Download Evolution Vocabulary

Evolution Vocabulary
Word
Definition
1. fossil
Remains of once living animals or plants that represent ancestors of
organisms today
2. body fossil
Fossils of the remains of body parts of the organism
3. trace fossil
Fossils of a footprint, trail, burrow, or other trace of an animal rather
than of the animal itself.
4. relative dating
An approximate time scale that uses the rock layers for telling the
general age of an organism.
A specific time scale that uses radioactive half-life to determine the
5. absolute dating exact age of an organism.
6. Evolution
The gradual change in a species over time.
7. theory
An explanation for something that is occurring that uses the scientific
method and repeated testing with observations and experimentation.
8. homologous
structures
Parts of organisms that have the same function but different structure
and origin.
9. analogous
structures
Parts of organisms have similar structures and origins but different
function.
10.vestigial organ
Inherited structures that no longer serve a purpose in an organism.
11.embryology
The branch of biology that studies the development of gametes (sex
cells), fertilization, and development of embryos and fetuses.
12.Natural
Selection
The process through which members of a species are best suited to
their environment survive and reproduce at a higher rate than other
less suited members of the species
13.Adaptation
A mutation that makes an individual better able to survive. It gives
organism an advantage
14.Shared
Ancestry
Multiple new species are established from a single ancestral population
15.Fitness
How well you are equipped to survive the environment you live in
16.Survival of the
fittest
The process in which an organism that is best adapted to the
environment lives to pass on its characteristics to their offspring.
17.Genetic
variation
Within a species there are natural differences in traits due to mutations
(change in DNA). Genetic variations are passed from one generation to
the next
18.Mutation
The process in which a change happens to a gene (DNA)
When a plant or an animal reproduces it usually creates more offspring
19.Overproduction than the environment can support
20.Speciation
Evolution of a new species from an existing species