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| The remains or impression of an organism preserved in petrified form or as a mold or cast in rock. |
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| The branch of Biology dealing with the chemicals and chemical processes that occur within living organisms. |
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| The branch of science concerned with the physical structure of organisms. |
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| The process by which populations change over time. |
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| Having similar structure and anatomical position (but not necessarily the same function) in different organisms suggesting a common ancestry or evolutionary origin (e.g. wings of bats and arms of humans are homologous). |
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| Structures that have lost most or all of their ancestral function in a given species, but have been retained through evolution. (In humans the appendix is one) |
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| The least inclusive units of biological classification. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms capable of freely interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. |
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| A group of individuals of one species that live in a particular geographic area. |
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| A process that drives evolution, coined by Charles Darwin. The gradual process by which heritable biological traits become either more or less common in a population as a function of the effect of inherited traits on the differential reproductive success of organisms interacting with their environment. |
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| Any difference in phenotype and/or genotype in a species genetic or anatomical composition. |
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| The physical separation of populations of similar species preventing the exchange of genetic material and potentially leading to speciation. |
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| The evolutionary process by which new biological species arise. |
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| Phylogenetic Tree or Evolutionary Tree |
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| A branching diagram showing the evolutionary relationships among biological species. |
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| a branching diagram depicting the successive points of species divergence from common ancestral lines without regard to the degree of deviation. |
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| A naming system that is composed of a genus and unique species identifying organisms. |
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| The branch of Biology that classifies organisms into taxa. |
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| A tool used to assist in the determination of classification of organisms, constructed of pairs of opposing statements. |
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| An organism or other agent that causes disease. |
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| The general term for the production of offspring that combine traits of the two parents. |
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| a trait or characteristic that arises in an organism as a result of natural selection that allows for better survival and reproduction of the species. |
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