Fossil Record and Evolution

It is accepted in the scientific community that whales evolved from land mammals. How would fossils provide evidence of this?

• Fossils show that fish evolved into sharks.

• Fossils show that sharks evolved into whales.

• Fossils show that land mammals learned to swim.

• Fossils show forelimbs adapting to fins, nostrils moving from the front of the head to the top, and hindlimbs becoming shorter.

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Using the diagram, place the fossils in order of appearance from oldest to newest.

• Trilobite, Bivalve, Gastropod, Ammonite

• Ammonite, Gastropod, Bivalve, Trilobite

• Bivalve, Trilobite, Ammonite, Gastropod

• They all evolved at about the same time.

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What is a vestigial structure?

• A structure found on an organism which is no longer useful but shows the links between common ancestors.

• Structures which evolved independently based on selective pressures.

• Structures that organisms have in common, such as fur on cats and dogs.

• Structures that organisms inherit that increase their fitness for the environment in which they live.

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What is radioactive dating?

• Toxic relationships.

• A change in the DNA of organisms over time.

• A technique used to determine the age of a fossil, by calculating the number of half-lives that have occurred.

• Evidence of past volcanic eruptions.

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The fossil record provides evidence that 

• Fossils cannot be dated.

• All species were formed during Earth’s formation and have changed little since then.

• The fossilized species have no connection to today’s species.

• Older species gave rise to more-recent species.

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Scientists have collected millions of fossils of different organisms, and have developed a timeline of life on Earth. What do we call this?

• Mutation

• Natural Selection

• The theory of evolution

• Fossil Record

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This diagram of the fossil record represents changes in mollusks over millions of years. How can the pattern of change in the fossil record best be explained?

• There was a period of sudden change followed by stasis.

• There was a period of stasis followed by rapid decline.

• There was a long period of sudden change.

• There was no period of change.

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Layered fossils create a historical sequence (timeline) is known as ____________.

• Natural Selection

• Evolution

• Fossil Record

• Extinction

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Which law states that in layers of sedimentary rock, the top layer and the fossils contained within it are youngest, and the bottom layer and the fossils contained within it are the oldest?

• Law of Antiquity

• Law of Gravity

• Law of Geology

• Law of Superposition

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True or false: Evolution is purposeful and has an end-game or final form.

• True

• False

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