Biology Chapter 20 Exam - The History of Life

_____ division of geologic time into which eras are subdivided.

• period

• epoch

• century

• millennium

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NGSS.MS-ESS1-4

_____ term used to refer to a species that has died out and has no living members.

• Extinct

• Endangered

• Threatened

• Vulnerable

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NGSS.HS-LS4-2

_____ length of time required for half of the radioactive atoms in a sample to decay.

• half-life

• quarter-life

• full-life

• double-life

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NGSS.HS-PS1-8

What describes the evolution of a species by gradual accumulation of small genetic changes over long periods of time?

• Gradualism

• Punctuated equilibrium

• Catastrophism

• Uniformitarianism

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_____ theory that proposes that eukaryotic cells formed from a symbiotic relationship among several different prokaryotic cells.

• endosymbiotic

• cellular

• photosynthetic

• genetic

Miller and Urey used all of the following substances to simulate Earth's early atmosphere EXCEPT:

• Methane

• Hydrogen

• Oxygen

• Ammonia

A scientist is using potassium-40, which is a radioactive isotope of potassium, to find the absolute age of a fossil by radiometric dating. The scientist determines that about three-fourths of the original potassium-40 atoms in the fossil now remain in the fossil. What additional information is necessary for the scientist to determine the absolute age of the fossil?

• the half-life of potassium-40

• the identity of an index fossil

• the atomic mass of potassium-40

• the total mass of the fossil

The three Eras in the geologic time scale are all of the following EXCEPT:

• Mesozoic

• Paleozoic

• Phanerozoic

• Cenozoic

The earliest cellular life forms appear to have been

• viruses

• one-celled plants

• one-celled animals

• bacteria

In the far-distant past, where may have been the place(s) where life first appeared?

• Subduction zones

• Hydrothermal vents

• “Hot spots”

• Continental lithosphere

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NGSS.HS-LS4-1