Evolution

This scientist came up with the idea of natural selection.

• Jean Baptiste Lamarck
• Gregor Mendel
• Charles Darwin
• Thomas Malthus

Inherited trait that helps an organism survive is a(n) __________.

• Fossil
• Adaptation
• Ancestor
• Natural selection

Survival of the fittest or when favorable adaptations reproduce faster is called what?

• Evolution
• Adaptation
• Natural selection
• Fossilization

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

Why aren’t fossils of every organism that has ever lived preserved?

• Many organisms decompose too quickly to become fossils

• They do, the fossils are just destroyed

• Some plants and animals do not have carbon in them

• Many organisms are too large to form fossils

Charles Darwin’s observation that finches of different species on the Galápagos Islands have many similar physical characteristics supports the hypothesis that these finches 
 

• acquired traits through use and disuse.
• all eat the same type of food.
• descended from a common ancestor.

Charles Darwin called the ability of an organism to survive and reproduce in its specific environment 

• diversity.
• evolution
• adaptation. 
•  fitness.

Genetic differences between organisms of the same species

• Variation
• Adaptation
• Behavior
• Environment

According to this phylogenetic tree, which creature is the least related out of all pictured?

• Fish

• Frog

• Salamander

• Human