California Life Science Chapter 7
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23 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Natural Selection | a natural process resulting in the evolution of organisms best adapted to the environment |
| Variation | inherited trait that makes an individual different from other members of its species |
| Scientific Theory | a well-tested concept that explains a wide range of observations |
| Species | a group of organisms so similar to one another that they can breed and produce fertile offspring |
| Fossil | preserved remains or marking left by an organism that lived in the past |
| Adaptaton | any varation that makes an organism better able to live in its enviroment |
| Evolution | the gradual change in a species over time |
| Comparative Anatomy | the comparison of the structures of different organisms |
| Homologous Structres | Similar structures that related species have inherited from a common ancestor |
| Petrified Fossil | a fossil in which minerals replace all or part of an organism |
| Mold | a type of fossil formed when a shell or other hard part of an organism dissolves, leaving an empty space in the shape of the part |
| Cast | a type of body fossil that forms when crystals fill a mold or sediments wash into a mold and harden into rock |
| Paleontologists | scientists who study fossils |
| Gradualism | The theory that evolution occurs slowly but steadily |
| Punctuated Equilibria | A theory that accounts for the gaps in the fossil record |
| Habitat | Is the specific environment that provides eh things the organism needs to live, grown, and reproduce |
| Extinict | where an species doesn't exist on planet earth |
| Classificaton | The process of grouping things based on their similarities |
| Taxonomy | the scientific study of how living things are classified |
| Binomial Nomenclature | Classification system in which each species is assigned a two-part scientific name |
| Genus | a classification grouping that contains similar, closely related organisms |
| Prokaryote | Are organisms whose cells lack a nucleus |
| Eukaryote | organism whose cells contain nuclei |
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