AP Biology Evolution Vocabulary

Adaptation- a change or the process of change by which an organism or species becomes better suited to its
environment.
natural selection- A process in which individuals that have certain inherited traits tend to survive and
reproduce at higher rates than other individuals because of those traits.
artificial selection- The selective breeding of domesticated plants and animals to encourage the
occurrence of desirable traits.
Fossil record - A collection of preserved remnants or impressions of an organism that lived in the past.
vestigial structure- A feature of an organism that is a historical remnant of a structure that served a
function in the organism's ancestors.
evolutionary tree- A branching diagram that reflects a hypothesis about evolutionary relationships among
groups of organisms.
convergent evolution-The evolution of similar features in independent evolutionary lineages.
Analogous structures - Structures of different species having similar or corresponding function but not
from the same evolutionary origin
Continental drift - the gradual movement of the continents across the earth's surface through geological
time.
Microevolution- Evolutionary change below the species level; change in the allele frequencies in a
population over generations.
relative fitness- The contribution an individual makes to the gene pool of the next generation, relative to the
contributions of other individuals in the population.
directional selection- Natural selection in which individuals at one end of the phenotypic range survive or
reproduce more successfully than do other individuals.
disruptive selection- Natural selection in which individuals on both extremes of a phenotypic range
survive or reproduce more successfully than do individuals with intermediate phenotypes.
Stabilizing selection- Natural selection in which intermediate phenotypes survive or reproduce more
successfully than do extreme phenotypes.
Speciation- An evolutionary process in which one species splits into two or more species.
Macroevolution- Evolutionary change above the species level. Examples of macroevolutionary change
include the origin of a new group of organisms through a series of speciation events and the impact of mass
extinctions on the diversity of life and its subsequent recovery.
reproductive isolation- The existence of biological factors (barriers) that impede members of two species
from producing viable, fertile offspring.
allopatric speciation- The formation of new species in populations that are geographically isolated from
one another.
sympatric speciation- The formation of new species in populations that live in the same geographic area.
punctuated equilibria- In the fossil record, long periods of apparent stasis, in which a species undergoes
little or no morphological change, interrupted by relatively brief periods of sudden change.
adaptive radiation-Period of evolutionary change in which groups of organisms form many new species
whose adaptations allow them to fill different ecological roles in their communities.
Phylogeny- The evolutionary history of a species or group of related species.
Systematic- A scientific discipline focused on classifying organisms and determining their evolutionary
relationships.
Cladistics- An approach to systematics in which organisms are placed into groups called clades based
primarily on common descent.
Clade- A group of species that includes an ancestral species and all of its descendants.
Taxon- A named taxonomic unit at any given level of classification.
Species (plural, species), a group of organisms that resemble each other closely in structure and
function, and whose characteristics remain fairly constant through many generations.
Genus (plural, genera) is a group of related species which consists of similar groups, but members of
different groups usually cannot breed with one another.
Family is a group of related genera which is made up of groups even more alike than those in an order.
Order is a group of related families which consists of groups that are more alike than those in a class.
Class, a group of related orders. Class members have more characteristics in common than do members
of a division or phylum.
Phylum (plural, phyla), or Division (in the case of plants and fungi), a group of related classes. It is the
third highest taxon.
Kingdom is a group of related phyla which was formerly ranked as the highest level taxon in biological
classification..

Binomial nomenclature -the system of nomenclature in which two terms are used to denote a species of
living organism, the first one indicating the genus and the second the specific epithet.
Domains- (1) A taxonomic category above the kingdom level. The three domains are Archaea, Bacteria, and
Eukarya.
Hierarchical classification- a method of grouping in which terms are arranged from
general to specific; that is, in which the structure is initially arranged in broad groups that are
then successively subdivided into narrower groups.