Fossil Record Vocabulary Study Guide

A complete set of vocabulary flashcards covering the fossil record, geological time scales, and evolutionary biology based on provided lecture notes.

Anatomy

The bodily structure of an organism, such as the limbs or teeth, which scientists study in fossils to determine evolutionary paths and ancestry.

Archaeologist

Scientists who study prehistoric times and use fossils to discover how animals have changed over time.

Chronological Order

The arrangement of things in the order that they occurred.

Common Ancestry

When organisms are descended from a single ancestor.

Diversity

The quality or state of having many different forms, types, ideas, etc.

Eon, Era, Period, and Epoch

The specific divisions of time within the Geologic Time Scale used to categorize when certain fossils existed.

Evolution

The process by which species change sequentially and adapt over time, leaving evidence in the fossil record.

Extinct / Extinction

The permanent disappearance of a species from Earth, resulting in the loss of its entire gene pool.

Fossil Record

The collective accumulation of the mineralized remains of organisms and the rock layers in which they are found, showing when and where long-dead organisms lived.

Fossils

The mineralized remains or preserved parts/traces of animals or plants that lived in the past, showing how long-dead organisms lived and how their bodies were structured.

Geologic Time Scale

A system used to organize Earth's history into a timeline of major events, which scientists use to track the appearances and extinctions of different species.

Index Fossil

A fossil that is useful as a reference to determine the age of newly discovered fossils because it represents a species that lived for a brief period of time but had a wide geographic distribution.

Model

A representation of a real thing, such as a drawing, a reconstructed skeleton, or a diorama, used by scientists to describe ancient organisms and environments.

Paleontologists

Scientists who study fossils to figure out their identity and origin, their environment, and what they can tell us about the history of Earth.

Paleontology

The scientific study of prehistoric life.

Radioactive Dating

A technique used to determine how old a rock is by analyzing the amounts of a radioactive isotope and its decay products in the rock.

Sedimentary Layers

Layers of rock that are successively deposited on top of one another and are distinguishable from one another based on their mineral contents.

Speciation

The birth of a new species, which occurs through evolution as some members of a species adapt to environmental changes or undergo changes in their gene pool.