Lessons

Terms and Concepts

NC Standards - Evolution and Genetics

8.L.4 Understand the evolution of organisms and landforms based on evidence, theories and processes that impact the Earth over time.

8.L.4.2 Explain the relationship between genetic variation and an organism’s ability to adapt to its environment.

Lesson 1, Darwin's Theory

Lesson 2, Evidence of Evolution

Lesson 3, The Fossil Record

Transitional Fossils

A transitional fossil is any fossilized remains of a life form that exhibits traits common to both an ancestral group and its derived descendant group. This is especially important where the descendant group is sharply differentiated by gross anatomy and mode of living from the ancestral group. 

Study Guide and Test Review

EOG Questions

 

1.      What do transitional fossils best support?

a.      the Law of Superposition

b.      the Theory of Biological Evolution

c.      the Theory of Continental Drift

d.     the Theory of Geological Evolution

 

2.     Which evidence supports the idea that life on Earth has continually evolved? 

a.      evidence from layers of tree rings 

b.      evidence from rock layers, fossils, and ice cores 

c.      evidence gathered from melting glaciers

d.     evidence that the climate has changed over the past 100 years

 

3.     Scientists think that dolphins and whales may have evolved from a common ancestor. What evidence supports this hypothesis?

a.      They eat the same food.

b.      They have similar anatomies.

c.      They live in the same area of the ocean.

d.     They swim the same way.

 

4.    _____ Which is the best evidence for evolution? 

a.     new rock layers containing fossils of simple organisms 

b.    new rock layers containing fossils unlike existing organisms 

c.     old rock layers containing fossils of complex organisms

d.    old rock layers containing fossils unlike existing organisms 

 

 5.     What process is most responsible for the extinction of most species of plants and animals that have lived on Earth?

a.      decrease in reproduction

b.      environmental changes

c.      gene mutation

d.     selective breeding

  

6.    If a bat, an alligator, and a bird evolved from a common ancestor, what most likely can be concluded? 

a.        They are able to survive changes in their environments.

b.       They are in the same biological classification. 

c.        They have similar anatomical structures.

d.       They live in the same part of the world. 

 

7.     Which would indicate that a series of fossils represent the evolution of the horse?

a.      All of the fossils are completely identical to horse bones.

b.      All of the fossils show similar structures to that of the modern horse.

c.      All of the fossils were found in the same layers of rocks as horse fossils.

d.     All of the fossils were located in the same place on Earth as horses.

 

8.    Recent changes in species can be found in the upper layers of rock. This provides a link between which two scientific ideas? 

a.        cell theory and the theory of evolution 

b.       the Law of Superposition and the periodic nature of the elements

c.        the periodic nature of the elements and cell theory 

d.       the theory of evolution and the Law of Superposition