Chapter 18 Vocabulary

19th century scientist who is best known for his theory of evolution by natural selection.

Change in the inherited traits of organimss over time.

Group of 16 islands lying off the west coast of South America that Darwin visited during his voyage on he Beagle and that are home to giant to giant tortoises and Darwin’s finches.

Process in which lviving things with beneficial traits survived longer and produce more offspring so their traits increase in a population over time.

Theory first proprosed by Charles Darwin stating that inherited traits of organisms change over time becauce organisms with beneficial traits survive longer and produce more offspring so their traits increase in frequency.

Any method of dating fossils or rocks (Ex: carbon-14 dating) that gives the specimen an approximate age in years.

Preserved remains or traces of an organism that lived during an earlier age.

Molecule such as protein or DNA that is compared in different species to gauge how recently they shared a common ancestor.

Scientist who studies fossils to learn about the evolution of living things.

A method of dating fossils based on their position in rock layers that determines only which fossils are older or younger but not their age in years.

Inherited structure that is no onger used but is still rpesnt in a modern organism who inherited it from an ancestor that used this structure.

The number of copies of an allele divided by the total number of alleles for the gene in a gene pool.

Evolution of two interacting species in which the evolution of traits in one of the species results in the other species evolving matching traits.

Independent evolution of the same traits in species that live in similar habitats.

Change in allele frequencies in a gene pool that occurs when genes move into or out of the gene pool because individuals migrate into or out of the population.

All the genes in all of the members of a population.

Change in allele frequencies in a gene pool that occurs by chance in a small population.

Change in inherited traits of organisms that occurs over a long period of time above the level of species.

Change in inherited traits of an organism that occurs over a relatively short period of time at the level of the population.

A group of individuals of the same species that live in the same area; unit of microevolution.

Evolution of a new species.

The last era of the geologic time scale that began 65 million years ago and continues to the present and is called the age of mammals.

The complete dying out of a species.

Tool for understanding the history of Earth and its life that divides Earth’s history into eons, eras, and periods on the basis of major changes in geology, climate, and the evolution of life.