Natural Selection, Evolution, and Ecology
Questions and Answers
Ecosystem - ✅✅A system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their abiotic
factors
Species - ✅✅A group of similar organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring.
Natural Selection - ✅✅Process by which individuals that are better suited to their environment
survive and reproduce most successfully; also called survival of the fittest
Overproduction - ✅✅When an organism produces far more offspring than can possibly survive.
Variation - ✅✅Any difference between individuals of the same species, caused by sexual
reproduction
Fitness - ✅✅Ability of an organism to survive and reproduce in its environment
Competition - ✅✅Takes place when there are not enough resources (food, territory, mates, etc.) for
all members of a species to survive. Can be between two different species or between members of the
same species.
Adaptation - ✅✅A trait that helps a population survive
structural adaptation - ✅✅a physical feature of an organism's body having a specific function that
contributes to the survival of the organism
behavioral adaptation - ✅✅an inherited behavior that helps an organism survive
, physiological adaptation - ✅✅a physical or chemical event that occurs automatically within the body
of an organism and enables survival
mimicry - ✅✅a structural adaptation that allows a species to resemble another species (viceroy
butterfly mimics the coloration of a toxic monarch butterfly)
camouflage - ✅✅blending in with the environment to help with survival
migration - ✅✅A movement from one region to another to survive change in environmental
conditions
hibernation - ✅✅A period of inactivity that some animals experience in winter that allows them to
survive on stored body fat
chemical defense - ✅✅The use by organisms of bitter, distasteful, or toxic secretions that deter
potential enemies.
Speciation - ✅✅the formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution.
evolution - ✅✅Change in a population of organisms over time
food chain - ✅✅A series of events in which one organism eats another and obtains energy.
food web - ✅✅network of complex interactions formed by the feeding relationships among the
various organisms in an ecosystem
energy pyramid - ✅✅A diagram that shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level
to another in a food web
selective breeding (artificial selection) - ✅✅The process of breeding organisms that results in
offspring with desired genetic traits.
Questions and Answers
Ecosystem - ✅✅A system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their abiotic
factors
Species - ✅✅A group of similar organisms that can breed and produce fertile offspring.
Natural Selection - ✅✅Process by which individuals that are better suited to their environment
survive and reproduce most successfully; also called survival of the fittest
Overproduction - ✅✅When an organism produces far more offspring than can possibly survive.
Variation - ✅✅Any difference between individuals of the same species, caused by sexual
reproduction
Fitness - ✅✅Ability of an organism to survive and reproduce in its environment
Competition - ✅✅Takes place when there are not enough resources (food, territory, mates, etc.) for
all members of a species to survive. Can be between two different species or between members of the
same species.
Adaptation - ✅✅A trait that helps a population survive
structural adaptation - ✅✅a physical feature of an organism's body having a specific function that
contributes to the survival of the organism
behavioral adaptation - ✅✅an inherited behavior that helps an organism survive
, physiological adaptation - ✅✅a physical or chemical event that occurs automatically within the body
of an organism and enables survival
mimicry - ✅✅a structural adaptation that allows a species to resemble another species (viceroy
butterfly mimics the coloration of a toxic monarch butterfly)
camouflage - ✅✅blending in with the environment to help with survival
migration - ✅✅A movement from one region to another to survive change in environmental
conditions
hibernation - ✅✅A period of inactivity that some animals experience in winter that allows them to
survive on stored body fat
chemical defense - ✅✅The use by organisms of bitter, distasteful, or toxic secretions that deter
potential enemies.
Speciation - ✅✅the formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution.
evolution - ✅✅Change in a population of organisms over time
food chain - ✅✅A series of events in which one organism eats another and obtains energy.
food web - ✅✅network of complex interactions formed by the feeding relationships among the
various organisms in an ecosystem
energy pyramid - ✅✅A diagram that shows the amount of energy that moves from one feeding level
to another in a food web
selective breeding (artificial selection) - ✅✅The process of breeding organisms that results in
offspring with desired genetic traits.
