Evolution and the Diversity of Life

remains of once-living organisms often preserved in sedimentary rock

use or disuse of a body part results in heritable change

the basic laws of physics and chemistry don’t change over time and geologic events are driven by natural processes

the living world is constantly changing

all life originated from a common ancestor

new species evolve by splitting and transforming

many small, steady changes produce notable trait differences over a long period of time

natural forces favor new adaptations/traits that give an organism and advantage

physical features that share form and/or function as result of common ancestry

physical features that remain in a species but have no current function

serve a related function but aren’t constructed the same, didn’t arise from a common ancestor

explains the distribution of organisms throughout the world and abiotic factors that influence their distribution

development of an individual over the course of its lifetime

how a species/population evolves over time

studies the early embryonic stages of development

combination of modern genetics and Darwinian evolution

competition between members of the same species

competition against other species

species diversity over long periods of time

formation of a new species

concerned with the details of how evolution occurs, focusing on changes in allele frequencies in a shorter period of time

studies the prevalence of alleles in a population and how populations differ genetically

an individual gene controls one trait

many genes acting together to produce a single trait