Chapter 7/8 Flashcards
Adaption
A characteristic that improves an individual’s ability to survive and reproduce in a particular environment.
Species
A group of organisms that are closely related and can mate to produce fertile offspring.
Evolution
The process in which inherited characteristic within a population change over generations such that new species sometimes arise.
Fossil
The trace or remains of an organism that lived long ago, most commonly preserved in sedimentary rock.
Fossil record
A historical sequence of life indicated by fossils found in layers of the Earths crust.
Trait
A genetically determined characteristic.
Selective breeding
The human practice of breeding animals or plants that have certain desired traits.
Natural selection
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.
Generation time
The period between birth of one generation and the birth of the next generation.
Speciation
The formation of new species of evolution.
Relative dating
Any method of determining whether an event or object is olde for younger than other events or object.
Absolute dating
Any method of measuring the age of an object or event in years.
Geologic time scale
The standard method used to divide the Earth’s long natural history into manageable parts.
Extinct
Describes a species that has died out completely.
Plate tectonics
The theory that explains how large pieces of the Eart’s outermost layer, call technic plates, move and change shape.
Precambrian time
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.
Paleozoic era
The geologic era that followed the Precambrian time and that lasted 542 million to 251 million years ago.
Mesozoic era
The geologic era that’s lasted from 251 million to 65.5 million years ago; also called the Age of Reptiles.
Cenozoic era
The most recent geologic era, beginning 65 million years ago; also called the Age of Mammals.
Primate
A type of mammal characterized by opposable thumbs and binocular vision.
Hominid
A type of primate characterized by bipedalism, relatively long lower limbs, and lack of a tail.
Homo sapiens
The species of hominids that includes modern humans and their closets ancestors and that first appeared about 100,000 to 160,000 years ago.
