1.
Acquired characteristics: characteristics acquired during an organisms lifetime can be passed to their offspring
2.
Adaptation: a trait that improves an organism's ability to survive and reproduce; the process of becoming adapted
3.
Adaptive Radiation: process by which a single species or groups of species evolves into several different forms that live in different ways
4.
Analogous structures: A body part that serve the same purpose but are built differently, these structures DO NOT indicate common ancestry
5.
Artificial Selection: the human practice of breeding animals or plants that have certain desired traits
6.
Charles Darwin: "Father of Evolution"
7.
Charles Lyell: geologist who came up with a theory that the earth is very old and changes to the earth are slow and methodical
8.
Co-evolution: process by which two species evolve in response to changes in each other
9.
Convergent Evolution: process by which unrelated organisms independently evolve similarities when adapting to similar environments
10.
Evolution: is the process by which species change over time
11.
Extinction: disappearance of a species from all parts of its geographical range
12.
Fossil: the trace or remains of an organism that lived long ago, most commonly preserved in sedimentary rock
13.
George Cuvier: scientist who studied fossils and came up with a ideas about extinction
14.
Gradualism: the idea that change can take place through the cumulative effort of slow but continuous processes, example erosion of mountains
15.
Homologous structures: structures that are structurally similar but serve different purposes, indicates common ancestry
16.
James Hutton: scientist who studied fossils and rock layers and came up with an idea called gradualism
17.
Jean Baptiste Lamarck: developed a theory of evolution, which has two parts use and disuse and acquired characteristics, his theory was incorrect
18.
Law of superposition: states that successive layers of rock or soil were deposited on top of one another by wind or water
19.
Macroevolution: large-scale evolutionary patterns and processes that occur over long periods of time
20.
Microevolution: evolutionary change within a population
21.
Migration: is the movement of individuals into, out of, or between populations
22.
Natural selection: the process by which individuals are better adapted to their environment survive and reproduce more successfully than less well adapted individuals do
23.
Radiometric Dating: Dating technique that uses the radioactive isotopes in rock. Used mostly for metamorphic rocks that are closely related to sedimentary rocks or igneous rocks,
24.
Relative Dating: Layers of sedimentary rock stacked on top of each other can show the age of a fossil, depending on how deep it is buried (younger rocks and fossils at the top and older at the bottom).
25.
Speciation: the formation of new species as a result of evolution
26.
Species: group of similar organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring
27.
Theory: a system of ideas that explains many related observations and is supported by a large body of evidence acquired through scientific investigation
28.
Thomas Malthus: English Economist who came up with the idea "Struggle for existence", which was a key influence on Darwin
29.
Vestigial structures: A body part not used anymore but still remains in the organism
30.
Voyage of the Beagle: Charles Darwin's famous global voyage, where he found his first evidence of evolution
