Natural Selection
This term describes traits that help an organism survive and reproduce.
What are adaptations?
These shared structures in different species show a common ancestor—like human arms and whale fins. in.
What are homologous structures?
Artificial selection can lead to this issue when too many individuals share similar genes.
What is reduced genetic diversity / inbreeding?
Overusing antibiotics can kill the weak bacteria and leave behind only these types.
What are resistant bacteria?
Archaeopteryx is a transitional fossil that links dinosaurs to these animals.
What are birds?
This scientist is most famous for describing natural selection.
Who is Charles Darwin?
This pattern of evolution explains how unrelated species evolve similar traits due to similar environments.
What is convergent evolution?
A common example of artificial selection where people breed dogs for specific traits.
What are dog breeds?
Not finishing your antibiotics can let the strongest bacteria ____.
What is reproduce?
This type of evolution occurs when species become more different over time after splitting from a common ancestor.
What is divergent evolution?
Natural selection requires this key ingredient: differences between individuals.
What is variation?
This diagram shows how different species are related through common ancestry.
What is a phylogenetic tree?
Corn, bananas, and modern wheat are examples of crops shaped heavily by this process.
What is artificial selection?
Using antibiotics too much creates strong ____ for resistance to evolve.
What is pressure?
A structure that no longer has a clear function, like the human appendix, is known as this.
What is a vestigial structure?
Natural selection acts on individuals, but this group is what actually evolves over generations.
What is a population?
This type of evolution happens when one species evolves in response to another—like predators and prey.
What is coevolution?
Breeding closely related animals can cause health problems because it reduces ____.
What is genetic diversity?
Bacteria can share resistance genes with each other. This makes resistance spread ____.
What is faster?
This term describes the rapid evolution of many species from a single ancestor, such as Darwin’s finches.
What is adaptive radiation?
This phrase explains how individuals with better traits tend to survive and pass on their genes.
What is “survival of the fittest”?
This mechanism, separate from natural selection, changes allele frequencies completely by chance—common in small populations.
What is genetic drift?
Farmers pick the biggest pumpkins to plant next year. This increases ____ pumpkins.
What is larger/bigger?
Bacteria can gain resistance by receiving plasmids carrying resistance genes through this process.
What is conjugation?
Many vertebrate embryos share similar early features, like tails and gill slits, showing they share a ____.
What is a common ancestor?