Adaptation: A feature of an organism that increases its chance of survival in its environment.

Allopatric speciation: A form of speciation that occurs when two populations become geographically
isolated.

Carrying capacity: The average size of a population that can be supported by an ecosystem over
extended periods of time. This varies depending on biotic and abiotic factors.

Speciation: The formation of new species due to the evolution of two reproductively separated
populations. Two forms: allopatric and sympatric speciation.

Species: A group of similar organisms that are able to breed with one another to produce living,
fertile offspring.

Variation: The differences between individuals due to genes, the environment or a combination of
both.

Extinction occurs when there are no remaining individuals of a species alive

Evolution: A change in the inherited characteristics of a population over time through a process of
natural selection

Homologous structures are structures that are similar in related organisms because they were
inherited from a common ancestor. These structures may or may not have the same function in the
descendants. 

Analogous structures are structures that are similar in unrelated organisms. The structures are
similar because they evolved to do the same job, not because they were inherited from a common
ancestor. 

Structures like the human tail bone and whale pelvis are called vestigial structures. Evolution has
reduced their size because the structures are no longer used. 

selective advantage

Any characteristic or trait that gives an organism greater chances of surviving and reproducing
compare to other organisms in the same habitat
Selection pressures are external factors which affect an organism’s ability to survive in a given
environment

Selection pressures can be negative (decreases the occurrence of a trait) or positive (increases the
proportion of a trait)

Transitional forms

Fossils or organisms that show the intermediate states between an ancestral form and that of its
descendants.

Phylogeny: the study of relationships among different groups of organisms and their evolutionary
development. 

the study of evolutionary relationships among biological species

A cladogram: an evolutionary tree that diagrams the ancestral relationships among organisms.