7.6- Evidence for Evolution

Question 1

What is an extinct species?

Answer 1

A species that no longer exists, having no living representatives

Question 2

What is an extant species?

Answer 2

A species that has survived to the present day

Question 3

What are some ways fossils can be dated?

Answer 3

Age of rocks where a fossil is found, rate of decay of isotopes (carbon-14), and geographical data

Question 4

What are homologous structures?

Answer 4

Similarities in characteristics resulting from common ancestry

Question 5

What are examples of homologous structures?

Answer 5

Forelimb bone structure of a human, cat, whale, and bat
Leaves in plants

Question 6

What are vestigial structures?

Answer 6

Reduced or obsolete features that serve little to no purpose
Ex: human tailbone, hip bone in whales, pelvis in snakes

Question 7

What are analogous structures?

Answer 7

Similar structures that evolved independently due to similar environmental conditions
Aka convergent evolution

Question 8

What is biochemical evidence?

Answer 8

It compares DNA nucleotide sequences to determine relatedness between organisms