| A | B |
|---|
| Natural Selection | a population can change over generations if induviduals that possess certain heritable traits leave more offspring than other induviduals |
| Evolutionary Adaptation | an accumulation of inherited characteristics that enhance organisim's ability to survive and reproduce in specific environments |
| Evolution | a change over time in the genetic composition of a population |
| Taxonomy | the branch of biology concerned with naming and classifying organisims |
| Sedimentary Rocks | formed from sand and mud that settle to the bottom of seas, lakes, and marshes; often contain fossils |
| Paleontology | the study of fosssils |
| Catastrophism | idea that each boundary between strata corosponds in time to a catastrophe that destroyed many of the living species living there at the time |
| Gradualisim | the idea that profound change can take place through the cumulative effect of slow but continuous processes |
| Uniformitatianism | idea that the same geological prosesses are operating today as in the past, at the same rate |
| Descent With Modification | phrase for the general process of evolution |
| Artifical Selection | the selective breeding of domesticated plants and animals to encourage the occurance of desirable traits |
| homology | similarity in characteristics resulting from a shared ancestry |
| vestigal organs | structures of marginal, ir any, importance ot the organisim |
| biogeography | the study of past and present distributiton of species |
| endemic | the organisim is found nowhere else in the world |
