Taxa
Refers to groups of organisms that a taxonomist judges to be cohesive unites, such as species or orders.
Taxonomy
The science of describing, naming, and classifying species of living or fossil organisms.
Stratigraphy
The study of layering in rock (stratification).
Carolus Linnaeus
Considered the father of modern taxonomy because his system for grouping organisms into a nested hierarchy is still in use today (although many of the groupings he proposed are not).
Nicolaus Steno
The father of geology, pioneered the use of stratigraphy as a method for reconstructing the past.
William Paley
Proposed that the mechanical complexity of animal organs provided evidence for the existence of a Divine Creator.
Paleontology
The study of prehistoric life.
Extinction
Refers to the permanent loss of a species. It is marked by the death or failure to breed of the last individual.
Georges-Louis Buffon
Proposed that new varieties of a species could arise in response to new habitats. However, he did not believe that species could arise this way.
Georges Cuvier
Provided some of the first compelling evidence for extinction. A pioneer in comparative anatomy and paleontology and an ardent anti-evolutionist.
James Hutton
Envisioned a world with a deep history shaped by gradual transformation of landscapes through imperceptibly slow changes.
William Smith
An English geologist and land surveyor that developed the first geological map of fossils and rock layers.
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
An early proponent of evolution as a process that obeyed natural laws.
Uniformitarianism
The idea that the natural laws observable around us now are also responsible for events in the past. One part of this view, for example, is the idea that the Earth has been shaped by the cumulative action of gradual processes like sediment deposition and
Homologous Characteristics
Characteristics that are similar in two or more species because they are inherited from a common ancestor.
Natural Selection
A mechanism that can lead to adaptive evolution, whereby differences in the phenotypes of individuals cause some of them to survive and reproduce more effectively than others.
Adaptations
Inherited aspects of an individual that allow it to out-compete other members of the same population that lack the trait (or that have a different version of the trait). Traits that have evolved through the mechanism of natural selection.
Charles Lyell
Argued that Earth's geological features were the result of gradual change. Had a strong influence on the young Charles Darwin.
What can comparing embryos show us?
This can reveal homologies not evident in adulthood.
Thomas Malthus
Proposed that the increase of the human population is necessarily limited by the means of subsistence. His argument greatly influenced Darwin in his development of natural selection.
Alfred Russel Wallace
Independently arrived at the idea of natural selection as a mechanism for evolution.
Genetic Drift
Evolution arising from random changes in the genetic composition of a population from one generation to the next.
What did early scientists learn from fossils?
A. The earth changes
B. The history of an area can be found in its rocks
C. Organisms different from current organisms once lived on the planet
D. Marine fossils can be found on mountaintops
E. All of the abov
E. All of the above.
Which of these statements is a concept found in Georges Buffon's ideas about evolution but not in the way we understand evolution now?
A. Populations can change over time
B. Life is divided into a number of distinct types that are not related to each othe
B. Life is divided into a number of distinct types that are not related to each other.
What would Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Charles Darwin have agreed upon?
A. One generation can pass on its traits to the next
B. Individual animals and plants can adapt to their environment
C. Life was driven from simplicity to complexity
D. Both a and b
E.
A. One generation can pass on its traits to the next.
What is a correct definition of homology?
A. Common traits due to shared inheritance from a common ancestor
B. Common function of traits due to similar usage
C. Structure of limbs that are common among all mammals
D. All of the above
E. None of the above
A. Common traits due to shared inheritance from a common ancestor.
What set Darwin and Wallace's concept of natural selection apart from earlier ideas of evolution?
A. Their concept explained why organisms were related to each other
B. Their concept depended on a process that is observable
C. Their concept depended on th
B. Their concept depended on a process that is observable.
Did Charles Darwin invent the theory of evolution?
A. Yes. On the Origin of Species outlines the theory of evolution as scientists understand it today
B. Yes. The theory of evolution is based entirely on natural selection, which was Darwin's idea
C. No. N
D. No. Darwin described a mechanism for evolutionary change, but natural selection is only a component of the theory of evolution.
Carolus Linnaeus made many contributions to biology. Which one was the most valuable to scientists today? What concepts of Linnaeus's have been shown to be incorrect?
The most valuable contribution made by Carolus Linnaeus was the idea that all of life could be organized in a single hierarchy, but he did not think that all organisms were directly related through common descent. While he did believe species could someti
How did the researcher Georges Cuvier combine the geologic discoveries and theories of James Hutton and William Smith and his own observations to decide that geologic formations from very different geographic locations were from the same time period?
James Hutton's view of a world slowly changing over vast periods of time led to William Smith's observation that layers of rock could be identified by the kinds of fossils that were found in them. Georges Cuvier studied these fossils to identify the age o
Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace independently conceived the idea of evolution by natural selection. Why is Darwin's name more associated with the theory of natural selection than Alfred Russel Wallace's is?
Charles Darwin was not only the first to publish the idea of natural selection, he spent almost 20 years researching, experimenting, and building support for the theory. His book, On the Origin of Species, helped convince many scientists that natural sele
How did the work of Thomas Malthus influence Darwin and Wallace in creating their theories of natural selection?
Thomas Malthus was referring to human populations in his writing, but they showed Darwin and Wallace that the number of organisms that could be produced generation after generation would quickly surpass the amount of resources that would be needed for all
What are two major components of the theory of evolution by natural selection that have been added since Darwin's time?
Darwin did not know about sexual selection, a special form of natural selection. But he knew nothing about the inheritance of genetic molecules (genes on chromosomes) or the random events that can alter the genetic makeup of populations, now known as gene
Why was Lamarck's view of inheritance seemingly intuitive? What observations would be needed to support his theory?
Changes to humans within their lifetime were readily observable. To show that these characteristics were heritable, one piece of necessary evidence would be to show that all of a blacksmith's sons and daughters were strong simply because the blacksmith ne