Evolution Vocabulary

Behavior or physical characteristic that allows an organism to survive or reproduce in its environment

• adaptation

• fossil

• species

• vestigial structure

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-4

NGSS.MS-LS1-4

This is a diagram that shows how scientists think different groups of organisms are related. It can be referred to as a cladogram or phylogenic tree.

• Fossil

• Variation

• Fossil Record

• Branching Tree

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-2

Type of fossil that forms when mold becomes filled with minerals that then harden.

• petrified fossil

• preserved remains

• cast

• mold

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

Gradual change of a species over time

• Heredity

• Evolution

• Natural Selection

• Scientific Theory

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-2

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

Disappearance of all the members of a species from Earth

• evolution

• fossil

• variation

• extinction

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

Preserved remains or traces of an organism that lived in the past

• fossil record

• species

• fossil

• adaptation

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-2

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

Millions of fossils that scientists have collected

• scientific theory

• fossil record

• vestigial structure

• natural selection

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-2

NGSS.MS-LS4-1

Theory that evolution occurs slowly but steadily

• natural selection

• gradualism

• relative dating

• branching tree

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-2

Time it takes for half the atoms in a radioactive element to decay

• gradualism

• half life

• quarter life

• punctuated equilibria

Tags

NGSS.HS-PS1-8

Body parts that are structurally similar in related species ant that provide evidence for a common ancestor.

• petrified fossil

• homologous structure

• variation

• vestigial structure

Tags

NGSS.MS-LS4-2