Past ecosystems - evidence and technology

250 million years ago, there was a supercontinent called:

• Gondwana

• Laurasia

• Pangaea

• Australia

Over the past 65 million years, Australia has changed from having cool, wet rainforests to being

• cold and dry with deserts

• hot and arid with deserts

• hot and wet with rainforests

• cold and wet with rainforests

Which of the following is NOT used to give evidence of past ecosystems?

• embryology

• fossils

• rocks

• Aboriginal rock paintings

Palaeontology is the study of:

• ice cores

• body structures

• rocks

• fossils

Pollen grains can tell us about

• plant types and rocks

• plant types and climate

• rocks and climate

• rocks and tree rings

Limestone is made of marine animal shells, and suggests

• warm, deep seas

• cold, deep seas

• warm, shallow seas

• cold, shallow seas

Coal is made of fossilised plant material from what kind of environment?

• grasslands

• deserts

• rainforests

• swamps

Fossils can tell us about the plants and animals that were alive in an area, which tells us about

• abiotic factors

• biotic factors

• abiotic and biotic factors

• none of the above

Ice cores contain bubbles of gas from past atmospheres. They tell us about past ___________________

• gas concentrations and temperature

• gas concentrations and rainfall

• temperature and rainfall

• snow melt

A larger proportion of lighter isotopes near the equator indicates:

• an interglacial period

• a glacial period

• heavy water

• a warmer climate