Term
| What is organic evolution? |
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Definition
| Genetic change between generations within a population lineage of a species |
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Term
| According to Darwin, what is evolution? |
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Definition
| descent with modification |
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Term
| Can evolution by natural selection be scientifically tested? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the most immediately controversial claim in Darwin's theory? |
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Definition
| that species have not been permanently fixed in form, but one species has evolved into another. |
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Term
| What is the principle mechanism for Lamarckian Transformism and what does it mean? |
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Definition
| internal force; some sort of unknown mechanism within an organism causing it to produce offspring slightly different from itself |
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Term
| Lamarckian Transformism is also based on the inheritance of what? |
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Definition
| acquired characters during one's lifetime passed on to their young |
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Term
| Who was Jean-Baptiste Lamarck? |
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Definition
| French Naturalist who was the first to develop a truly coherent theory on evolution |
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Term
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Definition
| theory of evolution by natural selection |
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Term
| What did Darwin use to convince others that evolution was true? |
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Definition
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Term
| What was the name of the ship that Darwin traveled the world upon, and from what years was he on it? |
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Definition
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Term
| What did Darwin realize as he collected birds from the Galapagos islands? |
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Definition
| They varied from island to island |
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Term
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Definition
| Scientist with nearly same ideas as Darwin |
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Term
| Where and when were Darwin and Wallace's idea on evolution presented? |
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Definition
| Linnean Society in London in 1858 |
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Term
| What was the popular reaction to Darwin and Wallace's theory? |
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Definition
| some doubted if species could evolve as oppose to being created |
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Term
| What was the scientific reaction to Darwin and Wallace;s theory? |
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Definition
| evolution was generally accepted, but natural selection was generally rejected. |
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Term
| What were the objections to the theory of natural selection? |
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Definition
-Darwin needed a good theory of heredity.
• Difficult to imagine gradual evolution.
• Difficult to imagine evolution if it occurs by chance. |
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Term
| What did Mendel discover, and when? |
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Definition
| Laws of heredity, 1856-1863 |
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Term
| What is the first law of Mendel's Laws of Heredity? |
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Definition
| An organism inherits an allele from each of its two parents which is preserved |
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Term
| What is the second law of Mendel's Laws of Heredity? and what is another name for it? |
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Definition
| Genes are inherited independently of eachother |
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Term
| What is the third law of Mendel's Laws of Heredity? |
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Definition
| Not only do discrete genes encode discrete proteins, but genes are preserved during development and passed on unaltered to the next generation. |
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Term
| What was the impact of Mendel's theory of inheritance? |
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Definition
Natural selection is a more powerful process with Mendelian heredity, because Mendelian genes are preserved over time.
It is at best a weak process with blending inheritance, because potentially favorable genes are diluted before they can be established. |
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Term
| What is modern synthesis? |
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Definition
| Mendel’s theory of heredity together with Darwin’s theory of natural selection = new synthetic theory of evolution |
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Term
| What is neo-darwinsism and who established it? |
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Definition
| the synthesis of Darwin's theory of natural selection with the Mendelian theory of heredity; R. A. Fisher, J. B. S Haldane, and Sewall Wright |
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Term
| What did R.A. Fisher demonstrate? |
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Definition
| demonstrated that continuous variation in real populations could be derived from Mendelian principles |
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Term
| What is speciation and when does it occur? give an example. |
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Definition
Two species descended from a common ancestor, but their genetic make-up diverged.
Donkeys and Horses are an example. |
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Term
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Definition
| Evolutionary biologist, believed natural selection was the main driving force behind evolution, important figure in modern synthesis |
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Term
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Definition
| The branch of biology that deals with classification and nomenclature; taxonomy. |
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Term
| Name the advances in evolutionary biology in the 1960's |
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Definition
| electrophoresis and “vast hidden genetic variation” in populations, levels of selection |
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Term
| Name the advances in evolutionary biology in the 1970s |
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Definition
| melding of quantitative genetics and evolutionary principles, statistical approach to phylogenies, Kimura’s neutral theory of evolution, modes of speciation |
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Term
| Name the advances in evolutionary biology in the 1980s |
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Definition
| how to study adaptation in lab and field; explicit use of phylogenies to test theories of evolution. |
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Term
| Name the advances in evolutionary biology in the 1990s |
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Definition
| merging of evolutionary theory and developmental biology, comparative genomics |
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Term
| What are the 6 points of evidence for evolution? |
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Definition
Observed in nature and laboratory
Fossil Record
Vestigial structures/Atavism/Psuedogenes
Embryology
Homologies/Analogies
Biogeography/Oceanic islands |
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Term
| What is an example of evidence for evolution being observed in nature? |
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Definition
North American house sparrows from different sites vary in their size, color, and form.
House sparrows are generally larger in the north and smaller toward the southwest. |
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Term
| How does the sparrow example show evidence for evolution observed in nature? |
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Definition
| The sparrow example shows how a noticeable amount of change can occur within the relatively short time that humans have been making observations |
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Term
| How can evolution be reproduced in the laboratory by using artificial selection? |
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Definition
| In a typical experiment, a new generation is formed by allowing only a selected minority of the current generation to breed. The population will almost always respond: the average in the next generation will have moved in the selected direction. |
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Term
| Explain the reproductive concept of evolution. |
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Definition
defines a species as a set of organisms that interbreed among themselves but do not breed with members of other species.
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Term
| How can artificial selection show the production of new species? |
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Definition
| The evidence from domestic animals suggests that artificial selection can produce extensive change in phenotypic appearance - enough to produce new species and even new genera - but has not produced much evidence for new reproductive species |
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Term
| How can artificial selection show the production of new species? |
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Definition
| The evidence from domestic animals suggests that artificial selection can produce extensive change in phenotypic appearance - enough to produce new species and even new genera - but has not produced much evidence for new reproductive species |
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Term
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Definition
| a situation in which two populations which do not interbreed are living in the same region and connected by a geographic ring of populations that can interbreed. |
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Term
| How do ring species provide important evidence for evolution? |
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Definition
| they show that intra-specific differences can be large enough to produce an inter-species difference |
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Term
| What do fossils allow us to determine? |
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Definition
| what common ancestors looked like. |
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Term
| What are most found fossils of? |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| A fossil is really a cast of a living organism which is compressed into a rock by the pressure of sediment piling on top of it |
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Term
| How is the age of rock indicated by radioisotope dating? |
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Definition
| Using the understanding that radio-active decay leads to changing ratios of initial isotope and daughter isotope indicates the age of rock |
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Term
| How is gradual divergence implied in fossils? |
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Definition
| Fossils closer to together in rock layers were more similar than those further apart in the layers |
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Term
| What did Tiktaalik have that demonstrated it was a transitional fossil between reptiles and fish? |
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Definition
| It had traits from both species: it had fins, scales, and primitive jaws, as well as a neck, ribs, flat head, and expanded ribs |
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Term
| What is the dinosaur-bird intermeiate ancestor called? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are vestigial structures markers of? |
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Definition
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Term
| How are vestigial structures evidence for evolution? |
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Definition
| because they are structures that exist, but no longer are used for the function that they originally developed for |
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Term
| What is a vestigial gene, and how are they evidence for evolution? |
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Definition
Genes currently in a species that are not functional (i.e., do not produce proteins now).
Dead gene in one species that is active in its relatives is evidence for evolution. |
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Term
| How can evidence for evolution be found in embryos? |
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Definition
| During its development, an embryo passes through a series of stages corresponding to its successive evolutionary ancestors. All the early embryological stages of vertebrates are similar. Human embryos pass through a phase when they have fish-like gills. This is a function of their having been ultimately derived from fish ancestors. |
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Term
| Why has natural selection not eliminated all this transformation and rearrangement, which doesn’t seem necessary for final embryo just before being born? |
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Definition
The most likely reason is descendant species inherit the development genes and pathways of ancestors.
More risky and deleterious to try to evolve new rearrangements every time new species or major animal group evolved, it is simpler to just tack the new onto the old. |
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Term
| What is a homologous structure? give an example. |
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Definition
characters with an underlying similarity resulting from common ancestry even if they have very different functions.
The pentadactyl (five-digit) limb of tetrapods |
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Term
| What is the evolutionary explanation of the pentadactyl limb? |
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Definition
| all the tetrapods have descended from a common ancestor that had a pentadactyl limb |
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Term
| What is a A homoplasious similarity? |
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Definition
| possession by two or more species of a similar or identical trait that has not been derived by both species from their common ancestor. |
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Term
| What is an explanation for homoplasious similarity? and why are they analogous? |
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Definition
| a shared way of life; because the features have similar fucntionality |
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Term
| How is relatedness evidence for evolution? |
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Definition
| All organisms use the same basic biochemical and molecular genetic pathways, implying that these were acquired from an ancient common ancestor |
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Term
| Evolution is disinclined to alter something that... |
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Definition
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Term
| How is biogeography evidence for evolution? |
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Definition
| When analyzed, it shows that related species tend to be found in contiguous (or overlapping) regions. |
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Term
| What are the limits to a species geographic range? |
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Definition
| Its fundamental niche and its realized niche |
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Term
| What is a species fundamental niche? |
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Definition
| The range of physical factors a species can tolerate- temperature, humidity, climate, etc. |
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Term
| What is a species realized niche? |
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Definition
The niche that competeing species, and other biotic and abiotic force the species to live in.
*Competing species will often occupy part of this range and the competition may be too strong to permit both species to exist in the fundamental niche |
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Term
| What is competitive exclusion? |
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Definition
| The concept that when populations of two similar species compete for the same limited resources, one population will use the resources more efficiently and have a reproductive advantage that will eventually lead to the elimination of the other population. |
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Term
| What is dispersal and how are species affected by it? |
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Definition
| species movement away from an existing population or away from the parent organism. A species' range will be changed if the members of the species move in space |
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Term
| What can explain why some related species are found far apart in different continents today? |
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Definition
| species drifting with continental drift, as land masses broke up, species went with them |
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Term
| What is vicariance biogeography? |
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Definition
| The study of the relation between biogeography and continental drift |
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Term
| What does vicariance mean? |
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Definition
| a splitting in the range of a taxon |
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Term
| What kind of event can cause speciation? |
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Definition
| the drifting apart of tectonic plates |
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Term
| What do molecular clocks tell us? and what can they be used for? |
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Definition
| ) tell us information about the evolutionary relationships between species and approximately when the species diverged from a common ancestor; Using molecular clocks, we can match known evolutionary relationships between species with when the continents moved (or glaciers or land bridges formed) |
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Term
| Evolution predicts that species living in one area should most resemble recent fossil species because...? Give an example. |
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Definition
they are descendants of earlier species living in same area;
fossil kangaroos only in Australia where living kangaroos exist |
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Term
| What does convergent evolution demonstrate? |
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Definition
| three aspects of evolutionary theory interconnected: common ancestry, speciation and natural selection. |
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Term
| How does convergent evolution work? |
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Definition
| Organisms living in the same area develop like traits, although they are not closely related. They experience similar selection pressures due to them experiencing the same environment, thus similar adaptations evolve in response to their environment. |
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Term
| What is adaptive radiation? |
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Definition
| When one ancestral species evolves into a number of descendant species, each with distinct adaptive forms or ecological adaptations. |
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Term
| What are some island patterns? (consistent evolutionary responses to island living?) |
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Definition
| dwarfism, gigantism, flightlessness |
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Term
| What are the two species concepts of evolution? |
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Definition
| Reproductive and Phentotypic appearance |
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Term
| What is the phenotypic appearance species evolution concept? |
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Definition
| Phenotypic Appearance: defines a species as a set of organisms that are sufficiently similar to one another and sufficiently different from members of other species. |
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