Across
- 3. a shield for the ventral and dorsal parts of turtles (the order Testudines), completely enclosing all the vital organs of the turtle and in some cases even the head.
- 4. the degree of variation of living things present in a particular ecosystem
- 5. this occurs when plates move towards each other and collide
- 7. any of a breed of small hounds with short legs and smooth coats.
- 9. evolution represents the evolutionary pattern in which species sharing a common ancestry become more distinct due to differential selection pressure which gradually leads to speciation over an evolutionary time period.
- 12. the biological mechanism by which organisms adjust to new environments or to changes in their current environment
- 15. a nonhereditary change in an organism
- 16. the remains or impression of a prehistoric organism preserved in petrified form or as a mold or cast in rock.
- 17. is a carefully thought-out explanation for observations of the natural world that has been constructed using the scientific method, and which brings together many facts and hypotheses.
- 18. any songbird of the family Fringillidae, having a short stout bill for feeding on seeds and, in most species, a bright plumage in the male.
- 20. is a theory that proposes that once a species appears in the fossil record, the population will become stable, showing little evolutionary change for most of its geological history.
- 22. the emission of energy as electromagnetic waves or as moving subatomic particles, especially high-energy particles which cause ionization.
- 24. the science that deals with the earth's physical structure and substance, its history, and the processes that act on it.
- 25. is a theory of biological evolution
- 26. in biology, the preferential survival and reproduction or preferential elimination of individuals with certain genotypes
Down
- 1. structures like animal organs, tissues, or bones that may have been used by an ancestor but aren't anymore.
- 2. when independent species acquire similar characteristics while evolving together at the same time in the same ecospace
- 6. A group of islands in the Pacific off south America; owned by Ecuador; known for unusual animal life
- 8. is a organisms that are better adapted to their environment are best suited to survive and successfully reproduce.
- 10. the complete disappearance of a species from Earth
- 11. the birth, existence, or beginning; starting point
- 13. having the same typical structure and position
- 14. State of being separated from others.
- 19. how a new kind of plant or animal species is created
- 21. the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth.
- 23. the influence of closely associated species on each other in their evolution.