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ap bio unit 7
Term | Definition |
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evolution | a change in the genetic composition of a population from generation to generation |
evolutionary fitness | an organism's ability to survive and reproduce, based on its genetic contributions to following generations |
natural selection | process in which individuals that have certain inherited traits tend to survive and reproduce at higher rates than do other individuals BECAUSE OF those traits |
selective pressure | any biotic or abiotic factors influencing survivability |
adaptive radiation | evolution of new species that allows empty ecological roles or niches to be filled |
biological species concept | a group of populations whose members have the potential to interbreed in nature and produce viable, fertile offspring -- but not with members of other groups |
divergent evolution | occurs when adaptation to new habitats results in phenotypic diversification |
gradualism | changes in species are slow and gradual occurring over long periods of time |
punctuated equilibrium | periods of apparent stasis in morphology punctuated by sudden change |
reproductive isolation | the existence of biological factors that impede members of two species from interbreeding and producing viable, fertile offspring |
speciation | the process by which one species splits into two or more species |
ecosystems | community of living organisms in partnership with nonliving organisms |
extinction | the disappearance of a species, such that no future generations will naturally populate the Earth |
niche | the role an organism plats within its environment |
species diversity | the variety of species within a habitat or a region |
RNA world hypothesis | life on Earth began with an RNA molecule that could replicate itself |
convergent evolution | the independent evolution of similar features in different lineages |
bottleneck effect | a sudden change in the environment that drastically reduces the size of a population |
founder effect | individuals who become isolated from a larger population establish a new population with a different gene pool compared to the source population |
genetic drift | chance events that cause allele frequencies to fluctuate unpredictably from one generation to the next |
mutation | change in a DNA sequence |
population | a group of individuals of the same species living in the same area |
hardy-weinberg equilibrium | a population where allele and genotype frequencies remain contstant from generation to generation 1. no migration 2. no mutation 3. random mating 4. no natural selection 5. large population |
migration | pattern of behavior in which organisms travel from one habitat to another |
null hypothesis | the hypothesis which states experimental variables have no relationship and experimental observations are the result of chance |
fossil | remains or traces of organisms from the past |
isotope | atoms with the same atomic number but different mass numbers |
morphology | form and structure of animals and plants |
vegistal structure | remnants of features that served a function in the organism's ancestors |
cladogram | a diagram used to show evolutionary relationships amongst species |
lineage | lineal descent from an ancestor or ancestral species |
molecular clock | an approach for measuring the absolute time of evolutionary change based on the observation that some genes and other regions of genomes appear to evolve at constant rates |
out-group | s species or group of species from an evolutionary lineage that is closely related to but not part of the group of species that we are studying |
phylogenetic tree | evolutionary history of a group of organisms represented in a branching diagram |
phylogeny | the evolutionary history of a species or a group of species |