Caroline Zito

Chapter 15 Vocabulary

1. Analogous structures – structures that do not have a common evolutionary

origin but are similar in function.
2. Artificial selection – process of breeding organisms with specific traits in
order to produce offspring with identical traits.
3. Camouflage – structural adaption that enables species to blend with their
surroundings; allows a species to avoid detection by predators.
4. Embryo – earliest stage of growth and development of both plants and
animals; differences and similarities among embryos can provide evidence of
evolution; the young diploid sporophyte of a plant.
5. Homologous structures – structures with common evolutionary origins; can
be similar in arrangement, in function, or in both; provides evidence of
evolution from a common ancestor; forelimbs of crocodiles, whale, and birds,
are examples.
6. Mimicry – structural adaption that enables one species to resemble another
species; may provide protection from predators or other advantages.
7. Natural selection – mechanism for change in population; occurs when
organisms with favorable variations survive, reproduce, and pass their
variations to the next generation.
8. Vestigial structures – a structure in a present-day organism that no longer
serves its natural purpose, but was probably useful to an ancestor; provides
evidence of evolution.
9. Adaptive radiation – divergent evolution in which ancestral species evolve
into an array if species to fit a number of diverse habitats.
10. Allelic frequency – percentage of any specific allele in a population’s gene
pool.
11. Convergent evolution – evolution in which distantly related organisms evolve
similar traits; occurs when unrelated species occupy similar environments.
12. Directional selection – natural selection that favors one of the extreme
variations of a trait; can lead to rapid evolution in a population.
13. Disruptive selection – natural selection that favors individuals with either
extreme of a trait; tends to eliminate intermediate phenotypes.
14. Divergent evolution – evolution in which species that once were similar to an
ancestral species diverge; occurs when populations change as they adapt to
different environmental conditions; eventually resulting in a new species.
15. Gene pool – all of the alleles in a population’s genes.
16. Genetic drift – alteration of allelic frequencies in a population by chance
events; results in disruption of genetic equilibrium.
17. Genetic equilibrium – condition in which the frequency of alleles in a
population remains the same over generations.
18. Geographic isolation – occurs whenever a physical barrier divides a
population, which results in individuals no longer being able to mate; can
lead to the formation of a new species.
19. Gradualism – idea that species originate through a gradual change of
adaptions.
20. Polyploid – any species with multiple sets of the normal set of chromosomes;
results from errors during mitosis or meiosis.
21. Punctuated equilibrium – idea that periods of speciation occur relatively
quickly with long periods of genetic equilibrium in between.
22. Reproductive isolation – occurs when formerly interbreeding organisms can
no longer produce fertile offspring due to an incompatibility of their genetic
material or by differences in mating behavior.
23. Speciation – process of evolution of new species that occurs when members
of similar populations no longer interbreed to produce fertile offspring
within their natural environment.
24. Stabilizing selection – natural selection that favors average individuals in a
population; results in a decline in population variation.