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Evolution Study Guide
Important Vocabulary: Know all Vocabulary Terms. Answer the questions below to help you review.
Theory Of Evolution/Natural Selection
1) The process by which organisms change over time is called EVOLUTION
2) A broad explanation that has been scientifically tested and supported is called a THEORY
3) Who was the first scientist to explain and provide evidence to support the theory of evolution? DARWIN
4) The mechanism for evolution that Darwin proposed was called: NATURAL SELECTION
5) Who proposed that human populations were growing faster than the food supply? MALTHUS
6) What is natural selection? The unequal ability of individuals to survive and reproduce leads to a gradual
change in a population, with favorable characteristics accumulating over generations
7) List AND describe the 4 steps of Natural Selection:
a. OVERPRODUCTION - MORE ORGANISMS ARE PRODUCED THAN CAN SURVIVE
b. VARIATION - THERE IS VARIATION IN TRAITS OF THE POPULATION
c. SELECTION - THOSE WITH FAVORABLE TRAITS SURVIVE TO REPRODUCE
d. ADAPTATION OVER TIME, POPULATION IS MADE OF ORGANISMS WITH FAVORABLE
TRAIT
8) In natural selection, what does the selecting for the best traits? NATURE
9) Darwin’s observations of the finch’s beaks indicated descent with MODIFICATION
10) What caused the beak shapes of the finches to change over time? DIFFERENCES IN FOOD
Evidence for Evolution
1) FOSSILS provide a record of early life & evolutionary history.
2) BIOGEOGRAPHY is the study of the locations of organisms around the world.
3) What do the similarities in the emu, rhea, and ostrich suggest about the environmental influence on
adaptations? ORGAINISMS WHO LIVE IN SIMILAR HABITATS CAN DEVELOP SIMILAR
ADAPTATIONS
4) The similar skeletal structures found in all vertebrates are known as HOMOGLOGOUS structures.
5) Homologous structures suggest that organisms have a common ANCESTOR (evolutionary origin).
6) What are vestigial structures? STRUCTURES WITH NO EVIDENT FUNCTION BUT WERE USEFUL TO
ANCESTORS
7) Give an example of a vestigial structure. OSTRICH WINGS, NAKED MOLE RAT EYES, APPENDIX
8) An ADAPTATION is a trait that allows organisms to survive and reproduce at a greater rate than less well
adapted organisms in the same environment.
9) How have physiological adaptations impacted the evolution of bacteria? THEY EVOLVE TO BE RESISTANT
TO COMMON ANTIBIOTICS
10) How does biochemistry suggest a common ancestry for all species? SIMILARITIES IN DNA/RNA
Microevolution and Macroevolution
1) Describe the difference between microevolution and macroevolution.
MICRO = EVOLUTION w/in POPULATIONS; MACRO = EVOLUTION OF NEW SPECIES
2) Population genetics is to MICROEVOLUTION, as SPECIATION is to macroevolution.
3) The movement of organisms from one population to another, which can change allele frequencies is
MIGRATION
4) Individuals DO NOT evolve, populations CAN evolve.
5) All the genotypes (alleles) in a population refers to the GENE POOL
6) What is stabilizing selection? NATURE SELECTS FOR THE AVERAGE TRAIT
a. Describe an example of stabilizing selection. HUMAN HEAD SIZE,
LIZARD BODY SIZE
b. Draw a graphical representation of stabilizing selection.
7) What is directional selection? NATURE SELECTS FOR ONE EXTREME
a. Describe an example of directional selection. FINCH BEAKS, ANTEATER
TONGUE
b. Draw a graphical representation of directional selection
8) What is disruptive selection? NATURE SELECTS FOR BOTH EXTREMES
a. Describe an example of disruptive selection. SNAIL, LIMPET COLOR
b. Draw a graphical representation of disruptive selection.
9) What is speciation? EVOLUTION OF A NEW SPECIES
10) REPRODUCTIVE ISOLATION occurs when formerly interbreeding organisms can no longer mate & produce
fertile offspring.
11) GEOGRAPHIC Isolation occurs when physical barriers divide a population & prevent interbreeding.
12) BEHAVIORAL Isolation occurs when mating behaviors or mating seasons don’t allow for mating.
13) Provide an example to describe how either geographic isolation or behavioral isolation can lead to speciation.
a. BEETLES (FROM NOTES)
b. BIRDS MATING BEHAVIOR (SONGS/DANCES/ETC)
14) The idea that species originate through a slow, gradual change of adaptations over long periods of time is
GRADUALISM.
15) Darwin’s finches represent DIVERGENT evolution, because species become increasingly distinct form an
ancestral species.
16) The emu ostrich and rhea represent CONVERGENT evolution, because they are separate species that have
become similar as they adapted to similar environments.
17) COEVOLUTION is when organisms that live in close association develop adaptations to one another’s
existence.
18) What is extinction? WHEN ALL MEMBERS OF A SPECIES ARE DEAD OR FAIL TO REPRODUCE
Origins of Life
1) What is spontaneous generation? THE IDEA THAT LIFE CAN MAGICALLY APPEAR
2) FRANCISCO REDI disproved the spontaneous generation of LIVING organisms.
3) Redi worked with MEAT in open and covered jars.
4) LOUIS PASTEUR disproved the spontaneous generation of LIVING organisms..
5) Pasteur worked with BROTH in specially designed flasks.
6) Scientists now believe that life comes from life, also known as BIOGENESIS
7) What do scientists theorize life was like on early Earth? HOT, LOTS OF GASSES, NOT MUCH O2
8) MILLER & UREY believed that the energy needed to form organic molecules came from gasses in the air &
ELECTRICITY FROM LIGHTNING
9) Scientists now believe HYDROTHERMAL vents or METEORITES from space may have added to early organic
molecules.
10) The oldest fossils indicate that photosynthetic bacteria existed 1.8 billion ybp.
11) Cyanobacteria produced OXYGEN changing the Earth’s early atmosphere.
12) Chloroplasts and mitochondria (present in eukaryotes) are both thought to have evolved through the process
of ENDOSYMBIOSIS
13) FOSSILS are traces of organisms that lived in the past.
14) The great age of the earth is suggested by the many layers of ROCK on the planet.
15) GEOLOGIC LAW suggests that the deeper a fossil is in the rock strata, the older it is.
16) RADIOMETRIC DATING is a method to determine the absolute age of fossils, by measuring radioactive
isotopes.
17) The age of the Earth is estimated to be 4.5-5 BILLION YEARS OLD
18) What determined the divisions of the geologic time scale? MASS EXTINCTIONS
19) The first living organisms appeared during the PRECAMBRIAN Era.
20) More complex animals and plants appeared during the CENOZOIC Era.
21) The MESOZOIC Era/JURASSIC PERIOD was also called the Age of the Dinosaurs.
22) We currently live in the CENOZOIC Era, which began about 66 million ybp.