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Mr pasone
Chapter 6
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| fossil record | made up of all the fossils ever discovered on Earth |
| mold | the impression of an organism in a rock |
| cast | a fossil copy of an organism in a rock |
| trace fossil | the preserved evidence of the activity of an organism |
| geological time scale | a chart that divides Earth's history into different time units |
| extinction | when the last individual organism of a species dies |
| biological evolution | the change over time in populations of related organisms |
| naturalist | a person who studies plants and animals by observing them |
| variation | a slight difference in an inherited trait of individual members of a species |
| natural selection | the process by which populations of organisms with variations that help them survive in their environments live longer, compete better and reproduce more than those that do not have the variations |
| adaptation | an inherited trait that increases an organisms chance of surviving and reproducing in its environment |
| camouflage | an adaption that enables a species to blend in with its environment |
| mimicry | resemblance of one species to another species |
| selective breeding | breeding of organisms for desired characteristics |
| comparative anatomy | study of similarities and differences among structures of living species |
| homologous structure | body parts of organisms that are similar in structure and position but different in function |
| analogous structure | body parts that perform a similar function but differ in structure |
| vestigial structure | body parts that have lost their original function through evolution |
| embryology | the science of the development of embryos from fertilization to birth |