| A | B |
|---|
| Charles Darwin | British naturalist; sailed to Galapagos Islands; observed finch beaks; published theory of evolution in "Origin of Species;" developed principles of natural selection |
| evolution | changes in inherited characteristics over time |
| species | group of organisms that have similar characteristics |
| species | group of organisms that can reproduce among themselves to produce fertile offspring |
| mutation | any permanent change in the DNA sequence |
| variation | ANY inherited change |
| speciation | the process by which two populations of the same species become so different that they can no longer interbreed |
| trait | a distinquishing quality that can be passed from one generation to the next |
| trait | characteristic |
| selective breeding | the mating of organisms that have a certain desired trait |
| natural selection | the process by which organisms with favorable traits survive and reproduce at a higher rate than organisms without the favorable trait |
| generation time | the perios between the birth of one generation and the birth of the next generation |
| adaptation | a change that makes the species MORE SUCCESSFUL |
| vestigial structure | body part that doesn't seem to have a function and may have once functioned in the body of an ancestor |
| offspring | the immediate descendant or descendants of a person, animal, etc. |
| sedimentary rocks | formed when layers of sand, silt, clay, or mud are compacted and cemented together, or when minerals are deposited from a solution |
| survival | an organism that endures especially under adverse or unusual conditions |
| theory | a unifying explanation for a broad range of hypotheses and observations that have been supported by experimentation |
| embryology | the study of organisms at their earliest stages of development |
| homologous | body parts that are similar in structure and can be similar in function |
| frozen fossils | remains of organisms that were trapped in ice and remain frozen for thousands of years |
| fossil | the solidified remains or imprints of once-living organisms |
| radioactive elements | element that gives off a steady amount of radiation as it slowly changes to a nonradioactive element |
| cast fossils | minerals fill the hollows of animal tracks, a mollusk shell, or other parts of an organism to create a cast |
| imprinted fossils | leaf, feather, or an entire body of an organism can leave an imprint on sediment that later hardens to become rock |
| mineralized fossils | minerals can replace wood or bone to create a piece of petrified wood or a mineralized bone fossil |
| fossils in amber | the remains of trapped insects in a sticky resin that hardens over time |
| relative dating | an estimate of a fossil's age by comparing the ages of rock layers above and below the fossil layer |
| radiometric dating | dating using radioactive elements for more accurate results |
