Download Evolution Vocabulary

Evolution Vocabulary
Word
adaptive radiation
allele frequency
allometric growth
allopatric speciation
artificial selection
balanced polymorphism
bottleneck effect
clade
convergent evolution
Darwin's finches
divergent speciaion
emigration
fitness
founder effect
frequency dependent
selection
gene flow
gene pool
genetic drift
geographcial isolation
gradualsim
Hardy- Weinberg
equilibrium
homeotic genes
homologous structures
immigration
Lamarck
macroevolution
Definition
The emergence of numerous species from a common ancestor introduced
into an environment, presenting a diversity of new opportunities and
problems.
The variation in the relative rates of growth of various parts of the body,
which helps shape the organism.
A mode of speciation induced when the ancestral population becomes
segregated by a geographic barrier.
The selective breeding of domesticated plants and animals to encourage
the occurrence of desirable traits.
The ability of natural selection to maintain diversity in a population.
Genetic drift resulting from the reduction of a population, typically by a
natural disaster, such that the surviving population is no longer
genetically representative of the original population.
Each evolutionary branch in a cladogram.
The independent development of similarity between species as a result of
their having similar ecological roles and selection pressures.
Leaving of a place; Opposite of immigration (immigration = in)
Genetic drift attributable to colonization by a limited number of
individuals from a parent population.
A decline in the reproductive success of a morph resulting from the
morph's phenotype becoming too common in a population; a cause of
balanced polymorphism in populations.
The loss or gain of alleles in a population due to the migration of fertile
individuals or gametes between populations.
The total aggregate of genes in a population at any one time.
Changes in the gene pool of a small population due to chance.
A view of Earth's history that attributes profound change to the
cumulative product of slow but continuous processes.
The condition describing a non-evolving population (one that is in genetic
equilibrium).
Any of the genes that control the overall body plan of animals by
controlling the developmental fate of groups of cells.
Structures in different species that are similar because of common
ancestry.
Moving into a place
Evolutionary change on a grand scale, encompassing the origin of new
taxonomic groups, evolutionary trends, adaptive radiation, and mass
extinction.
mass extinction
microevolution
migration
Miller-Urey experiment
molecular clock
monophyletic
mutation
natural selection
pangaea
polymorphism
polyploidy
population
postzygotic isolation
prezygotic isolation
protobionts
puntuated equilbrium
relative fitness
reproductive isolation
ribozymes
sexual dimorphism
shared derived characters
shared primitive characters
stabilizing selection
sympatric speciation
uniformitarianism
vestigial structures
A change in the gene pool of a population from generation to generation.
Evolutionary timing methods based on the observation that at least some
regions of genomes evolve at constant rates.
Pertaining to a taxon derived from a single ancestral species that gave rise
to no species in any other taxa.
A rare change in the DNA of a gene ultimately creating genetic diversity.
Differential success in the reproduction of different phenotypes resulting
from the interaction of organisms with their environment. Evolution
occurs when natural selection causes changes in relative frequencies of
alleles in the gene pool.
The supercontinent formed near the end of the Paleozoic era when plate
movements brought all the landmasses of Earth together.
The coexistence of two or more distinct forms of individuals (polymorphic
characters) in the same population.
A chromosomal alteration in which the organism possesses more than
two complete chromosome sets.
A group of individuals of one species that live in a particular geographic
area.
Species isolation due to prevention of hybrids from developing into adults
Aggregates of abiotically produced molecules.
A theory of evolution advocating spurts of relatively rapid change
followed by long periods of stasis.
The contribution of one genotype to the next generation compared to that
of alternative genotypes for the same locus.
An enzymatic RNA molecule that catalyzes reactions during RNA splicing.
A special case of polymorphism based on the distinction between the
secondary sex characteristics of males and females.
An evolutionary novelty unique to a particular clade.
A homology common to a taxon more inclusive than the one being
defined.
Natural selection that favors intermediate variants by acting against
extreme phenotypes.
A mode of speciation occurring as a result of a radical change in the
genome of a subpopulation, reproductively isolating the subpopulation
from the parent population.
Charles Lyell's idea that geologic processes have not changed throughout
Earth's history.
Structures of marginal, if any, importance to an organism. They are
historical remnants of structures that had important functions in
ancestors.