Descent with Modification: A Darwinian View of Life
587582732 | evolution | generation-to-generation change in the proportion of different inherited genes in a population that account for all of the changes that have transformed life over an immense time | |
587582733 | fossils | preserved remains of once-living organisms | |
587582735 | strata | layers of sedimentary rock | |
587582737 | catastrophism | a principle that states that geologic change occurs suddenly | |
587582739 | uniformitarianism | is the idea that the geologic processes that operate today also operated in the past | |
587582740 | paleontology | the earth science that studies fossil organisms and related remains | |
587582742 | adaptation | inherited characteristic that increases an organism's chance of survival | |
587582743 | natural selection | process by which individuals that are better suited to their environment survive and reproduce most successfully; also called survival of the fittest | |
587582744 | artificial selection | selection by humans for breeding of useful traits from the natural variation among different organisms | |
587582745 | homology | similarity in characteristics that results from common ancestry | |
587582746 | homologous structures | structures that have different mature forms in different organisms but develop from the same embryonic tissues | |
587582747 | vestigial structures | remnant of a structure that may have had an important function in a species' ancestors, but has no clear function in the modern species. | |
587582748 | evolutionary tree | A branching diagram that reflects a hypothesis about evolutionary relationships among groups of organisms. | |
587582749 | convergent evolution | process by which unrelated organisms independently evolve similarities when adapting to similar environments | |
587582750 | analogous | Having characteristics that are similar because of convergent evolution, not homology. | |
587582751 | Pangaea | the name of the single landmass that broke apart 200 million years ago and gave rise to today's continents | |
587582752 | endemic | native or confined to a particular region or people; characteristic of or prevalent in a field | |
587582753 | biogeography | dealing with the geographical distribution of animals and plants |