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WorksheetsUnit 2 Earth's History and Diversity
Total questions: 58
Worksheet time: 29mins
This is a diagram modeling fossil evidence found over geologic time. Which of the following best explains why fossil evidence from each era has different organisms?
Major mass extinctions of organisms occurred at the end of each era allowing new species to evolve.
Organisms adapted to the new environment rapidly by the end of each era creating new species.
Organisms evolved before the end of each eon creating new species.
Major mass extinctions of organisms occurred in the middle of each era allowing new species to evolve.
The diagram below is a cross-section of sedimentary rock. Which statement below is supported by the law of superposition?
Layer B is older than layer D.
Layer C is older than layer A
Layer F is older than layer D.
Layer D is older than layer A.
The picture represents layers of sedimentary rock. If fossils in layer 9 were identified as being from the Mesozoic Era, what can you best infer about fossils from layer 1?
They may be from the Cenozoic Era.
They may be from the Paleozoic Era.
They may be from the Quaternary Period.
They may be from the Tertiary Period.
The table below shows the dates and appearance of several fossils over geologic time. Which of the following fossils would be the best index fossil?
Fossil 1 because it lived in the most recent part of geologic time.
Fossil 2 because it lived the longest amount of geologic time.
Fossil 3 because it lived in the most distant part of geologic time.
Fossil 4 because it lived the shortest amount of geologic time.
Scientists hypothesize that many dinosaurs went extinct during the Mesozoic Era due to the impact of an asteroid or comet.
Which of the following statements best explains how an impact of an asteroid or comet could have affected the conditions on Earth and the diversity of its life-forms during this mass extinction event?
An impact could have caused dust and smoke to rise into the atmosphere causing rapid climate changes.
An impact could have caused the movement of landmasses causing rapid climate changes.
An impact could have increased earthquake activity causing the extinction of most dinosaur species.
An impact could have directly hit many organisms causing the extinction of most dinosaur species.
The graph below represents the climate changes over the past 65 million years on Earth during the Cenozoic Era. Which of the following best explains how climatechanges on Earth during the Cenozoic Era impacted the diversity of life?
Ice ages and glaciers have influenced the evolution of many species.
Polar climates and rising sea levels caused biodiversity on Earth to decrease.
Tropical climates and warm shallow seas caused biodiversity to decrease.
Human activities increased temperatures on Earth influencing the evolution of many species.
The graph represents the number of extinction occurrences of organisms over millions of years. What is the best explanation for the peaks in the graph?
Major changes in the environment occurred, primarily due to natural factors.
Major epidemics of infectious diseases caused sickness to many types of organisms.
Variations occurred in the amount of solar radiation that reached Earth.
The effects of human population growth on the environment.
The picture is petrified wood. What is the best explanation for how this fossil was formed?
The wood was pressed between layers of soft mud or clay that hardened, squeezing almost all the decaying wood away and leaving the carbon imprint in the rock.
Minerals soaked into the buried remains of a piece of wood, replacing the remains, and changing them into a rock.
Sediments buried a piece of wood and the sediments changed into a rock; the wood decayed leaving a cavity in the shape of the wood.
A mold of a piece of wood was filled with sand or mud that hardened into the shape of the wood.
Below are images showing the possible ancestry of whales from fossil records.What is the most likely reason for the changes seen over time from the early ancestor to the modern whale?
The whale is more likely to survive in water with flippers rather than legs.
The legs of the early ancestors were not needed in water so they eventually fell off.
The early ancestor mated with fish-like animals and the offspring became whales.
The early ancestors died off and whales migrated into the same ecosystem.
The limbs of several organisms are shown in the illustration. Scientists sometimes compare the limbs of these organisms as evidence for common ancestry. How do these limbs provide evidence of common ancestry?
They have the same basic structure.
They perform the same function.
They are the same size and shape
They all have the same names for each bone.
Which of the following is least likely to form a fossil?
A jellyfish because it decomposes rapidly after death.
A trilobite because it could be buried rapidly after death.
A shark's tooth because the shark would decompose rapidly.
A seashell because it dissolves after the death of the organism.
The image below is a fossil of a fish. How were the bones of this fish most likely fossilized?
The fish was buried quickly in sediment and its bones were replaced with dissolved minerals.
The bones of the fish were hardened into rock over time under extreme pressure.
The bones of the fish likely dried out in the Sun and turned to stone.
The water likely dried up quickly and the salt helped preserve the bones of the fish.
Less than one-10th of 1% of all species that have ever lived became fossils.
Which of the following is the most likely reason that this statement is true?
Most organisms decompose before they ever become fossilized.
Fossils can only be created over short periods of time
Most organisms are hunted by predators before they could be fossilized.
Fossils are rarely formed because they were buried too quickly and deeply.
Polar bears found in Alaska are white, while a species of bear found in South Carolina is brown. Which statement best explains why bears that live in different places vary in color?
Bears move to different habitats according to their color.
Bears change their colors on purpose to blend in with their habitat.
Bears select mates of different colors in order to have different colored offspring.
Bears of colors that blend in with the environment are more likely to survive and reproduce.
This species of insect lives in a tropical rainforest. What is the most likely reason that the members of this species of insect resemble the leaves?
Over generations, the insect migrated until they found a good place to hide.
Over generations, the color of an insect is determined by the color of the tree where the eggs are laid.
Over generations, insects that could hide were not eaten as often as those that could not hide.
Over generations, the insects change colors depending on the color of the leaf they land on.
One species of bird with a certain shape beak evolved over time into several species of birds with different shaped beaks. The new species of birds with similar beaks tended to live on the same islands.
What is the best explanation for this?
Certain beak shapes help the birds obtain different food.
Certain beak shapes help the birds hide from predators.
Certain beak shapes improve mating opportunities.
Certain beak shapes improve sensory abilities.
The finches of the Galápagos Islands show a remarkable variety of beak shapes, diets, and lifestyles. Some finches eat small seeds, others eat large seeds, and still, other finches specialize in unusual foods including cacti, insects, and even blood! The finches are so diverse that when Charles Darwin originally collected them in 1835, he didn’t realize that in fact, they were all closely related species.
Recent studies have shown that Darwin’s finches face enormous selective pressures as the climates of the Galápagos Islands vary from extremely dry to relatively wet. A group of scientists wants to investigate how climate affects population size and beak shapes within a population of seed-eating finches when exposed to extreme conditions of drought.
Which of the following would be the best hypothesis to test how the birds might adapt to these conditions over time?
If birds are exposed to extreme drought, then they will evolve into a new species in a short amount of time.
If birds are exposed to extreme drought, then they will become less attractive over time.
If birds are exposed to extreme drought, then beak size will change over time.
If birds are exposed to extreme drought and breed with other species, then they will adapt.
A paleontologist is trying to decide if a certain type of fossil would make a good index fossil.
What is the best question he could ask to determine if it would make a good index fossil?
Did the species live only a short part of Earth's history?
Did the species get buried quickly and deeply?
Did the species evolve to live in the ocean?
Did the species live during an important part of Earth's history?
A scientist was trying to determine the relative age of a layer of sedimentary rock that contains no fossils.
What is the best question she could ask to determine the answer?
How old are the index fossils found in the layers above or below it?
Does the rock layer contain evidence of an earthquake?
Was the layer of rock formed above or below water?
Does the rock layer contain evidence of climate change?
A student planned an investigation to determine how likely different organisms were to form fossils. In her investigation she first weighed a dead frog and a dead fish. After weighing, she buried one dead frog and one dead fish in her yard. Then she waited for a period of six months. She then dug where she had buried the animals and recorded her findings below.
Her conclusion for the investigation was that neither animal was likely to form a fossil because they decomposed too fast.
What was a major weakness of her investigation?
She did not have a large enough sample size.
She did not have an independent variable
She did not have enough dependent variables.
She did not wait long enough to determine decomposition.
A paleontologist was interested in finding out how likely organisms were to fossilize in different types of soil. She knew that if an organism decays more slowly it would be more likely to form a fossil. She decided to bury dead organisms of the same species in different soil types and determine the rate of decay in each type of soil. She planned to weigh the organism before they were buried and again after they had been buried for six months.
What was the independent variable in her investigation?
The species of organism
The time the organisms were buried.
The type of soil.
The rate the organisms decayed.
A paleontologist is investigating the formation of fossil molds. A fossil mold is an imprint of a body part of an organism that has settled into sediment and decayed, leaving an outline of its shape.
She thought that a mold is more likely to form if the organism sank more deeply into the soil. She planned an investigation to determine which type of soil a dead organism would sink into the deepest.
In planning her investigation, she decided to drop a heavy shell into three different types of wet soil. She would then remove the shell and measure the depth of the impression.
Below is a data table with the results of her investigation.
Which of the following is the best graph to display her data?
The graph below shows human population growth as well as the number of species extinctions over time.
Which of the following is the most valid argument that can be made from this data?
The increasing human population may have contributed to the increased number of extinctions.
The increasing number of extinctions caused an increase in human population growth.
The increasing number of extinctions is not related to human population growth.
The increasing human population may contribute to decreased species extinction.
The graph shows extinction rates over geologic time.
Which of the following claims is best supported by the data?
The extinction rate is larger today than at any other time.
The extinction rate was greatest at the end of the Permian Period.
The extinction rate was largest at the beginning of the Cretaceous Period.
The extinction rate was the greatest at the end of the Jurassic Period.
The graph shows the number of extinctions and the number of families of organisms over geologic time.
Which of the following claims is best supported by the evidence in the graph?
The number of families decreases during a major extinction but generally increases over time.
The number of families increases after a major extinction but generally decreases over time.
The number of families increases during a major extinction and generally increases over time.
The number of families decreases after a major extinction and generally decreases over time.
The table represents a geologic time-scale:
Which of the following statements is best supported by this geologic time-scale?
Protozoa, sponges, and algae came after near-human species first appeared during the Precambrian Eon.
The earliest primates came before near-human species first appeared during the Pliocene Epoch.
The first spread of reptiles came after dinosaurs became dominant during the Mesozoic Era.
The first air-breathing mammals came before egg-laying mammals first appeared during the Cambrian Period.
A student was developing a model to organize Earth’s history as shown:
Which of the following would be the best suggestion to help this student improve this model?
Divide each era into several eons
Divide each epoch into several eras.
Divide each era into several periods.
Divide each period into several eras.
