Natural Selection Flashcards
Adaptation
the action or process of adapting or being adapted
Species
a group of living organism’s consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding
Evolution
the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth
Fossil
the remains or impression of a prehistoric organism preserved in petrified form or as a mold or cast in rocks.
Fossil Record
A fossil record is a group of fossils which has been analyzed and arranged chronologically and in taxonomic order
Trait
a distinguishing quality or characteristic, typically one belonging to a person.
Selective Breeding
Selective breeding is the process when humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits by choosing which typically animal or plant males and females will sexually reproduce and have offspring together
Natural Selection
the process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.
Generation time
generation time is the average time between two consecutive generations in the lineages of a population.
Speciation
the formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution.
Relative Dating
Relative dating is the science of determining the relative order of past events without really determining their absolute age
Absolute Dating
Absolute dating is the process of determining an age on a specified chronology in archaeology and geology
Geologic Time Scale
A geologic time scale is a system of chronological dating that classifies geological strata in time
Extinct
No longer existing.
Plate Tectonics
a theory explaining the structure of the earth’s crust and many associated phenomena as resulting from the interaction of rigid lithospheric plates which move slowly over the underlying mantle
