Chapter 47: Evolution
_________ is the change and development of an organism's heritable traits that occurs over the span of many generations.
Evolution
_______ are preserved imprints or remains of prehistoric organisms, left behind long after the organisms have died.
Fossils
The ______ is the region between Earth's crust and its core.
Mantle
What is the study of how organisms interact with their environment?
Ecology
What are structures similar in related organisms; inherited from a common ancestor?
Homologous
In 1859, _______ ______ built his theory of evolution on the theories of his predecessors.
Charles Darwin
A __________ ____ _____ was created to organize fossils and provide scientists with a way to study specific time periods.
Geological Time Scale
What is a group of different species occupying the same environment?
Community
What are structures that are similar in UNRELATED organisms, but evolved independently in two different organisms?
Analogous
What is the process where organisms born with physical traits best adapted to their environments survive and pass on their traits to offspring?
Natural Selection
Eons are divided into many smaller ____, which are divided into even smaller _______.
Eras, Periods
Ecologists call the collection of all living things on Earth the _________.
Biosphere
What is a structure that performs no function within an organism?
Vestigial
When a species isn't fit for its environment, the species might become _______ - all members of the species die.
Extinct
What are the FOUR categories of Eons?
Hadean, Archean, Proterozoic, Phanerozoic
What is an ancient organism that two or more currently living organisms are related to?
Common Ancestor
Humanlike primates that walked on two legs, called ________, first appeared 6 million years ago.
Hominids
Millions of years after oceans formed, the first ________, microscopic, single-celled organisms, began to develop.
Microbes