Chapter 7-8 Vocab Flashcards
(23 cards)
What is a group of organism’s that are closely related and can mate to produce fertile offspring?
Species
What is the process in which inherited characteristics within a population change over generations such that new species sometimes arise?
Evolution
What is the trace or remains of an organism that lived long ago, most commonly preserved in sedimentary rock?
Fossil
What is a historical sequence of life indicated by fossils found in layers of the Earth’s crust?
Fossil Record
What is a genetically determined characteristic?
Trait
What is the human practice of breeding animals or plants that have certain desired traits?
Selective Breeding
What is the process by which individuals that are better adapted to their environment survive and reproduce more successfully than less well adapted individuals do; a theory to explain the mechanism of evolution.
Natural Selection
What is the period between the birth of one generation and the birth of the next generation?
Generation Time
What is the formation of new species as a result of evolution?
Speciation
What is the trace or remains of an organism that lived long ago, most commonly preserved in sedimentary rock?
Fossil
Any method of determining whether an event or object is older or younger than other events or object is what?
Relative Dating
Any method of measuring the age of an object or event in years is what?
Absolute Dating
What is the standard method used to divide the Earth’s long natural history into manageable parts?
Geologic Time Scale
What describes a species that has died out completely?
Extinct
What is the theory that explains how large pieces of the Earth’s outermost layer, called tectonic plates, move and change shape?
Plate Tectonics
What is the period in the geologic time scale from the formation of the Earth to the beginning of the Paleozoic era, from about 4.6 billion to 542 million years ago?
Precambrian Time
What is the geologic era that followed Precambrian time and that lasted from 542 million to 251 million years ago?
Paleozoic Era
What is the geologic era that lasted from 251 million to 65.5 million years ago; also called the Age of Reptiles?
Mesozoic Era
What is the most recent geologic era, beginning 65 million years ago, also called the Age of Mammals?
Cenozoic Era
What is the type of mammal characterized by opposable thumbs and binocular vision?
Primate
What is the type of primate characterized by bipedalism, relatively long lower limbs, and a lack of a tail?
Hominid
What is the species of hominids that includes modern humans and their closest ancestors and that first appeared about 100,000 to 160,000 years ago?
Homo Sapiens
What is a characteristic that improves an individual’s ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment?
Adaptation
