definitions
The idea that organisms can slowly change over time into other kinds of organisms.
Biological evolution
A system that relates evolutionary history to rock layers in the geologic column.
Geologic time scale
The study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species.
Comparative anatomy
The human practice of breeding organisms that have desirable traits and variations.
Artificial selection
A taxonomic division within a genus, consisting of a single type of organisms
Species
A taxonomic division within a genus, consisting of a single type of organisms.
Species
A fossil of an accepted age that is used to assign ages to layers of the geologic column.
Index fossil
The study of changes in animal behavior due to ecological pressures.
Behavioral ecology
The variation in the rates of survival and reproduction among the different phenotypes within a species that tend to make some phenotypes more common than others.
Natural selection
Darwin's idea that all organisms come from common ancestors and change a little with each generation.
Descent with modification
Darwin's idea that all organisms come from common ancestors and change a little with each generation.
Descent with modification
A method of determining the age of an object by measuring the amount of a radioactive substance in the object.
Radiometric dating
The event described by the Big Bang theory, which states that the universe began in a very dense and very hot state and then rapidly expanded.
Big bang
The idea that mutations could produce favorable variations in a population that could be acted on by natural selection.
Mutation theory of evolution
The human practice of breeding organisms that have desirable traits and variations
Artificial selection
The idea that in any generation of organisms, those that are most fit (i.e., have the most productive success) will pass their characteristics on to the next generation.
Survival of the fittest
The formation of new species through natural selection.
Speciation
Slow, gradual change in the genetic material and proteins of organisms.
Molecular evolution
Organs that are similar in different organisms and are thought to show evolutionary relationships.
Homologous structures
The variation in the rates of survival and reproduction among the different phenotypes within a species that tend to make some phenotypes more common than others.
Natural selection
Inheritable traits that improve the reproductive success of an organism.
Adaptation
The idea that organisms can slowly change over time into other kinds of organisms.
Biological evolution
A technique that uses rates of molecular change to calculate at what point in the past two species diverged.
Molecular clock
A structure that seems to have no function in an organism and is thought to be left over from the evolutionary process.
Vestigial structures
The idea that mutations could produce favorable variations in a population that could be acted on by natural selection.
Mutation theory of evolution