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Evolution Vocabulary

Life forms and landforms

Absolute or Radioactive Dating Any method of measuring the age of an event or object in a nearly-exact year. Radioactive dating measures the decay of Carbon-14 or Uranium-238 to calculate age. Carbon-14: previously living objects Uranium-238: rocks & minerals
Absolute Age The true age of a rock or fossil, tells scientists the number of years ago a rock was formed
Relative Age the geologic age of a fossil organism, rock, or geologic feature or event defined relative to other organisms, rocks, or features or events rather than in terms of years
Law of Superposition States that the oldest rock layers lay on the bottom and the youngest rocks are on top in any undisturbed sequence of sedimentary rock layers.
Unconformity Any gap or inconsistency in the rock record (layers of rock) caused by plate movement, weathering, etc.
Evolution Any process of formation or growth; development
Pangaea a hypothetical supercontinent that included all current land masses, believed to have been in existence before the continents broke apart during the Triassic and Jurassic Periods
Continental Drift Theory that states that the gradual shifting of Earth’s plates causes continents to change their global positions over time
Fossil the remains or impression of a prehistoric organism preserved in petrified form or as a mold or cast in rock
Index Fossil A fossil that is used to help determine the approximate age of the rocks around it, because it: Is widespread, over multiple continents Existed for a relatively short period of time
Fossil Record a historical representation of the changes in life and geography over time as found in fossils in various layers of rock
Geologic Time Scale The method used to divide the millions of years of Earth’s history into manageable parts. Divisions are based on what type of life was dominant on Earth or major geologic events
Uniformitarianism the theory that changes in the earth's crust during geological history have resulted from the action of continuous and uniform processes
Adaptation A trait that increases the chances that an organism will survive and reproduce
Analogous Structures Similar structures that evolved independently in two living organisms to serve the same purpose
Artificial Selection The breeding of plants and animals with desired traits to attempt to produce offspring with these same traits
Darwin A naturalist who proposed and provided scientific evidence that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors through the process he called natural selection
Extinction The evolutionary termination of a species caused by the failure to reproduce and the death of all remaining members of the species; the natural failure to adapt to environmental change
Genetic Variation The characteristics that make members of the same species different from one another
Homologous Structures Organs or skeletal elements of animals and organisms that, by virtue of their similarity, suggest their connection to a common ancestor
Mutation A random change to a gene that results in a new trait
Natural Selection Survival of the fittest organisms that are the best adapted to their environment and the ones that will live long enough to reproduce and pass on their favorable adaptations
Species The most specific classification of living things
Speciation The process of natural selection producing a new species out of existing species over thousands or million years.
Theory of Evolution The theory that organisms/species change over time, caused by the natural selection of advantageous traits for survival in a particular environment, proposes that all organisms evolved from a common ancestor
Created by: user-1914122
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