Evolutionary Relationships
Adaptations & Variations
Natural Selection
Earth’s History
Rocks and Fossils
100
The process of how organisms acquire adaptations over time is called this.
What is evolution?
100
This is an inherited trait that helps an organism survive.
What is an adaptation?
100

A trait that show up more easily than other traits. For example: There are more brown haired people vs. red hair.

What is a dominant trait?

100

The study of fossils or extinct organisms, which continues to provide new information and support current hypothesis about how evolution occurs.

What is a paleantology? 

100
Relative dating is a method of sequencing events in this order.
What is the order they happen?
200

Who created the first widely supported theory on biological Evolution?

Who is Charles Darwin?

200
As a populations’ habitat changes over time, a species with a high level of variation would have this.
What is a better chance of survival?
200
Darwin concluded that the mechanism for evolution is this.
What is natural selection?
200
There have been this number of mass extinctions in Earth’s history.
What is five?
200
This is the amount of time it takes for half of the unstable atoms in a sample to decay.
What is a half-life?
300

In this process Nature provides all of the varieties and Man selects the variations that are found most useful.

What are artificial selection or selective-breeding?

300
Explain how mutations occur in an organism and how they affect a population.
What is mutations occur randomly in genes and produce variation of traits in a population?
300
The climate of a certain area is cold, and snow is found on the ground most of the year. Equal numbers of two populations of rabbits are introduced into this climate by a group of scientists. One of the populations is brown and the other is white. Over several generations, this will happen.
What is there will be more white rabbits than brown rabbits?
300
Alfred Wegener theorized that the continents were once a great landmass that he named this.
What is Pangaea?
300
This principle states that the layers of sedimentary rocks that are the “lowest” are the earliest to be deposited.
What is the principle of superposition?
400
Species that share more similarities in their DNA are _____ than those that share fewer similarities.
What is more closely related?
400
Populations with many variations have a better chance of survival than a population with little or no variations when this happens.
What is there is a change in the environment?
400

The ability of an organism to survive and produce more offspring than other members of the population.

What is fitness? 

400
The theory of plate tectonics describes this.
What is how the continents move?
400
Explain how relative dating of fossils differs from absolute dating of fossils.
What is
When scientist use relative dating to age fossils they just compare the age of the fossil “relative” to other fossils or the Earth’s layers. They state whether it is younger or older than other fossils or layers?

When scientists use absolute dating to age fossils they determine the estimated time frame or year of the fossil by the radioactive decay of elements.
500

Over 90% of the DNA base sequences for hemoglobin in chimpanzees and humans are identical, suggesting they share a _______? 

What is a common ancestor?

500

The study of these structures lead scientists to the theory of a single common anscestor. 

What is shared or homologous structures?

500

Explain how Darwin’s observations of finches in the Galapagos Islands led to his ideas about natural selection.

What is

He observed that finches on the islands were slightly different from those found on the mainland. He also noted slight differences in finches from island to island.


The difference that he found most notable was the differences in beak shape. It appeared to be different based on the type of food eaten, and therefore Darwin concluded that the finches were adapted for the type of food they ate.


From his observations, Darwin hypothesized that an ancestral species of finch from the mainland ended up on the Galapagos, and the finches were scattered to different environments. Then, they had to adapt to different conditions, and over many generations evolved into new species.

500
Give 3 pieces of evidence to support Wegener’s theory that today’s continents were once part of an earlier supercontinent.
What is
Fossils or plants and animals found on different continents were similar.
There were matching geologic features on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
The continents seem to fit together like a puzzle.
500
Fossils found in the lowest layers of undisturbed rock are not found in upper layers of the same undisturbed rock. Explain what happened to the species found in the lower rock layers and why this might have happened.
What is
The earlier species became extinct.

The changing environments on Earth causing loss of habitat, increased competition, new predators, or catastrophes.

Lack of genetic variation within a species.
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