Evolution
This process explains how species change over time due to genetic traits.
What is evolution?
These are preserved remains or traces of organisms from the past.
What are fossils?
This idea states evolution happens slowly over long periods of time.
What is gradualism?
These structures have the same function but evolved separately.
What are analogous structures?
This type of evolution involves changes within a single population over time.
What is microevolution?
This type of evolution involves small changes in allele frequency within a population.
What is microevolution?
This is the time it takes for half of a radioactive substance to decay.
What is half-life?
This principle says present-day processes shaped Earth in the past.
What is uniformitarianism?
These structures are similar due to common ancestry.
What are homologous structures?
These genes control body development and are highly conserved.
What are homeotic genes?
This type of evolution involves large-scale changes over long periods, often forming new species.
What is macroevolution?
Scientists use this method based on radioactive decay to determine fossil age.
What is radiometric dating?
This type of fossilized waste provides clues about diet.
What are coprolites?
These are body parts with little or no current function.
What are vestigial structures?
This method uses radioactive isotopes to determine the age of materials.
What is radiometric dating?
This provides the raw material for evolutionary change and comes from mutations and recombination.
What is genetic variation?
This type of fossil includes footprints, burrows, or tracks.
What is a trace fossil?
This kind of data gives indirect evidence of past climates.
What is proxy data?
These structures are inherited from a common ancestor but may serve different functions.
What are homologous structures?
These fossils are especially useful because they were widespread and lived briefly.
What are index fossils?
This larger-scale process can result from the accumulation of many small evolutionary changes over time.
What is macroevolution?
These fossils are used to determine the relative age of rock layers.
What are index fossils?
This term refers to the evolutionary history of a species.
What is phylogeny?
These structures show how different species adapt similarly to environments despite different ancestry.
What are analogous structures?
This process of decay is measured to determine age in dating methods.
What is half-life?