Which term is used to define the process which brings about the similarities and differences between parents and offspring?

The term that defines the process bringing about similarities and differences between parents and offspring is heredity. Heredity encompasses the transmission of genetic characteristics from parents to their offspring, ensuring that traits such as physical appearance, behavior, and even certain diseases can be passed down through generations. This process is vital for understanding how species maintain continuity while also enabling variation that can lead to adaptation and evolution over time.

Genetics, while closely related, refers more broadly to the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity itself. Evolution deals with how species change over time through processes like natural selection, but it does not specifically focus on the transfer of traits from parents to offspring. Adaptation involves changes in a species that allow it to better fit its environment, which can result from hereditary traits but is not synonymous with the process of passing those traits. Thus, heredity is the most accurate term for describing how characteristics are inherited from one generation to the next.