Download decent with modification

Evolution = descent with modification, a phrase Darwin used in proposing that Earth’s many species
are descendants of ancestral species that were different from the present-day species.
Darwin drew many of his ideas from the work of scientists studying fossils, the remains or traces of
organisms from the past.
Paleontology, the study of fossils, was largely developed by French scientist Georges Cuvier. To
explain his observations, he advocated catastrophism, the principle that events in the past occurred
suddenly and were caused by mechanisms different from those operating in the present.
Darwin developed the principle of uniformitarianism, which stated that mechanisms of change are
constant over time.
Natural selection is a process in which individuals with certain inherited traits leave more offspring
than individuals with other traits.
Artificial selection is a process in which humans have modified other species over many generations
by selecting and breeding individuals that possess desired traits.
Similarity resulting from common ancestry is known as homology.
Homologous structures are variations on a structural theme that was present in their common
ancestor.
Vestigial structures are remnants of features that served important functions in the organism’s
ancestors.
Biologists often represent the pattern of descent from common ancestors and the resulting
homologies with an evolutionary tree, a diagram that reflects evolutionary relationships among
groups of organisms.
Convergent evolution is the independent evolution of similar features in different lineages.
Endemic is a term for species of plants and animals that are found nowhere else in the world.
Biogeography is the geographic distribution of species.
Continental drift is the slow movement of Earth’s continents over time.