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| the process of becoming adapted to an environment; an anatomical, physiological, or behavioral change that improves a population's ability to survive |
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| a heritable change in the characteristics within a population from one generation to the next; the development of new types of organisms from preexisting types of organisms over time |
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| a measurement of the ability of a species to respond to the pressures of natural selection; the ability of individuals to survive to propagate their genes |
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| 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 |
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| layers of rock (singular, stratum) |
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| the trace or remains of an organism that lived long ago, most commonly preserved in sedimentary rock |
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| a principle that states that younger rocks lie above older rocks if the layers have not been disturbed |
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| the age of an object in relation to the ages of other objects |
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| the numeric age of an object or event, often stated in years before the present, as established by an absolute-dating process, such as radiometric dating |
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| the study of the geographical distribution of living organisms and fossils on Earth |
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| anatomical structures that share a common ancestry |
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| in comparisons of different organisms, describes features that are similar in function and appearance but not in structure or origin |
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| 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 |
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| the evolutionary history of a species or taxonomic group |
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| the evolution of two or more species that is due to mutual influence, often in a way that makes the relationship more mutually beneficial |
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| the process by which unrelated species become more similar as they adapt to the same kind of environment |
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| the process by which two or more related but reproductively isolated populations become more and more dissimilar |
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| an evolutionary pattern in which many species evolve from a single ancestral species |
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| the selective breeding of organisms (by humans) for specific desirable characteristics |
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