Evolutionary History

1. a group of organisms of the same kind that do not reproduce with organisms from any other group
7. a group of the same type of organism living in the same area
9. a group of individuals born and living at about the same time
15. a trait that makes it more likely that an individual will survive in a specific environment
16. sharing a common ancestor population
19. the process by which species adapt to environmental changes over a very long time
20. a body structure in two or more species that features the same parts
22. living things, such as plants, animals, and bacteria
23. a specific characteristic of an individual organism
24. evidence of life from the past, such as fossilized bones, footprints, or leaf prints
26. an organism's arm, leg, or wing

2. an older population from which two or more newer species descended
3. when something stays mostly the same over time
4. the very long time that spans the history of Earth, from the very first cellular life to the present
5. the process by which the distribution of traits in a population changes over many generations
6. a scientist who studies fossils in order to understand the ancient history of life on Earth
8. a part of an organism
10. a graph that uses bars to show how characteristics or values are distributed within a group
11. a more recent species that evolved from an ancestor population
12. a random change to a gene that sometimes results in a new trait
13. the process by which one population evolves into two or more different species
14. having died out completely and no longer alive anywhere on Earth
17. everything that surrounds an organism
18. a related organism from a previous generation
21. to classify based on scientific examination
25. to receive genes from a parent