Vocab

Question 0

Species

Answer 0

A group of organisms that mate with one another to produce fertile offspring

Question 1

Adaptation

Answer 1

A characteristic that helps an organism survive and reproduce in its environment

Question 2

Evolution

Answer 2

The process in which populations gradually change over time

Question 3

Fossil

Answer 3

The trace or remains of an organism that lived a long time ago

Question 4

Fossil record

Answer 4

A timeline of life made by scientists

Question 5

Trait

Answer 5

A genetically determined characteristic

Question 6

Selective breeding

Answer 6

The human practice of breeding animals or plants that have certain desired traits

Question 7

Natural selection

Answer 7

The process by which individuals that are better adapted to their environment survive and reproduce more successfully than less well adapted individual do; a theory to explain the mechanism of evolution

Question 8

Generation time

Answer 8

The period between the birth of one generation and the birth of the next generation

Question 9

Speciation

Answer 9

The formation of new species as a result of evolution

Question 10

Relative dating

Answer 10

Any method of determining whether an event or object is older or younger than other events or objects

Question 11

Absolute dating

Answer 11

A method that measures the age of fossils or rocks in years

Question 12

Geological time scale

Answer 12

The standard method to divide the earths long natural history into manageable parts

Question 13

Extinct

Answer 13

A species that died out

Question 14

Plate tectonics

Answer 14

The theory that explains how large pieces of the earths outermost layer, called tectonic plates, move and change shape

Question 15

Precambrian time

Answer 15

Is the time from the formation of earth 4.6 billion years ago to about 542 million years ago

Question 16

Paleozoic area

Answer 16

The geological era that followed Precambrian Tim and that lasted from 542 million to 251 million years ago

Question 17

Mesozoic era

Answer 17

The geological era that lasted from 251 million years ago to 65.5 (age of reptiles)

Question 18

Cenozoic era

Answer 18

The most recent geographical era, beginning 65 million years ago (age of Mammals)

Question 19

Primates

Answer 19

A type of mammal characterized by opposable thumbs and binocular vision

Question 20

Hominid

Answer 20

A type of primate characterized by bipedalism, relegation long lower limbs, and lack of tail

Question 21

Homo sapiens

Answer 21

The species of hominids that includes modern humans and their closest ancestors and that first appeared about 100,000 to 160,000 years ago