Advanced Placement
Unit 4: Mechanisms of Evolution
Chapter 22: Descent with Modification: A Darwinian View of Life
Overview: Endless Forms Most Beautiful
Concept 22.1: The Darwinian revolution challenged traditional views of a young Earth inhabited by unchanging species
Concept 22.2: Descent with modification by natural selection explains the adaptations of organisms and the unity and diversity of life
Concept 22.3: Evolution is supported by an overwhelming amount of scientific evidence
Terms : Hide Images
| 1311818646 | adaptation | inherited characteristic of an organism that enhances its survival and reproduction in specific environments | 1 | |
| 1311818647 | analogous | having characteristics that are similar because of convergent evolution, not homology | 2 | |
| 1311818648 | artificial selection | the selective breeding of domesticated plants and animals to encourage the occurrence of desirable traits | 3 | |
| 1311818649 | biogeography | the study of the past and present distribution of species | 4 | |
| 1311818650 | catastrophism | the principle that events in the past occurred suddenly and were caused by different mechanisms than those operating today | 5 | |
| 1311818651 | continental drift | the slow movement of the continental plates across Earth's surface | 6 | |
| 1311818652 | convergent evolution | the evolution of similar features in independent evolutionary lineages | 7 | |
| 1311818653 | endemic | referring to a species that is confined to a specific, relatively small geographic area | 8 | |
| 1311818654 | evolutionary tree | a branching diagram that reflects a hypothesis about evolutionary relationships among groups of organisms | 9 | |
| 1311818655 | fossil | a preserved remnant or impression of an organism that lived in the past | 10 | |
| 1311818656 | homologous structures | structures in different species that are similar because of common ancestry | 11 | |
| 1311818657 | homology | similarity in characteristics resulting from a shared ancestry | 12 | |
| 1311818658 | marsupial | a mammal whose young complete their embryonic development inside a maternal pouch called the marsupium | 13 | |
| 1311818659 | natural selection | the process in which organisms with certain inherited characteristics are more likely to survive and reproduce than are organisms with other characteristics | 14 | |
| 1311818660 | paleontology | the scientific study of fossils | 15 | |
| 1311818661 | Pangaea | the supercontinent that formed near the end of the Paleozoic era, when plate movements brought all the landmasses of Earth together | 16 | |
| 1311818662 | stratum | a rock layer formed when new layers of sediment cover older ones and compress them | 17 | |
| 1311818663 | trait | any detectable variant in a genetic character | 18 | |
| 1311818664 | uniformitarianism | the principle stating that mechanisms of change are constant over time | 19 | |
| 1311818665 | vestigial structure | a structure of marginal, if any, importance to an organism. These structures are historical remnants of structures that had important functions in ancestors | 20 |
