Evolution Unit Vocabulary
Instructions: To familiarize yourself with the vocabulary below, pick one of the following options:
1. Make flashcards
2. Draw a picture or example of the words below
3. Have a parent/guardian quiz you at home for a min. of 15 min and sign the top of your vocab sheet to verify that
you have studied.
Picture or Example
Vocabulary word
Definition
Mutation
A random, spontaneous change in the DNA.
Mutations can be passed on the next
generation. Mutations can result in favorable
changes in the phenotype (adaptations), no
change in the phenotype, or unfavorable
changes in the phenotype that can impede an
organism’s ability to exist in its environment.
Mutagen
Something that causes a mutation
Genetic Variation
Any difference between cells, individual
organisms, or groups of organisms within a
species caused by genetic differences
(mutations).
Adaptation
A genetic characteristic that helps an
organism to survive in their environment.
Structural
Adaptation
Any structural variation that makes an
organism better suited to its environment
based on its physical features
Camouflage
The coloration and/or texture that enables an
animal to blend in with its environment.
Behavioral
Adaptation
An behavior that an animal does that makes it
better adapted to its environment
Mimicry
When one animal copies the appearance,
actions, or sounds of
another animal as a means of survival.
Species
A group of organisms whose members can
successfully reproduce.
Population
All the individuals of one species in a given
area.
Speciation
The process by which two populations of the
same species become so different that they
can no longer interbreed.
Natural Selection
Limiting Factors
Carrying Capacity
The process by which organisms with
favorable traits survive and reproduce at
higher rates than organisms without the
favorable trait
Needed resources that are in limited supply.
Organisms compete for limiting factors and
those best able to obtain limiting factors are
usually the organisms that are able to survive
and reproduce.
The largest population that a given
environment can support over a long period of
time.
Extinction
When a species of dies out completely.
Evolution
The process by which populations accumulate
inherited changes over time.
Vestigial Structure
A body part that has become small and lost its
use because of evolutionary change.
Embryonic
Structures
The anatomical (body) parts that make up an
organism in the early stages of development
Fossil
The solidified remains or imprints of a onceliving organism.
Fossil Record
Radiometric Dating
(Carbon Dating)
A historical sequence of life indicated by
fossils found in layers of the Earth’s crust.
The process of measuring the absolute age of
geologic material by measuring the
concentrations of radioactive isotopes and
their decay products.
Charles Darwin
British naturalist who studied Galapagos
finches and helped develop the theory of
evolution
microevolution
Change within a population which can be
observed generation to generation
macroevolution
Change in a population resulting in the
formation of a new species. Macroevolution
cannot be observed because it may takes too
long to occur