Natural Selection Vocabulary

4. A characteristic that increases an organism’s chances of surviving and reproducing in its environment.
6. A __________ hunts and eats other organisms for food.
10. A group of organisms that can mate with each other and produce fertile offspring.
11. A __________ is hunted and eaten by another organism.
12. A visible characteristic or part of an organism.
15. A group of organisms born and living around the same time.
16. The young produced by parents through reproduction.
18. Offspring __________ traits from their parents through DNA.
20. A __________ does not help an organism survive or reproduce in its environment.
21. When an organism blends into its surroundings so predators have trouble seeing it.
23. Structures inside cells that carry genetic information made of DNA.
24. Over many generations, __________ explains why organisms with helpful traits become more common.
25. Living things that are made of cells and can grow and reproduce.

1. A group of the same species living in one area is called a __________.
2. A random change in DNA is called a __________ and it can introduce new traits into a population.
3. All the living and nonliving things that surround an organism.
5. Differences in traits among individuals in a population.
7. The molecule inside cells that carries genetic instructions for life.
8. An organism from the past that modern organisms developed from.
9. Different forms of the same gene that can cause differences in traits.
13. A type of reproduction that involves two parents and combines their genetic information.
14. When scientists graph trait data using bars to show frequency, they often use a __________.
17. The way different traits are spread out within a population.
19. Organisms must compete for resources in order to __________.
22. A section of DNA that contains instructions for a specific trait.