Natural Selection and Evolution quiz Flashcards

Natural selection is the process where the natural environment selects organisms that are more fit to their environment, and it was first described by Charles Darwin.

Adaptation is the result of natural selection, where organisms with traits that improve their fitness are more likely to survive and reproduce.

In natural selection, 'fitness' refers to an organism's ability to survive and reproduce, not physical strength.

The two requirements are genetic diversity within a population and selective pressure for heritable traits that affect fitness.

Genetic diversity ensures that there are different traits within a population, allowing natural selection to favor those that improve fitness.

Giraffes with longer necks were able to access more food and thus survived and reproduced more than those with shorter necks.

Selective pressure favors certain traits, leading to a change in the population's genetic makeup over generations.

Evolution is the change in the DNA of a population over multiple generations, often driven by natural selection.

Birds ate more green crickets, leading to an increase in the population of brown crickets, which were better camouflaged.

Natural selection is one of the mechanisms by which evolution occurs, leading to changes in a population's DNA over time.

'Survival of the fittest' means that organisms best adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce.

An example of an abiotic factor is the height of leaves on trees, which influenced the neck length of giraffes.