Evolution

• Who was Charles Darwin?

  Charles Darwin was a British naturalist and biologist who proposed the theory of evolution through natural selection.
• What are the two important theories created by Darwin?

  Evolution and natural selection.
• Where did Darwin make his observation on the finch population?

  Galapagos Islands
• What are adaptations?


  Characteristics of organisms that make them suited for their environment
• What type of bird did Darwin focus on?


  Finches
• How were the finches on the Galapagos islands different from the finches on the mainland?

  They're different in terms of their diet and beak structure
• How did Darwin propose the finches reached the Galapagos islands?

  That the finches were either flying or floating from mainland
• What is geographic isolation?


  Separating populations by physical barriers such as mountains or oceans, preventing them from mating or combining genes
• What is adaptive radiation?

  A type of biological evolution that occurs when members of one species get into different environmental niches and adapt to different environmental conditions

  
• In what work did Darwin introduce the concept of biological evolution?

  On the Origin of Species
• What may happen to species that don't adapt to changing environmental conditions?


  Extinction
• What is speciation?

  When a species becomes so different from their related organisms that they become a new species
• What does survival of the fittest refer to?

  The passing on of traits that enable species to survive and reproduce
• What is natural selection?

  The theory that some individuals are more likely to survive and reproduce than others, acts against unfavorable traits
• What is the passing on of traits that enable species to survive and reproduce

  Survival of the fittest