Week 12 Vocab Definitions

Biogenesis Life from living Abiogenesis Life from non-living Evolution The change in populations over time.

Natural selection Individuals with the best traits survive and reproduce and pass those traits onto their offspring Analogous structures Structures that have a similar function but a different evolutionary origin. Homologous structures Structures that may have different mature forms, but arise from the same origin in a common ancestor.

Vestigial structures Residual body organs that once had a use, but no longer do because of evolution. Adaptive radiation An ancestral species gives rise to many new species to fit a number of diverse habitats.

Gradualism New species originate through slow changes in adaptations. Punctuated equilibrium New species originated in rapid bursts with long periods of equilibrium in between.