MCB 150 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Heredity, Carl Woese, Eukaryote
14 Sep 2017
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Organism: life form made of one or more cells. Theory: explanation for a general class of observations. Hooke found small pore-like compartments that were invisible to the naked eye. Cell theory: all cells arise from cells already in existence. All cells in our body come from the fertilized egg. Species are all related by a common ancestry. The characteristics of a species can be modified from generation to generation. Evolution: change in characteristics in a population over time. Population: group of individuals of the same species living in the same area at the same time. Individuals within a population vary in conditions that are heritable. Heritable: traits that can be passes on to offspring. In a particular environment, certain versions of these heritable traits help individuals survive better or reproduce more than other versions. Natural selection acts on individuals, but evolutionary change occurs in populations. Speciation: when natural selection causes populations diverge to form a new species.
