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15 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
adaptation |
Inherited characteristic of an organism that enhances its survival and reproduction in a specific environment. |
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analogous |
Having characteristics that are similar because of convergent evolution, not homology. |
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artificial selection |
The selective breeding of domesticated plants and animals to encourage the occurrence of desirable traits. |
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biogeography |
The scientific study of the past and present geographic distributions of species. |
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convergent evolution |
The evolution of similar features in independent evolutionary lineages. |
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endemic (en-dem′-ik) |
Referring to a species that is confined to a specific geographic area. |
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evolution |
Descent with modification; the idea that living species are descendants of ancestral species that were different from the present-day ones; also defined more narrowly as the change in the genetic composition of a population from generation to generation. |
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evolutionary tree |
A branching diagram that reflects a hypothesis about evolutionary relationships among groups of organisms. |
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fossil |
A preserved remnant or impression of an organism that lived in the past. |
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homologous structures (hō-mol′-uh-gus) |
Structures in different species that are similar because of common ancestry. |
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homology (hō-mol′-ō-jē) |
Similarity in characteristics resulting from a shared ancestry. |
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natural selection |
A process in which individuals that have certain inherited traits tend to survive and reproduce at higher rates than other individuals because of those traits. |
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paleontology (pā′-lē-un-tol′-ō-jē) |
The scientific study of fossils. |
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Pangaea (pan-jē′-uh) |
The supercontinent that formed near the end of the Paleozoic era, when plate movements brought all the landmasses of Earth together. |
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vestigial structure |
A feature of an organism that is a historical remnant of a structure that served a function in the organism’s ancestors. |