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| 7344917647 | adaptation | Any genetically controlled structural, physiological, or behavioral characteristic that helps an organism survive and reproduce under a given set of environmental conditions. It usually results from a beneficial mutation. See biological evolution, differential reproduction, mutation, natural selection. |  | 0 |
| 7344917648 | adaptive trait | Any genetically controlled structural, physiological, or behavioral characteristic that helps an organism survive and reproduce under a given set of environmental conditions. It usually results from a beneficial mutation. See biological evolution, differential reproduction, mutation, natural selection. See adaptation. | 1 | |
| 7344917649 | alien species | Species that migrate into an ecosystem or are deliberately or accidentally introduced into an ecosystem by humans. Compare native species. See nonnative species. |  | 2 |
| 7344917650 | artificial selection | Process by which humans select one or more desirable genetic traits in the population of a plant or animal species and then use selective breeding to produce populations containing many individuals with the desired traits. Compare genetic engineering, natural selection. |  | 3 |
| 7344917651 | background extinction rate | Normal extinction of various species as a result of changes in local environmental conditions. Compare mass extinction. |  | 4 |
| 7344917652 | biological evolution | Change in the genetic makeup of a population of a species in successive generations. If continued long enough, it can lead to the formation of a new species. Note that populations, not individuals, evolve. See also adaptation, differential reproduction, natural selection, theory of evolution. |  | 5 |
| 7344917653 | biome | Terrestrial regions inhabited by certain types of life, especially vegetation. Examples include various types of deserts, grasslands, and forests. |  | 6 |
| 7344917654 | ecological niche | Total way of life or role of a species in an ecosystem. It includes all physical, chemical, and biological conditions that a species needs to live and reproduce in an ecosystem. See fundamental niche, realized niche. |  | 7 |
| 7344917655 | endemic species | Species that is found in only one area. Such species are especially vulnerable to extinction. |  | 8 |
| 7344917656 | evolution | Change in the genetic makeup of a population of a species in successive generations. If continued long enough, it can lead to the formation of a new species. Note that populations, not individuals, evolve. See also adaptation, differential reproduction, natural selection, theory of evolution. See biological evolution. |  | 9 |
| 7344917657 | exotic species | Species that migrate into an ecosystem or are deliberately or accidentally introduced into an ecosystem by humans. Compare native species. See nonnative species. |  | 10 |
| 7344917658 | extinction | Complete disappearance of a species from the earth. It happens when a species cannot adapt and successfully reproduce under new environmental conditions or when a species evolves into one or more new species. Compare speciation. See also endangered species, mass extinction, threatened species. See biological extinction. |  | 11 |
| 7344917659 | fossils | Skeletons, bones, shells, body parts, leaves, seeds, or impressions of such items that provide recognizable evidence of organisms that lived long ago. |  | 12 |
| 7344917660 | functional diversity | Biological and chemical processes or functions such as energy flow and matter cycling needed for the survival of species and biological communities. See biodiversity, ecological diversity, genetic diversity, species diversity. | 13 | |
| 7344917661 | gene mutation | Random change in DNA molecules making up genes that can alter anatomy, physiology, or behavior in offspring. See mutagen. See mutation. |  | 14 |
| 7344917662 | generalist species | Species with a broad ecological niche. They can live in many different places, eat a variety of foods, and tolerate a wide range of environmental conditions. Examples include flies, cockroaches, mice, rats, and humans. Compare specialist species. |  | 15 |
| 7344917663 | genetic diversity | Variability in the genetic makeup among individuals within a single species. See biodiversity. Compare ecological diversity, functional diversity, species diversity. |  | 16 |
| 7344917664 | genetic engineering | Insertion of an alien gene into an organism to give it a beneficial genetic trait. Compare artificial selection, natural selection. |  | 17 |
| 7344917665 | geographic isolation | Separation of populations of a species into different areas for long periods of time. |  | 18 |
| 7344917666 | habitat | Place or type of place where an organism or population of organisms lives. Compare ecological niche. |  | 19 |
| 7344917667 | indicator species | Species whose decline serves as early warnings that a community or ecosystem is being degraded. Compare foundation species, keystone species, native species, nonnative species. |  | 20 |
| 7344917668 | invasive species | Species that migrate into an ecosystem or are deliberately or accidentally introduced into an ecosystem by humans. Compare native species. See nonnative species. |  | 21 |
| 7344917669 | keystone species | Species that play roles affecting many other organisms in an ecosystem. Compare foundation species, indicator species, native species, nonnative species. |  | 22 |
| 7344917670 | mass extinction | Catastrophic, widespread, often global event in which major groups of species are wiped out over a short time compared with normal (background) extinctions. Compare background extinction. |  | 23 |
| 7344917671 | mutation | Random change in DNA molecules making up genes that can alter anatomy, physiology, or behavior in offspring. See mutagen. |  | 24 |
| 7344917672 | native species | Species that normally live and thrive in a particular ecosystem. Compare foundation species, indicator species, keystone species, nonnative species. | 25 | |
| 7344917673 | natural selection | Process by which a particular beneficial gene (or set of genes) is reproduced in succeeding generations more than other genes. The result of natural selection is a population that contains a greater proportion of organisms better adapted to certain environmental conditions. See adaptation, biological evolution, differential reproduction, mutation. |  | 26 |
| 7344917674 | niche | Total way of life or role of a species in an ecosystem. It includes all physical, chemical, and biological conditions that a species needs to live and reproduce in an ecosystem. See fundamental niche, realized niche. See ecological niche. |  | 27 |
| 7344917675 | nonnative species | Species that migrate into an ecosystem or are deliberately or accidentally introduced into an ecosystem by humans. Compare native species. |  | 28 |
| 7344917676 | reproductive isolation | Long-term geographic separation of members of a particular sexually reproducing species. |  | 29 |
| 7344917677 | specialist species | Species with a narrow ecological niche. They may be able to live in only one type of habitat, tolerate only a narrow range of climatic and other environmental conditions, or use only one type or a few types of food. Compare generalist species. |  | 30 |
| 7344917678 | speciation | Formation of two species from one species because of divergent natural selection in response to changes in environmental conditions; usually takes thousands of years. Compare extinction. |  | 31 |
| 7344917679 | species | Group of similar organisms, and for sexually reproducing organisms, they are a set of individuals that can mate and produce fertile offspring. Every organism is a member of a certain species. |  | 32 |
| 7344917680 | species diversity | Number of different species (species richness) combined with the relative abundance of individuals within each of those species (species evenness) in a given area. See biodiversity, species evenness, species richness. Compare ecological diversity, genetic diversity. |  | 33 |
| 7344917681 | species evenness | Degree to which comparative numbers of individuals of each of the species present in a community are similar. See species diversity. Compare species richness. |  | 34 |
| 7344917682 | species richness | Variety of species, measured by the number of different species contained in a community. See species diversity. Compare species evenness. |  | 35 |
| 7344917683 | theory of evolution | Widely accepted scientific idea that all life-forms developed from earlier life-forms. It is the way most biologists explain how life has changed over the past 3.6?3.8 billion years and why it is so diverse today. |  | 36 |
