phylogeny

noun phylogeny

• artificial selection — a process in the breeding of animals and in the cultivation of plants by which the breeder chooses to perpetuate only those forms having certain desirable inheritable characteristics.
• darwinism — the theory of the origin of animal and plant species by evolution through a process of natural selection
• law of the jungle — a system or mode of action in which the strongest survive, presumably as animals in nature or as human beings whose activity is not regulated by the laws or ethics of civilization.
• natural law — a principle or body of laws considered as derived from nature, right reason, or religion and as ethically binding in human society.
• natural selection — the process by which forms of life having traits that better enable them to adapt to specific environmental pressures, as predators, changes in climate, or competition for food or mates, will tend to survive and reproduce in greater numbers than others of their kind, thus ensuring the perpetuation of those favorable traits in succeeding generations.