Chapter 22: Descent with Modification: A Darwinian View of Life

Question 1

Evolution

Answer 1

• Change in a kind of organism over time

- Process by which modern organisms have descended from ancient organisms

Question 2

Fossil

Answer 2

• Remains / impression of a prehistoric organism

- Preserved in petrified form or as a mold / cast in rock

Question 3

Strata

Answer 3

Superimposed layers of rock

Question 4

Paleontology

Answer 4

Study of fossils

Question 5

Adaptation

Answer 5

• Inherited characteristics of an organism

- Enhance their survival and reproduction in specific environments

Question 6

Natural Selection

Answer 6

Process in which individuals that have certain inherited traits tend to survive and reproduce at higher rates than other individuals because of those traits

Question 7

Artificial Selection

Answer 7

• Process in which individuals are selected and bred

- Species are modified over many generations because of it

Question 8

Homology

Answer 8

Similarity resulting from common ancestry

Question 9

Homologous Structures

Answer 9

Structures common to organisms with common ancestry sometimes with altered function

Question 10

Vestigial Structures

Answer 10

Remnants of features that served a function in the organism’s ancestors

Question 11

Evolutionary Tree

Answer 11

Diagram that reflects evolutionary relationships among groups of organisms

Question 12

Convergent Evolution

Answer 12

Independent evolution of similar features in different lineages

Question 13

Analogous

Answer 13

Describing features that share similar function but not common ancestry

Question 14

Biogeography

Answer 14

The scientific study of the geographic distributions of species

Question 15

Pangaea

Answer 15

Single, large continent about 250 million years ago