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Evolution Study Guide
Ch. 14 and 15.1-3
Ch. 14.1 and 14.3
Vocabulary: Evolution, Adaptation, Descent with Modification, Natural Selection, Lamarck’s Inheritance of
“Acquired Characteristics”; Population; Variation; Artificial Selection
Concepts
Influences on Darwin
o Lamarck
 What did Lamarck get right?
 What was incorrect about Lamarck’s theory?
 Why doesn’t natural selection result in “perfect” organisms?
 What is meant by “acquired traits”? Why aren’t acquired traits passed on?
o Lyell
 How did his work change people’s thought on the age of the Earth?
 Why is Earth being more than a few thousand years old essential to Darwin’s ideas on evolution?
o Malthus
 How did Malthus work influence Darwin’s understanding of natural selection?
o Farmers/Breeders & Artifical Selection
How did artificial selection by farmers help Darwin develop his theory of evolution through
natural selection?
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Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
o What is the process or mechanism that results in evolutionary changes?
o Explain how the process works – How does it lead to populations adapting to the environment?
o Be able to describe his main points:
 Struggle for existence
 Survival of the fittest
 Give the biological definition of fitness
 What does the phrase “survival of the fittest” mean?
 Does an individual have to be the “fittest” to be biologically fit?
 Descent with modification (Descent from ancestral species through common ancestors).
o Importance of genetic variation
 What are the 2 sources of genetic variation in populations?
 Mutations
 Contribution of sexual reproduction to evolution
o Why do populations adapt/evolve and not individual organisms?
14.2: Evidence for Evolution
Vocabulary: Fossil & Fossil record; extinct; homologous structure; vestigial structure; analogous structure;
common ancestor
 Evidence of evolution.
o Fossil record
o Embryology/development
o Comparative anatomy (homologous structures)
 How can homologous and vestigial structures show evolutionary relationships?
 What is the difference between homologous and analogous structures?
o Molecular biology
o Geographic distribution of species (Pangaea)
o Artificial selection v. Natural selection.
Ch. 14.4: Microevolution & the Gene Pool
Vocabulary: Gene pool; mutation; Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium; Genetic Drift; Gene Flow; Fitness
 What is microevolution?
 Influence of genetic drift, gene flow, mutation, and natural selection on allele frequency in a gene pool.
o Bottle neck effect & founder effect
 Genetic equilibrium – What is it? What conditions must be met for it to occur? (Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium)
14.5: Examples of Evolution through Natural Selection
Vocabulary: Sickle cell anemia; antibiotics and antibiotic resistance
 Relate pesticide resistance in insects, antibiotic resistance in bacteria, Black Plague & HIV resistance in humans
to natural selection.
 Relate natural selection to Darwin’s finches & persistence of the sickle-cell allele in Africa
15.1: Evolution of New Species
Vocabulary: Biological Species concept; Macroevolution; Speciation; Reproductive Isolation; Geographic
Isolation; Adaptive Radiation; Punctuated Equilibrium
 What is macroevolution? How does it compare to microevolution?
 Define a biological species
o List & describe types of reproductive barriers between species.
o Contribution of geographic isolation and adaptive radiation to species diversity.
 Opportunities that set the stage for adaptive radiation.
 Convergent v. Divergent evolution.
o Homologous v. analogous structures
 Coevolution
 Punctuated equilibrium model v. gradualism
15.2 and 15.3: Fossil Record Evolution and Mass extinction events
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How are fossils formed?
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What methods are used to determine the dates/ages of fossils determined?
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What is the Cambrian explosion in the rock record?
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Describe a mass extinction event recorded in the rock record. When did it occur? What caused it? How did it
influence the life forms on the planet? (before vs. after).