natural selection

Question 1

abaptation

Answer 1

a charecteristi that improves an individual ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment

Question 2

species

Answer 2

a group of organisms that are closely related and can mate to produce fertile offspring

Question 3

evolution

Answer 3

the process in which inherited characteristics within change over generations such thatnew species sometimes arise

Question 4

fossil

Answer 4

the remains or physical evidence of an organism preserved by geological processes

Question 5

fossil record

Answer 5

a historical sequence of life indicated by fossils found in layers of the earths crust

Question 6

trait

Answer 6

a genetically determined characteristic

Question 7

selective breeding

Answer 7

the human practice of breeding animals or plants that have certain desired charactoristics

Question 8

natural selection

Answer 8

the process by which individuals that are better adapted to their environment survive and reproduce more successfully than less well adapted individuals do; a theory to explain the mechanism of evolution

Question 9

generation time

Answer 9

the period between the birth of one generation and the birth of the next generation

Question 10

speciation

Answer 10

the formation of new species as a result of evolution

Question 11

relative dating

Answer 11

any method of determining whether an event or abject is older or youger than other events or objects

Question 12

absolute dating

Answer 12

any method of measuring the age of an object or event in years

Question 13

geologic time scale

Answer 13

the standard method used to divide the earths land natural history into manageable parts

Question 14

extinct

Answer 14

describes a species that has died out completely

Question 15

plate tectonics

Answer 15

the theory that explains how large peices of the earths outermost layer called tectonic plates move and change shape

Question 16

primate

Answer 16

a type of mammal characterized by opposable thumbs and binocular vision

Question 17

hominid

Answer 17

a type of primate chatacterized by bipedalism relatively long lower limbs and lack of a tail

Question 18

homo sapiens

Answer 18

the species of hominids that includes modern humans and thier closest ancestors and that first appeared about 100,000 to 160,000 years ago