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Changes over time study guide part two
1 What type of environmental events could lead to the extinction of many species at one time or a large scale
extinction event?
Volcanoes, meteoroids
2 The preserved remains or physical evidence of an organism that lived in the past are called what?
Fossils
3 The term that means a naturally occurring mistake in the DNA is called?
Mutation
4 A characteristic or trait that helps an organism survive and reproduce in its environment is called what? Give
an example of such a trait.
Adaptation human thumb
5 What processes can lead to the evolution of a species or speciation?
Natural selection, mutation, extinction, adaptations
6 What is the process called when organisms are better adapted to their environment they will survive and
reproduce more successfully than organisms less adapted?
Natural selection
7 Who proposed the theory that evolution happens as a result of natural selection?
Darwin
8 In a sentence describe what Darwin noticed between the appearances of the animals on the Galapagos Island
to those on the mainland of South America.
The finches looked similar to those on the mainland but they had slight variations in their beaks.
9 What is it called when all of the organisms of a species completely die out?
Extinction
10 Animals living in extremely hot environments usually have special characteristics like scales, ability to store
water or other methods of staying cool. What do these characteristics represent?
Adaptations
11. Give at least four examples of a fossil?
Imprint, amber, petrified wood, bones, teeth, cast, mold, eggs, excrement
12. The time line of Earth’s history that was created by our knowledge of fossils is called what?
Geologic time scale
13 What is the term used to describe a structure that has a different function in different organisms but share a
common ancestry? Give an example of this type of structure.
Homologous structures-human arm and bat wing
14 What information would be used as evidence of evolution? Describe each
DNA, Fossils, Geographic distribution, Embryology, Anatomical structures-Homologous structures
15 List and describe each of the different types of adaptations.
Behavioral-slapping tail of a beaver
Functional-photosythesis
Structureal-fur, camouflage
16 When looking at two different students, Damon noticed one of the students had red hair and the other had
brown hair. These slight differences observed within members of the same species are called?
Genetic variations
17 What most likely caused the finches on the Galapagos Islands to have beaks that were different from the
finches living on the South American mainland?
Different habitas and food source
18 The gradual change in a species or population over a period of time is defined as what?
Evolution
19 What is the difference between radiometric dating and relative dating?
Radiometric dating gives you a numerical age or actual age. Relative dating ages rocks and fossils
compared to those found in the same vicinity. Not an actual age.
20 What is the law of superposition and how is it used to age a fossil?
The rock layers on the top are younger than the layers on the bottom. Fossils located in the top layers are
younger than those on the bottom.
Review your geologic time scale worksheet and be ready to answer questions from another time scale.