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Ch. 18 key terms
evolution terms from openstax
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| adaptation | heritable trait or behavior in an organism that aids in its survival and reproduction in its present environment |
| homologous structures | parallel structures in diverse organisms that have a common ancestor |
| hybrid | offspring of two closely related individuals, not of the same species |
| natural selection | reproduction of individuals with favorable genetic traits that survive environmental change because of those traits, leading to evolutionary change |
| speciation | formation of a new species |
| species | group of populations that interbreed and produce fertile offspring |
| variation | genetic differences among individuals in a population |
| vestigial structure | physical structure present in an organism but that has no apparent function and appears to be from a functional structure in a distant ancestor |