| A | B |
|---|
| adaptation | a characteristic that improves an individual's ability to survive and reproduce in a specific environment |
| environment | the surrounding natural conditions that affect an organism |
| evolution | the process in which inherited characteristics within a population change over generations such that new species sometimes arise |
| evolved | when inherited characteristics within a population cause the population to change over many generations possibly leading to new species |
| extinct | describes a species that has died out completley |
| extinction | the death of every member of a species |
| gene | one set of instructions for an inherited trait |
| genetic variation | the differences in the sets of alleles between individuals in a population |
| mutations | a change in the nucleotide-base sequence of a gene or DNA molecule |
| population | a group of individuals of the same species living in the same space |
| species | a group of organisms that are closely related and can mate to produce fertile offspring |
| speciation | the formation of new species as a result of evolution |
