BIOL 1202 : Test 1
Document Summary
Individuals in a population vary in their heritable characteristics. Organisms produce more offspring than the environment can support: inferences. Individuals that are well suited to their environments tend to leave more offspring than other individuals. Evolution is supported by an overwhelming amount of scientific evidence. Similar in function, but no in structure. Fossil record: show change in organisms through time, change in types of organisms, past organisms differ from present day organisms, many species have become extinct, oldest species are the deepest layers of strata. The smallest unit of evolution: one common misconception about evolution is that individual organisms evolve during their life time, evolutionary processes act on individuals, but populations evolve. Genetic variation makes evolution possible: two main processes produce genetic variation, mutation, changes in nucleotide sequence of dna. Crossing over during prophase i of meiosis: variation within a population, discrete characteristics, classified on an either-or basis. Eye color: quantitative characteristics, vary along a continuum within a population.
