Name:___________________________________ Block:_____________ Test Date:
Evolution Glossary
Term
Definition (in your own words)
Adaptation
A characteristic (caused at some point by a
mutation) that helps an organism survive
in its environment.
Adaptations can be structural (body parts,
like flippers) or behavioral (actions, such
as migration).
Evolution
Species
Charles Darwin*
The process by which populations
accumulate inherited changes over time.
The most specific of the levels of
classification; characterized by a group of
organisms that can mate with one another
to produce fertile offspring.
Who he was:
What he believed/ Why this is important:
Natural Selection
The process by which organisms with
favorable traits survive and reproduce at a
higher rate than organisms without the
favorable trait.
The theory of natural selection was written
by Charles _____________________and
has four parts.
1. ______________________________
2. ______________________________
3. ______________________________
4. ______________________________
Illustration OR an analogy
(to help you remember
the meaning of this word)
Name:___________________________________ Block:_____________ Test Date:
Jean-Baptiste
Lamarck*
Who he was:
What he believed:
Generation Time
The period between the birth of one
generation and the birth of the next
generation.
Speciation
The process by which two populations of
the same species become so different that
they can no longer interbreed (have
babies).
Extinct
Describes a species of organism that has
died out completely.
Fossil Record
A historical sequence of life indicated by
fossils found in layers of the Earth’s crust.
Analogous Structures
(caused by convergent
evolution)
Structures in two different species that
might look similar or even perform the
same task but are NOT caused by a recent
shared ancestor. (Example: bird wings and
butterfly wings)
Homologous
Structures (caused by
divergent evolution)
Structures in two different species that
look similar but usually have functions and
are caused by a recent SHARED ancestor.
(Example: front flippers in whales and
arms in humans)
Vestigial Structure
The remnant of a once-useful anatomical
structure. For example, humans have a tail
bone because our species is descended
from an ancestor species that had a tail.