Life Over Time TCAP Review of Vocab

The remains or impression of a prehistoric organism preserved in petrified form or as a mold or cast in rock.

• Skeleton

• Fossil

• Footprint

• Carbon Dating

The history of life as documented by fossils, the remains or imprints of organisms from earlier geological periods preserved in sedimentary rock. All the fossils that have ever been collected.

• Fossils

• Net fossils

• Fossil Record

• Geologic Timeline

Physical traits that differ among one species.

• Genetic Variation

• Genetic Mutation

• Genetic Phenotype

• Genetic Sameness

(of a species, family, or other group of animals or plants) having no living members; no longer in existence.

• Extant

• Extreme

• Endangered

• Extinct

A changed trait, or the process of change by which an organism or species becomes better suited to its environment.

• Adaptation

• Mutation

• diversity

• ancestry

The numerical age of rocks or fossils can be determined by radio metric dating.

• Relative Age

• Probable Age

• Absolute age

• Fossilized Age

The ancestor that related organisms descended from.

• Ancestral history

• Common Ancestor

• Common Descendant

• Distant relative

Similar physical features in organisms that share a common ancestor, but the features serve completely different functions.

• Vestigial Structures

• Similar Structures

• Skeletons

• Homologous Structures

Geological age of fossils by comparing rock layers.

• Absolute Age

• Relative Age

• Probable Age

• Fossil Age

The branch of artificial selection where DNA is modified.

• Natural Selection

• Genetic Engineering

• Gene Splicing

• Cloning