Reading...
Play button
Play button
Use LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to navigate between flashcards;
Use UP and DOWN arrow keys to flip the card;
H to show hint;
A reads text to speech;
19 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
|
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
|
|
|
FOSSIL
|
a preserved remnant or impression of an organism that lived in the past
|
|
|
STRATUM
|
a rock layer formed when new layers of sediment cover older ones and compress them
|
|
|
PALEONTOLOGY
|
the scientific study of fossils
|
|
|
CATASTROPHISM
|
the principle that events in the past occurred suddenly and were caused by different mechanisms than those operating today
|
|
|
UNIFORMITARIANISM
|
the principle stating that mechanisms of change are constant over time
|
|
|
ADAPTATION
|
inherited characteristics of an organism that enhances its survival and reproduction in specific environments
|
|
|
NATURAL SELECTION
|
a process in which organisms with certain inherited characteristics are more likely to survive and reproduce than are organisms with other characteristics
|
|
|
ARTIFICIAL SELECTION
|
the selective breeding of domesticated plants and animals to encourage the occurence of desirable traits
|
|
|
HOMOLOGY
|
similarity in different species that are similar because of common ancestry
|
|
|
HOMOLOGOUS STRUCTURE
|
sturctures in different species that are similar because of common ancestry
|
|
|
VESTIGIAL STRUCTURE
|
a structure of marginal, if any importance to any organism; vestigial structures are historical remnants of structures that had important functions in ancestors
|
|
|
EVOLUTIONARY TREE
|
a branching diagram that reflects a hypothesis about evolutionary relationships amoung groups of organisms
|
|
|
CONVERGENT EVOLUTION
|
the evolution of similar features in independent evolutionary lineages
|
|
|
ANALOGOUS
|
having characteristics that are similar because of convergent evolution, not homology
|
|
|
BIOGEOGRAPHY
|
the study of the past and present distribution of species
|
|
|
CONTINENTAL DRIFT
|
the slow movement of the continental plates across Earth's surface
|
|
|
PANGAEA
|
the supercontinent that formed near the end of the Paleozoic era, when plate movements brought all the landmasses of Earth together
|
|
|
ENDEMIC
|
referring to a species that is confined to a specific, relatively small geographic area
|
