Evidence of Evolution - Vocabulary #1

neutral evolution: A mutation with little or no effect on phenotype.
 

lethal mutation: a mutation with little or no effect on the phenotype.

 inbreeding: Nonrandom mating among close relatives that share many identical alleles.

antibiotic:Metabolic product of soil microbes that kills bacterial competitors for nutrients.

allele frequency: is the proportion of all copies of a gene that is made up of a particular gene variant.

 balanced polymorphism: Form of selection in which two or more alleles for a trait are being maintained in a population over time.

biogeography: Scientific study of the world distribution of species.

 catastrophism: is the idea that Earth has been affected in the past by sudden, short-lived, violent events.

 comparative morphology: comparison of the structure of different animals and plants, one with another.

 directional selection: is a mode of natural selection in which a single phenotype is favored.

disruptive selection: describes changes in population genetics in which extreme values for a trait are favored over intermediate values.

 evolution: is the change over time in one or more inherited traits found in populations of organisms.

fitness: Increase in adaptation to environment, as brought about by genetic change.

 fixation: Loss of all but one kind of allele at a gene locus for all individuals in a population.

 fossil: Loss of all but one kind of allele at a gene locus for all individuals in a population.

 founder effect: s the loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals from a larger population.

gene flow:Microevolutionary process; alleles enter and leave a population as an outcome of immigration and emigration, respectively.

 Gene pool: All genotypes in a population.

 genetic drift: is the change in the frequency of a gene variant in a population due to random sampling.

genetic equilibrium: a state in which a population is not evolving.

Hardy-Weingberg Rule: 1-Allele frequencies stay the same over the generations when there is no mutation 2-The population is infinitely large and isolated from other populations of the species
3-Mating is random
4-All individuals are reproducing equally and randomly.

 Microevolution: s a change in gene frequency within a population over time.

mutation rate: Of a gene locus, the probability that a spontaneous mutation will occur during or between DNA replication cycles.

Natural selection: is the process by which biologic traits become more or less common in a population

polymorphism: The persistence of two or more qualitatively different forms of a trait (morphs) in a population.

 population: is all the organisms that both belong to the same species and live in the same geographical area.

 sampling error: Use of  subset of a population, an event, or some other aspect of nature for an experimental group.

 sexual selection: type of selection that favors a trait giving an individual a competitive edge in attracting or keeping a mate

stabalizing selection: natural selection in which genetic diversity decreases as the population stabilizes on a particular trait value. 

theory of uniformity:  theory that the earth's surface changes in gradual, uniformly repetitive ways.

Bottleneck:Severe reduction in the size of a population

Allele:  is a viable DNA  coding that occupies a given locus on a chromosome.