Evolution Study Guide
Evolution
● Who are the two people who developed ideas about the theory of evolution? Charles
Darwin & Alfred Russel Wallace
- Charles Darwin = natural selection ---> evolutionary change
● What three principles make natural selection inevitable?
(1) Most characteristics of organisms are inherited, or passed from parent to
offspring
(2) More offspring are produced than are able to survive, so resources for survival
and reproduction are limited
(3) Offspring may vary among each other in regard to their characteristics and those
variations are inherited
● Define natural selection and describe how natural selection drives evolution.
- Natural selection a.k.a “survival of the fittest”: the more prolific reproduction
of individuals with favorable traits that survive environmental change because of
those traits; this leads to evolutionary change
● What is fitness?
- Fitness = often quantitative = measured
- Relative fitness: how an individual compares to the other organisms in the
POPULATION
● Determines which individuals are contributing additional offspring to the
next generation; thus, how the population might evolve
What are the two indicators of fitness (Slide 22)
Speciation
● The formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution.
● Slide 18, watch JoVE video on speciation and diversity
Evidence for Evolution
● Be familiar with all types of evidence of evolution. Slides 7, 8, 12, 13, and 14.
- Fossils
- Anatomy and Embryology
● Homologous structures: the synonymous parts
● Vestigial structures: structures that have no apparent function at all and
appear to be residual (leftover) parts from a past common ancestor
- Convergent evolution: similar traits evolve INDEPENDENTLY in species that
do not share a recent common ancestry
- Divergent evolution: when 2 species evolve in diverse directions FROM A
COMMON POINT
- Embryology: the study of the development of the anatomy of an organism to its
adult form
- Biogeography: the geographic distribution of organisms on the planet follows
patterns that are best explained by evolution in conjunction with the movement of
tectonic plates over geological time
Evolution
● Who are the two people who developed ideas about the theory of evolution? Charles
Darwin & Alfred Russel Wallace
- Charles Darwin = natural selection ---> evolutionary change
● What three principles make natural selection inevitable?
(1) Most characteristics of organisms are inherited, or passed from parent to
offspring
(2) More offspring are produced than are able to survive, so resources for survival
and reproduction are limited
(3) Offspring may vary among each other in regard to their characteristics and those
variations are inherited
● Define natural selection and describe how natural selection drives evolution.
- Natural selection a.k.a “survival of the fittest”: the more prolific reproduction
of individuals with favorable traits that survive environmental change because of
those traits; this leads to evolutionary change
● What is fitness?
- Fitness = often quantitative = measured
- Relative fitness: how an individual compares to the other organisms in the
POPULATION
● Determines which individuals are contributing additional offspring to the
next generation; thus, how the population might evolve
What are the two indicators of fitness (Slide 22)
Speciation
● The formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution.
● Slide 18, watch JoVE video on speciation and diversity
Evidence for Evolution
● Be familiar with all types of evidence of evolution. Slides 7, 8, 12, 13, and 14.
- Fossils
- Anatomy and Embryology
● Homologous structures: the synonymous parts
● Vestigial structures: structures that have no apparent function at all and
appear to be residual (leftover) parts from a past common ancestor
- Convergent evolution: similar traits evolve INDEPENDENTLY in species that
do not share a recent common ancestry
- Divergent evolution: when 2 species evolve in diverse directions FROM A
COMMON POINT
- Embryology: the study of the development of the anatomy of an organism to its
adult form
- Biogeography: the geographic distribution of organisms on the planet follows
patterns that are best explained by evolution in conjunction with the movement of
tectonic plates over geological time
