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Biology: Life On Earth Ch. 14
Vocab for Ch. 14: Principles of Evolution
12
Biology
Not Applicable
11/21/2005

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Term
analogous structures
Definition
Outwardly similar but non homologous structures (e.g. Bird Wings and Insect Wings)
Term
artificial selection
Definition
The breeding of domestic plants and animals to produce specific desirable features.
Term
catastrophism
Definition
The hypothesis that proposes that a vast supply of species was created initially, and successive catastophes produced layers of rock and destroyed many species, fossilizing some of their remains int he process.
Term
convergent evolution
Definition
The process by which natural selection causes nonhomologous structures that serve similar functions to resemble one another.
Term
evolution
Definition
The process by which the characteristics of a populatino of organisms change over time.
Term
fossil
Definition
The remains or impressions of plants or animals which have been changed into or in some way preserved in rock.
Term
homologous structures
Definition
strucutres which have the same evolutionary origin despite having differences in current function or appearance.
Term
inheritance of acquired characteristics
Definition
A hypothesized process in which the bodies of living organisms are modified through the use of disuse of different parts; these modifications are then inherited by offspring (e.g. giraffes stretch their necks to reach tal leaves, thus their offsring are also born with stretched necks).
Term
natural selection
Definition
The process by which those individuals whose traits are most advantageous leave a larger number of offspring.
Term
population
Definition
All the individuals of one species in a particular area.
Term
uniformitarianism
Definition
The concept that natural processes alone produced fossils.
Term
vestifial structure
Definition
Strucutres that serve no apparent purpose and were likely inherited from ancestors (eg. the tail bone).
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