Chapter 12: Evidence Of Evolution

Question 0

Define Paleontology.

Answer 0

The study of fossil remains or other clues to past life.

Question 1

Where can we find clues to evolution?

Answer 1

Clues to evolution lie in the earth, body structures, and molecules

Question 2

Do you think evolution is testable?

Answer 2

Yes I think that evolution is testable. For example we use carbon dating to test how old an object dates back.

Question 3

Define fossil.

Answer 3

Is any evidence of an organization from more than 10,000 years ago.

Question 4

Why is the fossil record often incomplete?

Answer 4

First, the vast majority of organisms never leave a fossil trace.

Second, erosion or the movements of Earths continental plates have destroyed many fossil that did form.

Third, scientist are unlikely to ever discover the many fossils that must be buried deep in the Earth or submerged under water.

Question 5

Compare two methods used to determine the age of a fossil.

Answer 5

Relative dating places a fossil into a sequence of events without assigning it a specific age.

Absolute dating is used to assign an age to a fossil by testing either the fossil itself or the sediments above and below the fossil.

Question 6

Define Half-life.

Answer 6

It is the time it takes for half of the atoms in a sample of a radioactive substance to decay.

Question 7

Define isotope.

Answer 7

It is a different forms of an element.

Question 8

Define plate tectonics?

Answer 8

Earths surface consists of several rigid layers.

Question 9

Discuss how plate tectonics has influenced our understanding of evolution.

Answer 9

The distribution of continents on earth has changed with time, due to shifting tectonic plates.

Question 10

Define biogeography.

Answer 10

The study of the distribution of species across the planet.

Question 11

Define adaptive radiation.

Answer 11

I’m which a population inhabiting a patchy or heterogeneous environment gives rise to multiple specialized forms in a relatively short time.

Question 12

What do homologous structure reflect?

Answer 12

A Common ancestry

Question 13

What do analogous structures reflect?

Answer 13

The structure evolve independently?

Question 14

Describe an example of a homologous structure in vertebrates?

Answer 14

A human, a bat, a lion, a bird, a seal. Although their forelimbs have different functions, all of these vertebrates have skeletons that are similarly organized and composed of the same type of tissue.

Question 15

Explain the relationship between analogous structures and convergent evolution.

Answer 15

Analogous structures are often the product of convergent evolution, which produces similar adaptations in organisms that do not share the same evolutionary lineage.

Question 16

Describe an example of a analogous structure in flying organisms.

Answer 16

The wings of birds and butterflies both function in flight, but they are analogous structures because they are not made of the same materials, nor are they organized in the same way. They are not limited from a recent common ancestor.

Question 17

Define vestigial structure .

Answer 17

A vestigial structure has no apparent function in one species, yet it is homologous to a functional organ in another.

Question 18

List several example of vestigial structure?

Answer 18

Some snakes have tiny femurs that are vestigial but detectable only in the skeleton. Some whales likewise have a vestigial pelvis and hind limbs.

Question 19

How can embryonic development help us understand an organisms evolutionary history

Answer 19

Comparing embryos at different stages, it should be possible to deduce some of the steps that have led to differences among species.

Question 20

How should Ernst Haeckel be remembered as a scientist?

Answer 20

Ernst Haeckel made the connection between distance species.

Question 21

Define evo-devo.

Answer 21

The discovery of genes that contributed to development has spawned the field of evolutionary development biology.

Question 22

Define homeotic.

Answer 22

Is a general term describing any gene that, when mutated, leads to organisms with structures in abnormal or unusual places.

Question 23

Explain the advantage of using molecules to determine evolutionary histories.

Answer 23

Molecular clocks help assign dates to evolutionary events.

Question 24

Which two groups of macromolecules are used to trace phylogenetic?

Answer 24

Nucleic acids and proteins

Question 25

What is the most likely explanation for similarities and differences in the amino acid sequences of proteins in different organisms.

Answer 25

It is highly unlikely that two unrelated species would evolve precisely the same DNA and protein sequences by chance. It is more likely that the similarities were inherited from a common ancestor and that differences arose by mutation.

Question 26

Define molecular clock?

Answer 26

To estimate the time when the organism diverged from a common ancestor.

Question 27

How are scientist studying the migration patterns of early humans?

Answer 27

Through the molecular clock.

Question 28

How do the changes in beak size of the finches on the Galápagos Islands help us better understand how evolution works?

Answer 28

It helped understand that through natural selection it gives is the traits to adapt to changes in the environment. So as long as the environment is changing their will be evolution but if it is stable there can not be evolution.