Mircoevolution

the change in distribution of allele frequencies and their traits within a population/species over time

Speciation

the formation of distinct species (groups between which individuals can successfully interbreed)

Macroevolution

substantial changes in form over time

Common Ancestry

All organisms descended from a common ancestorial stock of genes

Transitional forms

Species showing a mix of traits between known ancestor and descendants

Homology

similarity in structure due to same developmental evolutionary background (COMMON ANCESTOR!!)

Convergence + Analogy

independent evolution of similar traits due to similar environments and lifestyles. analogy. opp. of homology. similarity in function or structure due to similar selective pressures not due to inheritance.

Vestigial Structures

structures that lack their original function. structures that have gone missing.

Adaptation

the development of traits that give individuals with the trait higher chance of survival and successful reproduction than others in their population.

a trait that increases an individual's ability to survive and reproduce compared to individuals without the trait

Externalist View

(Adaptationist Programme + constraints)

organisms are malleable to natural selection and anything in the environment can cause a trait to be passed on

Adaptationist programme- Natural selection is the only cause of evolution and everything developed due to selective pressures

problems: assumes all traits are optimal, if a trait is incapable of variation, then it can't be adapted (color of blood), spandrels: random things that are not optimal adaptations they just are, this is a error in reasoning

Internalist View

basic body plans must be considered as a whole system that adapts *with constraints*

Exaptation

a structure that increases ability to survive that has changed function from the previous structure

VIDA

variation, inheritance, differential survival, adaptation

Darwinian Fitness

an individual's relative ability to survive and reproduce and contribute to the next generation compared to other individuals in the population

Artificial Selection

breeding. choosing traits to pass on to the next generation

Natural Selection

predictable, algorithmic, inefficient, non-random selection that acts upon individuals' phenotypes to change allele frequencies withing a population according to the rules of the game at the present moment.

Sister Taxa

share the most common ancestor. look down and straight back up to find matches

Polytomy

when 3 or more descendants are shown sharing a common ancestor that is unsure. tree is incomplete and the differentiating ancestor is missing

Clade

a common ancestor and ALL of its descendants

and NO ONE else

Artificial Groups

like a clade but more random. a common ancestor and some descendants and maybe others that are not descendants but share qualities with the clade

Reversal

secondary loss of characters. can be convergent reversal

Evidence for Phylogenic Trees

Shared derived characters- new characters that pop up. not ancestral characters

Morphological characters- similarity in form

Genetic homology- similarity in sequence positions of DNA and RNA and proteins

Rare genomic events- weird big things that happen that make big changes and differentiation

Parsimony

the simplest solution is usually the correct solution. always assume the solution with the least number as changes

Maximum Likelihood

a model of sequence evolution to evaluate trees based on branch orders and lengths of time

Bootstrapping

duplicating data randomly multiple times over to get a larger set of data to analyze results from

Genetic Drift

change in allele frequencies in a population due to natural disasters. is random

Observational Studies

go out and watch. no manipulation.

Experimental Manipulation

manipulate the environment or phenotype

Comparative Methods

investigate how sets of traits evolve/pop up across populations/species to find evidence of adaptation

WATCH OUT for common descent. not all adaptation is adaptation for real and can just be traits passed down

ask the question when species diverge from a common starting point, if a trait change is there a predictable change in the other

PIC

phylogenically independent contrasts. divergence considering common ancestors