Evolution Vocabulary Test

A structure in an organism that is reduced in size and function and that may have been complete and functional in the organism’s ancestors

• Homologous Structure

• Living Fossil

• Vistigial Structure

The formation of new species as a result of evolution by natural selection

• Speciation

• Mutations

• Genetic Drift

The process by which individuals that have favorable variations and are better adapted to their environment survive and reproduce more successfully than less well adapted individuals do

• Embryology

• Natural Selection

• Artificial Selection

Anatomical structures that share a common ancestry

• Vistigial Structure

• Analogous Structures

• Homologous Structures

The adjustment or changes in behavior, physiology, and structure of an organism to become more suited or fit to an environment.

• Speciation

• Adaptation

• Mutations

The drifting of the frequency of an allele relative to that of the other alleles in a population over time as a result of a chance or random event

• Genetic Drift

• Gene Flow

• Genetic Variation

The movement and exchange of genes or alleles from one population of species to another.

• Genetic Drift

• Genetic Variation

• Gene Flow

A branching diagram or "tree" showing the inferred evolutionary relationships among various biological species or other entities—their phylogeny—based upon similarities and differences in their physical or genetic characteristics.

• DNA Sequence

• Cladistics

• Phylogenetic Tree

Occurs when the probability that two individuals in a population will mate is not the same for all possible pairs of individuals

• Nonrandom Mating

• Natural Selection

• Reproductive Isolation

A branching treelike diagram used to illustrate evolutionary (phylogenetic) relationships among organisms. Each node, or point of divergence, has two branching lines of descendance, indicating evolutionary divergence from a common ancestor.

• Cladistics

• Cladogram

• Common Ancestry