The Beginning
What was the name of the ancestor of all current life?
What were the organisms that formed in this period?
Cyanobacteria.
Were most organisms in the Paleozoic Era land borne or aquatic?
They were aquatic
Why did the plants in this period die?
The dust and smoke from the meteor blocked out the sunlight and they couldn't photosynthesize
If the history of Earth was a football field, how big would the Cenozoic Era be?
The size of a blade of grass
The area in the Atlantic Ocean where LUCA was thought to have resided is known as...?
Lost City
How much of Earth's history does the Precambrian period make up?
80 percent.
What was the dominant lifeform in the Paleozoic Era?
The trilobite
In which period did the T. Rex live?
The Cretaceous period
In which era did Pangaea form?
The Paleozoic Era
Where was LUCA's theorized habitat?
"White smoker" hydrothermal vents
Define autotroph and heterotroph, and specify which category the first organisms fit into.
An autotroph is an organism that makes its own food, while heterotrophs consume other organisms for food. The first organisms were autotrophs.
What was the defining feature in most of the organisms of this period?
A hard exoskeleton
What was the meteor that ended the Mesozoic Era known as?
It was called the Chicxulub Meteor.
Which of the four eras had the most periods?
The Paleozoic Era.
What was the name of the period in which LUCA was formed?
The Proterozoic Period
How did the ozone layer form?
Cyanobacteria released oxygen through photosynthesis, which went into the atmosphere and became a layer of ozone.
The Pteraspis
Name the three periods of the Mesozoic Era, in order.
Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous.
Which of the two types of hydrothermal vents is acidic, and which is alkaline?
Black smokers are acidic and white smokers are alkaline
What are the three domains of life?
Bacteria, Eukaryota, and Archaea
When did the Precambrian Era end?
Around 541.1 million years ago
Name at least 4 of the 7 periods in the Paleozoic Era.
(Hint: Use the mnemonic!)
Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, and Permian
DAILY DOUBLE Spell the name of the pterosaur that modern birds evolved from.
A-R-C-H-A-E-O-P-T-E-R-Y-X
Nice job!
What is the study of fossils known as?
Paleontology