Darwinian revolution challenged traditional views of a young earth inhabited by

unchanging species by suggesting natural selection

Lamark was the first to explore these ideas by proposing that as mechanisms are
used in species they become stronger and this is passed down to offspring
Darwins ideas of natural selection believed that a species changed gradually each
generation through natural selection
Homology supports evolution as
it is revealed that different
species descended from a
common ancestor
Convergent evolution is when
evolution ends up in a similar
place when two completely
different species with different ancestors develop similar adaptations
Binomial classification systems gives organisms two part names, genus and
specific epithet
Phylogenetic trees depicts evolutionary relationships as branching species with
common ancestor
Homology vs Analogy Similarity due to shared ancestor vs similarity due to
convergent evolution
Molecular clock in which the amount of genetic change is used to estimate the
date of past evolutionary events because DNA changes at constant rate sometimes
Genetic variation refers to genetic differences among individuals within a
population
Population is a localized group of organisms that are of the same species and is
united by its gene pool
Gene pool is the aggregate of all the alleles in the population
Hardy-Weinberg principle states that the allele frequencies over generations
tend to reduce genetic variation

Gene Flow is the transfer of alleles

between populations and tends to
reduce genetic variation between
populations over time
Sexual selection influences
evolutionary change in secondary sex
characteristics that can give
individuals advantages in mating
Allopatric speciation is when gene
flow is reduced due to geographical
separations resulting in two species
Sympatric speciation is when a new
species originates while remaining in
the same geographic area due to
polyploidy, more or less chromosomes, and habitat shifts

Hybrid zones are areas in which members of two different species meet and mate
producing some offspring of mixed ancestry
Speciation can occur rapidly or slowly depending on environmental changes
directional selection: population changes taking place one direction to an
extreme (bigger brains / faster)
disruptive selection: populations changing so that the extremes survive (sizes of
acorns)
stabilizing selection: populations changing so that the extremes are eliminated
(rabbit leg length)
population: organisms of the same species that have mating access to each other
population adaptation: any trait that increases the population's chances of
surviving environmental change
geographic isolation: mountains, rivers, oceans, or deserts separating
populations
isolation: separation of a population
reproductive isolation: barriers to mating such as physical size, behavior,
structural differences
speciation: one species becoming several
adaptive radiation: rapid speciation occurring when a population arrives on an
island without competition

vestigial organs: left-over organs in populations that no longer function (whale

femurs, human coccyx, & python hindleg bones)
homologous organs: organs with the same structure but different functions (bat
wings & human arms)
analogous organs: organs with same function but different structure (butterfly
wing & bird wing)
punctuated equilibrium: rapid evolution after drastic environmental change
gradualism: evolution of populations happens at a steady state over time