Science Vocab

6. the history of life in the geologic past as indicated by the traces or remains of the living things
7. the actual or hypothetical form or stock form which an organism has developed or descended
9. a trait that an animal, plant or person develops through interactions with the environment
12. a change in the nucleotide base sequence of a gene or DNA molecule
13. a branching diagram showing the cladistic relationship between a number of species
14. the process by which individuals that are better adapted to their environment survive and reproduce more successfully than less well adapted individuals do; a theory to explain the mechanism of evolution
15. the formation of a new species

1. a characteristic that improves an individuals ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment
2. proposed that all living species of life have descended over time from common ancestors
3. the trace or remains of something that lived long ago, most commonly preserved in sedimentary rock
4. the process by which inherited characteristics within a population change over generations such that a new species arise
5. evolution of two or more species from a single species following geographic isolation
8. marked difference or deviation from the normal or recognized form, function, or structure
10. a group of organisms that share a most recent common family member
11. the extent to which an organism is adapted to or able to produce offspring in a particular environment