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| Biological Species Concept |
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| definition of a species as a population or group of populations whose members can breed with one another in nature and produce fertile offspring |
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| major biological changes evident in the fossil record |
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| condition in which a reproductive barrier keeps two species from interbreeding |
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| separation of populations as a result of geographic change or migration to geographically isolated places |
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| evolution from a common ancestor of many species adapted to diverse environments |
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| evolutionary model suggesting species often diverge in spurts of relatively rapid change, followed by long periods of little change |
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| study of multicellular organisms as they develop from fertilized eggs to fully formed organisms |
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| Earth's history organized into four eras: Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic |
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| determination of absolute ages of rocks and fossils through calculations based on a radioactive isotope's fixed rate of decay |
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| time it takes for 50 percent of a radioactive isotope sample to decay |
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| motion of continents about Earth's surface on plates of crust floating on the hot mantle |
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| episode of great species lost |
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| identification, naming, and classification of species |
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| two-part Latin name of a species |
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| branching diagram, suggesting evolutionary relationships, that classifies species into groups within groups |
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| process in which unrelated species from similar environments have adaptations that seem very similar |
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| similarities among unrelated species that result from convergent evolution |
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| homologous characteristic that unites organisms as a group |
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| phylogenetic tree constructed from a series of two-way branch points, suggesting ancestral relationships among species |
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