Ch. 15 Theory of Evolution
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Created by:
priyanka11 on February 17, 2011
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19 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 absolute age | the numeric age of an object or event, often stated in years before the present |
| adaptation | an anatomical, physiological, or behavioral change that improves a population's ability to survive |
| adaptive radiation | an evolutionary pattern in which many species evolve from a single ancestral species |
| analogous structure | an anatomical structure in one species that is similar in function and appearance, but not in evolutionary origin, to another anatomical structure in another species |
| artificial selection | the selective breeding of organisms (by humans) for specific desirable characteristics |
| biogeography | the study of the geographical distribution of living organisms and fossils on Earth |
| coevolution | the evolution of two or more species that is due to mutual influence, often in a way that makes the relationship more mutually beneficial |
| convergent evolution | the process by which unrelated species become more similar as they adapt to the same kind of environment |
| divergent evolution | the process by which two or more related but reproductively isolated populations become more and more dissimilar |
| evolution | generally, in biology, the process of change by which new species develop from preexisting species over time |
| fitness | a measurement of the ability of a species to respond to the pressures of natural selection |
| fossil | the trace or remains of an organism that lived long ago |
| homologous structures | anatomical structures that share a common ancestry |
| natural selection | the process by which individuals that are better adapted to their environment survive and reproduce more successfully than less well adapted individuals do |
| phylogeny | the evolutionary history of a species or taxonomic group |
| relative age | the age of an object in relation to the ages of other objects |
| strata | layers of rock |
| superposition | a principle that states that younger rocks lie above older rocks if the layers have not been disturbed |
| vestigial structure | a structure in an organism that is reduced in size and function and that may have been complete and functional in the organism's ancestors |
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