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Terms Ch 16
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Evolution | Change over time; the process by which modern organisms have descended from ancient organisms |
| Fossil | Preserved remains or traces of ancient organisms |
| Artificial Selection | Selective breeding of plants and animals to promote the occurrence of desirable traits in offspring |
| Adaption | Heritable characteristic that increases an organism's ability to survive and reproduce in an environment |
| Fitness | How well an organism can survive and reproduce in its environment |
| Natural Selection | Process by which organisms that are most suited to their environment survive and reproduce most successfully; also called survival to the fittest |
| Biogeography | The study of past and present distribution of organisms |
| Homologous Structures | Structures that are similar in different species of common ancestry |
| Analogous Structures | Body parts that share a common function, but not structure |
| Vestigial Structure | Structure that is inherited from ancestors but has lost much or all of its original function |