| A | B |
|---|
| trait | a characteristic that can be inherited from parents |
| offspring | a new organism that results from reproduction |
| heredity | the passing down of traits from parents to offspring |
| crossbreeding | the matching of parents with different traits to produce offspring with new traits |
| hybrid | the offspring of parents that have been crossbred |
| dominant | describes a trait that will show its effect no matter the effect of its partner trait |
| recessive | describes a trait that will be masked by a dominant partner trait |
| chromosome | a threadlike structure in a cell nucleus that holds info about an organism's traits |
| gene | a bit of information in a chromosome |
| mutation | a change in the genetic code of an organism |
| evolution | the process of change in a species over time |
| extinct | no longer existing on Earth |
| fossil | the remains of an organism that lived long ago |
| paleontology | the scientific study of fossils |
| theory | an explanation about something that is supported by data |
| naturalist | a scientist who studies living things in nature |
| natural selection | the way organisms that are best suited to their enviornment survive and pass on their helpful traits to offspring |
