Evolution Vocabulary

What is the term for a feature that allows an organism to survive better in its environment?

• variation

• adaptation

• homologous structure

• vestigial structure

Natural selection results in change over time by acting on traits that are

• heritable
• new
• mutated 
• better than the best

The gradual change in species over time is...

• Evolution
• Nucleotide 
• Adaptation
• Natural Selection

Adaptations are:

• physical or behavioral tendencies.

• physical or behavioral characteristics that help an organisms survive and reproduce.

• physical or behavioral characteristics that do not help the organism in any way.

• genetic mutations that have gone wrong.

These are natural differences within a species.

• Evolution
• Genetic variation
• Biological diversity
• Populations

Mutations are important because they bring about

• death of the organism in which they develop
• genetic variation needed for a population to evolve
• benefits for the individual, not for the population
• Hardey-Weinberg equilibrium within a population

Structures with the same parts have different functions; suggests that organisms share a common ancestry

• vestigial structures
• homologous structures
• adaptive radiation
• fossil

Which of the following is an example of a vestigial structure?

• the wings of a red-tailed hawk
• the hind limbs of a house cat
• the fins of sharks
• the tailbone of a human

Farmers breed cows to produce high amounts of milk. This is an example of...

• Natural Selection 
• Variations in a species 
• Selective Breeding 
• inbreeding

Genetic drift is change in the allele frequency of a population due to...

• random chance
• natural selection
• non-random mating (sexual selection)
• artificial selection