Chapter 15: Darwin's Theory of Evolution Vocab
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Created by:
baconlover149 on March 26, 2012
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21 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Evolution | the gradual change in a species over time |
| Theory | well-tested explanation that unifies a broad range of observations |
| Fossil | the preserved remains or traces of an organism that lived in the past. |
| Theory of Evolution | This theory stated that animals could evolve from other animals in order to adapt to their environments. This theory was not widely accepted for it could possibly account for humans which would defeat the whole purpose of creationism |
| Charles Darwin | English natural scientist who formulated a theory of evolution by natural selection (1809-1882) |
| H.M.S. Beagle | the ship Darwin sailed on to Galapagos. Voyage to map the souther coast of South America |
| Biodiversity | the variety of species living within an ecosystem |
| Darwin's Finches | Several species of finch's evolved to have different beak shapes to occupy a specific niche on the Galapagos islands |
| Galapagos Islands | place where Darwin observed the remarkable series of related but distinct forms of life |
| Lamarck | French naturalist who proposed that evolution resulted from the inheritance of acquired characteristics (1744-1829) |
| Acquired Trait | characteristic that an organism develops after it is born |
| On the Origin of Species | book written by Charles Darwin that set forth the theory that higher life forms had evolved trhough random mutation and adaptation |
| Natural Variation | differences among individuals of a species |
| Natural Selection | process by which individuals that are better suited to their environment survive and reproduce most successfully; also called survival of the fittest |
| Fitness | ability of an organism to survive and reproduce in its environment |
| Adaptation | inherited characteristic that increases an organism's chance of survival |
| Divergent Evolution | when two or more species sharing a common ancestor become more different over time |
| Homologous Structures | structures in different species that are similar because of common ancestry |
| Convergent Evolution | process by which unrelated organisms independently evolve similarities when adapting to similar environments |
| Analogous Structures | similarities among unrelated species that result from convergent evolution |
| Vestigial Structures | remnant of a structure that may have had an important function in a species' ancestors, but has no clear function in the modern species |
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