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Remnants of organisms such as imprints, bones, and feces
Fossil
Study of body structures to provide evidence of evolution
Anatomy
The study of prehistoric life that allows scientist to make connections between current and extinct species
Paleontology
Organisms with traits that make them better adapted to their environment will live longer and reproduce more than organisms less adapted to the environment.
Natural Selection
Principle of natural selection that explains how beneficial traits should become more common over time, causing a change in allelic frequencies
Evolution
All of the genes available in a population
Gene Pool
A physical trait that increases an organism's ability to survive in it's environment
Adaptation
Sudden elimination of a species due to a catastrophic event
Mass Extinction
Slow elimination of species caused by species caused by small environmental changes over extended periods of time
Gradual Extinction
Study of embryological development in vertebrates that has led to support the theory of common ancestry among vertebrates
Embryology
When two organisms, such as predator and prey, evolve in response to one another
Coevolution
When traits that favor reproduction, even though they may decrease an organism's ability to survive, become more common over time
Sexual Selection
Migration
Gene Flow
Study of nucleic acids and proteins to show evolutionary relationships
Biochemistry
The wings of flightless birds, like ostrich, are an example of this
Vestigial Structures
Study of physical distribution of plants and animals
Biogeography
Evolution that results in the formation of homologous structures
Divergent Evolution
Slow changes in allele frequencies over long periods of time
Gradualism
Evolution that results in the formation of analogous structures
Convergent Evolution
Similar body structures, such as fins, due to organisms living in the same environment, not same ancestry
Analogous Structures
When allelic frequencies are stable and unchanging, therefore evolution is not occurring
Genetic Equilibrium
When isolation, such as geographically, causes two populations of organisms to become so different that they can no longer reproduce with each other and create viable offspring
Speciation
Biological change over time that causes descendants to be different from their ancestors
Descent with Modfication
Rapid evolutionary change
Punctuated Equilibrium
Body structures that are similar in orientation, but completely different in function due to organisms living in different environments
Homologous structures