Survival of the Fittest
The process where organisms better suited to their environment survive and reproduce.
What is natural selection?
Preserved remains or traces of ancient organisms.
What are fossils?
An inherited trait that increases an organism's chances of survival.
What is an adaptation?
The scientist known as the father of evolution.
Who is Charles Darwin?
Factors such as predators, climate, disease, and food availability that affect which organisms survive.
What are environmental pressures?
The term used to describe how well an organism survives and reproduces in its environment.
What is fitness?
Structures in different organisms that are similar because they share a common ancestor.
What are homologous structures?
An adaptation that allows an organism to blend into its environment.
What is camoflague?
The ship Darwin sailed on during his voyage.
What is the HMS Beagle?
When a small environmental change leads to large effects in an ecosystem over time.
What is chaos theory?
When two or more related species become more and more different to the point where they divide off into a new species.
What is divergent evolution?
Structures that have lost more or all of their original function but remain from ancestors.
What are vestigial structures?
A physical trait that helps an organism survive in its environment.
What is a structural adaptation?
The islands where Darwin studied finches with different beak shapes.
What are the Galapagos Islands?
When an organism completely dies out.
What is extinction?
Differences in traits among individuals in a population that natural selection acts on.
What is variation?
Using rock layers to determine which fossils are older or younger?
What is relative dating?
Actions or behaviors that help organisms survive, like migration or hibernation.
What is a behavioral adaptation?
Darwin observed that finches had different beaks depending on their ______.
What is food source?
A volcanic eruption changes an islands environment, causing different traits to become advantageous for survival. This is an example of evolution responding to what type of change?
What is enviornmental change?
By looking at fossil records, scientists can view change over time in organisms.
What is theory of evolution?
Evolutionists believe that similar organisms evolved from____________.
What is common ancestors?
A mistake or change that occurs in the DNA sequence is called a ____________.
What is mutation?
The book Darwin published in 1859, explaining his theory of evolution.
What is On the Origin of Species?
If a predator population increases, prey species with better camouflague survive more often and reproduce. Over generations the population becomes harder to see.
What is natural selection caused by environmental pressure?