Evolution Final (All Vocabulary)

• Biological evolution


  Any change in the inherited traits of a population that occurs from one generation to the next
• Homologous


  • Characteristic similar in 2 or more species because its inherited from a common ancestor
• Synapomorphy


  • Derived form of a trait that is shared by a group of related species
• Mutation


  Any change to the genomic sequence of an organism
• Viral reassortment


  Genetic material from different strains is mixed into new combinations
• Antigenic shift


  Major changes to flu strains from recombinations of existing strains
• Antigenic drift


  Small changes to flu strains
• Vestige


  Structure no longer used
• Convergent evolution


  • Independent origin of similar traits in separate lineages
• Taxon


  Group of organisms that form cohesive units [SPECIES]
• Taxonomy


  Science of describing, naming, & classifying species of living or fossil organisms
• Stratigraphy


  Study of layering rock/stratification
• Paleontology


  Study of prehistoric life
• Extinction


  Permanent loss of a species marked by death or failure to breed of the last individual
• Natural selection


  Differences in the phenotypes of individuals cause some of them to survive & reproduce more efficiently than others
• Artificial selection


  Selecting & breeding of individuals with desired traits
• Geology


  Study of earth's structure, substance, & history
• Theory of Gradualism


  • Great change can occur over slow, continuous processes [Hutton/Lyell]
• Uniformitarianism


  • Forces molding the planet today have operated continuously throughout history
• Important People

  • Darwin→natural selection
  • Linnaeus→shared traits
  • Nicolaus Steno→stratigraphy
  • Georges Buffon→change over time
  • Georges Cuvier→extinction
  • James Hutton→geological change
  • William Smith→fossils in strata
  • Jean-Baptiste Lamarck→inheritance
• Radiometric dating


  Technique that allows geologists to estimate precise ages at which one geological formation ends & another begins
• Isotope


  Have more neutrons, weigh more, & are highly unstable
• Isochron dating


  Technique used to measure age of rocks by determining how ratios of isotopes change in them over time [Parent isotope decreases, daughter isotope increases]
• Burgess Shale


  Lagerstatte in Canada in which there is a wealth of preserved fossils from the Cambrian Period
• Lagerstatte


  Site with abundant supply of unusually preserved fossils
• Biomarker


  Molecular evidence of life in the fossil record
• Cambrian Explosion


  Adaptive radiation due to oxygen 535 mya [hox genes/toolkit gave easy diversification of body forms]
• Adaptive radiation


  Explosion of new species in a short period of time
• Synapsid


  Lineage of tetrapods that gave rise to mammals with one temporal fenestrae
• Mass Extinctions


  • Ordovician
  • Devonian
  • Permian
  • Triassic
  • Cretaceous
• Branch


  Lineage evolving through time that connects successive speciation or other branching events
• Phylogeny


  Visual representation of the evolutionary history of populations, genes, or species
• Node


  Point where a lineage splits
• Tip


  Terminal end of an evolutionary tree, representing species, molecules, or populations being compared
• Internal node


  Node that occurs within a phylogeny and represents ancestral populations or species
• Clade


  A single branch in the tree of life that represents an organism & all of its descendents
• Monophyletic


  Group that forms a clade [ALL DESCENDENTS]
• Paraphyletic


  Group of organisms that share a common ancestor, but are missing descendents
• Polyphyletic


  Group that does not share an immediate ancestor & therefore does not form a clade
• Character


  Heritable aspect of organisms that can be compared across taxa