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Unit 5 (8th)
Evidence of Evolution & Inheritance
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| continental drift | The idea that Earth’s continents were once connected as one large landmass and have slowly moved apart over millions of years. |
| Alfred Wegener | A German scientist who proposed the theory of continental drift after noticing that continents looked like they fit together and shared similar fossils and rocks. |
| Pangea | A supercontinent containing all of Earth's land that existed about 225 million years ago. |
| fossilization | The process through which organisms are preserved. It usually happens when plants or animals are buried by sediment and their remains are protected. |
| trace fossils | Records of an animal’s behavior, such as footprints. They show what an organism did, not what it looked like. |
| body fossils | The physical preserved remains of plants and animals such as bones, teeth, shells, or woody stems. |
| sedimentary rock | A type of rock formed from layers of sediment that are pressed together and hardened over many years. Most fossils are found in this type of rock. |
| altered fossils | A type of fossil that is changed over time; The original parts of the organism dissolve and are replaced with minerals. Examples include permineralization and carbonization. |
| unaltered fossils | A type of fossil that remains mostly unchanged. The organism’s original form and texture are preserved. Examples include freezing, being trapped in amber, or preserved in tar pits. |
| amber | Hardened tree sap that can trap and preserve small organisms like insects. |
| extinct | When a species has no living members left on Earth. |
| evolution | The gradual change in living organisms over long periods of time, which can lead to new species forming. |
| mold fossil | A fossil that forms when the hard part of an organism, such as a shell or bone, dissolves and leaves behind an empty space in the shape of the organism. |
| cast fossil | A fossil that forms when minerals fill in a mold fossil and harden, creating a solid copy of the original organism’s shape. |
| relative dating | A method scientists use to determine which rocks or fossils are older or younger compared to others, without finding their exact age. |
| half-life | The amount of time it takes for half of the atoms in a radioactive element to break down. |
| absolute dating | A method scientists use to figure out the exact age of a rock, fossil, or artifact, usually by measuring the amount of certain radioactive elements it contains. |
| fossil record | The record of all fossils that scientists have discovered, which provides evidence about the history of life on Earth. |
| Law of superposition | A scientific rule stating that in layers of rock that have not been disturbed, the oldest layer is on the bottom and the youngest layer is on the top. |
| Law of inclusions | If a rock contains pieces (inclusions) of another rock, the pieces must be older than the rock they are inside. |
| Law of crosscutting | A rock or fault that cuts across other rocks must be younger than the rocks it cuts through. |
| index fossil | Fossils used to identify and date specific time periods in Earth’s history. They are found in the same layers worldwide and come from species that lived for a short time. |
| embryology evidence | Comparing embryos (animals and plants in stages of development) to find similarities that show common ancestry and evolution. |
| DNA evidence | comparing the DNA of different species to show common ancestry and evolution. |
| anatomical evidence | The comparison of body structures to show evidence of common ancestry and evolution. |
| homologous structures | The prefix “homo” means same; body parts in different organisms with similar anatomy from a common ancestor. Even with different functions, their structure shows shared evolution—for example, a whale’s fin and a human arm sharing similar bone structure. |
| analogous structures | Body parts in different organisms that have similar functions but do not come from a common ancestor. For example, birds, bats, and insects all have wings, but their wings evolved independently. |
| vestigial structures | A body part or behavior that no longer has a useful function in an organism. These features are leftovers from ancestors that once had a purpose. For example, an appendix, wisdom teeth and goosebumps in humans and leg bones in whales. |
| cladogram | A diagram used in science to show the evolutionary relationships between different species. Each branch represents a point where species split from a common ancestor, based on shared traits. |
Created by:
gibbonsUMS