naturalist, the one who independently proposing a theory of natural selection which prompted Charles Darwin to publish his own more developed and researched theory sooner than he had intended |
| George Cuvier | Paleontologist that demonstrated that species have become extinct many times in Earth's history, argued that catastrophic geologic events can lead to extinction to species (catastrophic), geologic time scale |
| Plato | Student of Socrates, wrote The Republic about the perfectly governed society |
| Aristotle | Greek philosopher. A pupil of Plato, the tutor of Alexander the Great, and the author of works on logic, metaphysics, ethics, natural sciences, politics, and poetics, he profoundly influenced Western thought. In his philosophical system, which led him to criticize what he saw as Plato's metaphysical excesses, theory follows empirical observation and logic, based on the syllogism, is the essential method of rational inquiry. |
| Carlos Linneas | who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology. |
| Ernst Mayr | developed the biological species concept |
| Theodosius Dobzhansky | Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution |
| Gregor Mendel | Augustinian monk and botanist whose experiments in breeding garden peas led to his eventual recognition as founder of the science of genetics (1822-1884) |
| Godfrey Hardy | (1) mathematically demonstrated that in a nonevolving population, the relative frequency of dominant and recessive alleles should not change from generation to generation, (2) demonstrated that Mendel's discrete units could be maintained from generation to generation |
| Wilhelm Weinberg | came to the same conclusion as Hardy, independently |
| Stephen Jay Gould | Harvard biologist who reevaluated Samuel Morton's data in 1977. He concluded that Morton's work was fudged in order to reach conclusions that supported the socially constructed hierarchy. He found that Morton only used skulls that fit his already formed theory. He discovered no cranial discrepancy between Euro-American skulls and indigenous American skulls. He also realized that brain size is related to body size, so smaller skulls are a reflection of that. His findings supported he American ideology that people deserve their ranking in society, and that it is not the result of chance of family privilege. |
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