Evolutionary biology Evolutionary biology A biological adaptation is an anatomical structure, physiological process or behavioral trait of an organism that has evolved over a period of time by the process of natural selection such that it increases the expected long-term reproductive success of the organism. The term adaptation is also sometimes used as a synonym for natural selection, but most biologists discourage this usage. ...more on Wikipedia about "Adaptation"
Adaptationism is the view that all or most traits are optimal adaptations. The critics (most notably Richard Lewontin and Stephen J. Gould) contend that the adaptationsists ( John Maynard Smith, W.D. Hamilton and Richard Dawkins being frequent examples) have over-emphasized the power of natural selection to have shape individual traits to an evolutionary optimum, and ignored the role of developmental contraints, and other factors to explain extant morphological and behavioural traits. ...more on Wikipedia about "Adaptationism"
The adaptive value represents the combined influence of all characters which affect the fitness of an individual or population. ...more on Wikipedia about "Adaptive value"
Altruism is alternately a belief, a practice, a habit, or an ethical doctrine. Many cultures and religious traditions judge altruism to be virtuous. In Buddhism it is considered a fundamental property of human nature. ...more on Wikipedia about "Altruism"
Altruism is a well-documented animal behaviour, which appears most obviously in kin relationships but may also be evident amongst wider social groups. ...more on Wikipedia about "Altruism in animals"
Anagenesis is the progressive evolution of species involving a change in gene frequency in an entire population rather than a cladogenetic branching event. When enough mutations reach fixation in a population to significantly differentiate from an ancestral population a new species name may be assigned. A key point is that the entire population is different from the ancestral population so that the ancestral population can be considered extinct. It is easy to see from the preceding definition how controversy can arise among taxonomists regarding when the differences are significant enough to warrant a new species classification. Anagenesis may also be referred to as phyletic evolution. ...more on Wikipedia about "Anagenesis"
Two structures in biology are said to be analogous if they perform the same or similar function by a similar mechanism. For example, the wings of insects and the wings of birds. These similar structures may have evolved through different pathways, a process known as convergent evolution, or may be homologous. ...more on Wikipedia about "Analogy (biology)"
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Aposematism (from apo- away, and sematic warning), is a means of natural defence employing conspicuous colours or body parts by which an organism openly displays a warning signal to potential predators. The intent to become as noticeable as possible is the antithesis of the principles of natural camouflage. ...more on Wikipedia about "Aposematism"
The arboreal theory claims that primates became primates by adapting to arboreal life. ...more on Wikipedia about "Arboreal theory"
The argument from evolution is an argument against the existence of God, specifically against the existence of a creator God. It is based upon the premise: ...more on Wikipedia about "Argument from evolution"
Atavism in Physical Science ...more on Wikipedia about "Atavism"
In biology the word autogenesis has been used to describe two similar concepts: ...more on Wikipedia about "Autogenesis"
The Bak-Sneppen model is a simple model of co-evolution between interacting species. It was developed to show how self-organized criticality may explain key features of the fossil record, such as the distribution of sizes of extinction events and the phenomenon of punctuated equilibria. ...more on Wikipedia about "Bak-Sneppen model"
The Baldwin effect is a theory of James Mark Baldwin in which individual learning of a characteristic significantly affects the evolution of a species with respect to that characteristic. ...more on Wikipedia about "Baldwin effect"
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In biology, Bateman's principle is the theory that the sex which invests the most in producing offspring becomes a limiting resource over which the other sex will compete. ...more on Wikipedia about "Bateman's principle"
Bathybius haeckeli was a substance that British biologist Thomas Henry Huxley discovered and initially believed to be a form of primordial matter, a source of all organic life. He later admitted his mistake when it proved to be just the product of a chemical process. ...more on Wikipedia about "Bathybius"
The Bay Area Biosystematists is a group of biologists, geneticists, paleontologists, and systematists that are also interested in evolution. The group has been active in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1936, and is notable as a connection between many of the leading evolutionary biologists of the 20th century, including Theodosius Dobzhansky and G. Ledyard Stebbins who led the modern evolutionary synthesis. Meetings generally occur the second Tuesday of every month during the academic year at one of the Bay Area campuses (UC Berkeley, UC Davis, the California Academy of Sciences, San Jose State U, etc.). ...more on Wikipedia about "Bay Area Biosystematists"
Behavioral ecology is the study of the ecological and evolutionary basis for animal behavior, and the roles of behavior in enabling an animal to adapt to its environment (both intrinsic and extrinsic). ...more on Wikipedia about "Behavioral ecology"
(Biodiversity and evolution) * Geologic timescale ...more on Wikipedia about "Biodiversity and evolution"
The term body form is used to describe a design of the animal form, a blueprint of life. The most successful body form is without doubt the tetrapod, although others have have existed successfully in the past, if only for a short period of time. Examples of this include the trichordate, among others. ...more on Wikipedia about "Body form"
Breeding back is an attempt to assemble the genes of an extinct subspecies or domesticated breed, which may still be present in the larger gene pool of the overall species or other interbreedable species. ...more on Wikipedia about "Breeding back"
Carcinization is a hypothesised process whereby a crustacean evolves into a crab-like form from a non-crab-like form. The term was introduced by Borradaile, who described it as "one of the many attempts of Nature to evolve a crab". ...more on Wikipedia about "Carcinization"
Catagenesis is an archaic term from evolutionary biology referring to evolutionary directions that were considered " retrogressive." It was a term used in contrast to anagenesis, which in present usage denotes the evolution of a single population into a new form without branching lines of descent. Cladogenesis is the term used for branching lines of descent, i.e., when the evolutionary origin of a new form is not accompanied by the disappearance of the ancestral form. ...more on Wikipedia about "Catagenesis (biology)"
Chemical evolution has two meanings and uses. The first refers to the theories of evolution of the chemical elements in the universe following the Big Bang and through nucleosynthesis in stars and supernovas. ...more on Wikipedia about "Chemical evolution"
Cladogenesis is an evolutionary splitting event in which each branch and its smaller branches is a "clade"; an evolutionary mechanism and a process of adaptive evolution that leads to the development of a greater variety of organisms. ...more on Wikipedia about "Cladogenesis"
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