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Evolutionary History
The study of species over millions/billions of years
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| paleontologist | a scientist who studies fossils in order to understand the ancient history of life on Earth |
| species | a group of organisms of the same kind (in one or more populations) that do not reproduce with organisms from any other group |
| body structure | a part of an organism (for example, one or more bones) |
| shared structure | a body structure in two or more species that features the same parts (for example, the same bones) |
| evolution | the process by which species adapt to environmental changes over a very long time |
| stability | when something stays mostly the same over time |
| speciation | the process by which one population evolves into two or more different species |
| evolutionary time | the very long time that spans the history of Earth, from the very first cellular life to the present |
| related | sharing a common ancestor population |
| descendant species | a more recent species that evolved from an ancestor population |