natral selection Flashcards
(18 cards)
adaptation
a characteristic that improves an individual’s ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment.
specis
a group of organisism that are closely related and can mate to produce ferile offspring.
evolution
the process in which inherited characteristic withn a population change over generations such that new species sometimes arise
fossil
the remains or physical evidence of an organism preseved by geological processes
fossil record
a historical sequence of life indicated by fossils found in layersof the earth’s crust.
trait
a genetically determined characteristic.
selective breeding
the human practice of breeding animals or plants that have certain desired characteristici.
natural selection
the process by which individual that are better adapted to their environment survive and reprouduce more successfully than less well adapted individuals do a theroy to explain the mechanism of evolution
generation time
the period beteen the birth of one generation and the birth of the next generation.
speciaiton
the formation of new species as aresult of evolution
relative dating
any method of determining whetehr an event or object is older ot younger that other events or objects.
absolute
any method of measuring the age of an object or event in years.
geologic time scale
the standard method used to divide the earth’s long natural history into manageaable parts.
extinct
describes a species that has died out completely.
plate tectonics
the theory tha texplains how large pieces of the earth’s coutermost layer called tectonic plates move and change shape.
primate
a type of mammal characterized by opposable thumbs and binocular vision.
hominid
a type of primate characterized by bipedal ism relatvely long lower libs and and lack of a tril.
homo sapiens
the species of hominids that includes modern humans and their closest ancestors and that frit appeared about 100000 to 160000 years ago.
