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18 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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evolution |
process of biological change by which descendants come to differ from their ancestors |
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species |
group of organisms so similar to one another they can reproduce and create fertile offspring |
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fossils |
traces of organisms that existed in the past |
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catastrophism |
states that natural disasters such as floods and volcanic eruptions have happened often during Earth's long history |
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gradualism |
landforms have resulted in slow changes over long periods of time |
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uniformitarianism |
geologic processes that shape Earth are uniform over time |
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variation |
difference in physical traits of an individual from those of other individuals in the group it belongs to |
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adaptation |
feature that allows an organism to better survive in its environment |
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natural selection |
process by which individuals that have inherited beneficial adaptations produce more offspring than others |
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artificial selection |
process by which humans change a species by acting as the selective agent for certain traits |
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heritability |
ability of a trait to be passed down from one generation to the next |
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population |
all the individuals of a species that live in a certain area |
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fitness |
measure of the ability to survive and produce more offspring compared to the other individuals in an environment |
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biogeography |
study of the distribution of organisms around the world |
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homologous structures |
features that are similar in structure but appear in different organisms |
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analogous structures |
structures that perform a similar function (like flight) but are not similar in origin |
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vestigial structures |
remnants of organs or structures that had a function in an early ancestor |
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paleontology |
study of fossils or extinct organisms |
