Evolution By Perri, Marina and Chloe

Who was Charles Darwin?

● Charles Darwin was the father of evolution● Wrote a book

o On the Origins of Species● Buried next to Isaac Newton

Who was Charles Lyell?

● American geologist ● He studied landforms and how the Earth

changed over time

Thomas Malthus

● Thomas Malthus was a sociologist, scientist, and a politician.

● He studied why some people survived disease and some didn’t.

● (Survival of the Fittest)

Who was Alfred Wallace?

● He immediately came up with the same exact conclusions as Darwin

● Darwin contacts Wallace - they work together and publish articles independently and together

What were were Darwin’s two main points?

● Descent with modificationo New organism forms due to the

accumulation of mutations over millions of years New species evolved

● Natural Selectiono Nature selects the stronger and more

desirable and those traits are then passed down to their offspring Beneficial mutation

What is a fossil?

● The remains of a formerly existing creature from a long time ago

What is a fossil record?

● A timeline of when organisms existed in relationships to other organisms

What are the two ways to determine how something is relative to something else?

● Relative dating - this is older/younger than that without a timeframe

● Absolute dating - carbon dating pinpoints a more specific time period

● Half Life - the amount of time it takes for half an element to break down and disappear

● Ex. Carbone has a life of 5,730 years

What does Extinct mean?

● When the last living member of a species dies

● There are no more of that certain species

What are homologous structures?

● Structures that look the same but are different

● Ex: Cats front foot and human hand● This suggests a common ancestor

Analogous Structures?

● They look different but do the same thing● Ex: Birds, bees, butterflies all have wings

but don’t look alike

● They do not have a common ancestor

What is a vestigial structure?

● Structure in the body that was used at one time in the past but no longer is used during current time Ex. appendix, and tail bone in humans

What is variation?

● The natural or expected differences within 1 type of organisms

● EX: size and height

Natural vs. Artificial Selection?

● The idea that nature chooses what is more desirable vs. selection by organisms to support or not support living

● EX: teacup poodles

Antibiotics vs. Pesticides

● Antibiotics can cause medications to work in the future because organisms adapt to them (natural variation)

● Bacteria has natural variation and it changes depending on their environment

● Pesticides work in a similar way○ farmers use them on crops

● Some insects can withstand the pesticides

What is speciation?

● The formation of new species due to the accumulation of mutations

What is geographic isolation?

● A huge impediment to evolution and reproduction

● Location makes it difficult to breed

What is reproductive isolation?

● When two organisms are capable of breeding but due to timing differences in the reproductive cycle, they do not breed with each other

● Ex. Skunks and cranes

Genetic Drift

● The movement or change in genes from one generation to the next

● EX: eye color in Sweden (prone to blue eyes)

Gene Pool

● All of the available genes in the population

What is adaptive radiation?

● Life can be found in the most extreme environments

● Wherever something can live, something will live

● Ex. Hawaii/ albatross

Bottleneck/Founder effect

When a disease or natural disaster wipes out a significant amount of the population, it creates a smaller gene pool and some genes are lost forever

EX: beads in a bottle, stuck in the bottom

What is the difference between disruptive, directional, and stabilizing selection?

● Stabilizing - favors the average ● Directional - favors one extreme or the

other● Disruptive - favors both extremes at the

same time

What is cost-benefit analysis?

● The measuring of pros and cons to determine a course of action

What is gradualism?

● Slowly over time, mutations and changes will occur and organisms will evolve gradually

What is punctuated equilibrium?

● Philosophy that organisms stay the way they are for long periods of time, then there is a drastic change due to the environment.

● In the end, they change quickly and stay the same for a long time again

What is co- evolution?

● This is when multiple species evolve together

● Change over time ● EX. hummingbird and flower = nectar

What is parallel evolution?

● Organisms that evolve along a parallel pathway but do not necessarily share a common ancestor

● Ex: Shark and a whale o similar body type to move through water but

not related

What is divergent evolution?

● Organisms that share common ancestors and evolve up to a certain point - then they branch and develop in different directions

● Ex. human hand and a whale flipper

What is convergent evolution?

● Very similar to parallel evolution● organisms that developed on different

paths through mutations and came to a common structure

What were the first organisms on Earth?

● Organism were anaerobic – didn’t breathe oxygen

● Not heterotrophs – made their own food – autotrophs

● Give off oxygen over hundreds of millions of years

● Organisms were then able to become more complex and multicellular

What was the Endosymbiotic Theory?

● Hypothesis● Mitochondria and chloroplasts one lived on

their own● They merged w another type of simple cell

and all benefited from this relationship● Mutualistic relationship and over time

became dependent on each other● Need each other to survive

What was Miller and Urey?

● Theory of life – Miller’s Flask