22: Descent With Modification Flashcards
Descent with modification
Evolution. Present day species are descendants of ancestral species that were different from present day species.
Evolution
a change in genetic composition of a population from one generation to the next
Binomial system of nomenclature
Two part Latin format for naming a species. Contains a genus and a specific epithet (AKA a binomen)
Fossils
Preserved remnant or impression of an organism that lived in the past
Stratum
A rock layer formed when new layers of sediment cover the old ones and compress them
Paleontology
Study of fossils
Natural selection
Process where individuals with certain traits survive and reproduce at higher rates than those without those traits
Adaptation
Inherited characteristic of an organism that enhances its survival and reproduction in a specific environment
Evolutionary tree
A branching diagram that reflects a hypothesis about evolutionary relationships among groups of organisms
Homologous structures
Structures in different species that are similar because of common ancestry
Analogous structures
Characteristics that are similar because of convergent evolution, not homology
Vestigial structure
A feature of an organism that is a historical remnant of a structure that served a function in the organisms ancestors
Convergent evolution
Evolution of similar features in independent evolutionary lineages
Biogeography
Scientific study of the past and present geographic distributions of species
Pangea
Supercontinent that formed near the end of the Paleozoic era when plate movements brought all the land masses of earth together
