Name ______________________________
Biology UCMP Explorations though Time Virtual Lab
understanding Geological time
https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/explorations/tours/geotime/index.html
PART 1: UNDERSTANDING GEOLOGIC TIME
Define the terms and answer the following questions as you navigate through Understanding Geologic
Time.
Absolute age:
Geologic Time Scale:
Era:
Eon:
Period:
Fauna:
Flora:
Fossil Record:
Law of Superposition:
Radiometric dating:
Relative age:
1. How is relative age different from the actual date of an event?
2. What can radiometric dating tell us about the age of rocks that the Law of Superposition cannot?
3. How can you find the age of a layer of rock that is surrounded by layers of volcanic ash?
4. What do the periods in the geologic time scale represent?
5. What do the terms Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic mean?
PART B: LIFE HAS A HISTORY
https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/education/explorations/tours/intro/Intro5to12/tour1nav.php
Define the terms and answer the following questions as you navigate through Life Has A History.
Biodiversity:
Darwin, Charles:
Evolutionary relationships:
Geologic time:.
Natural selection:
Paleontologist:
Speciation:.
1. Of the 30 million species of living things estimated to exist today, how many of them are not animals?
2. Find the timeline. How many millions of years did dinosaurs exist on Earth before they became extinct?
3. Name at least five things other than bones that can be preserved as fossils.
4. Explain what divergence is.
5. In your own words, describe what cladograms represent.
6. What types of evidence are used to determine evolutionary relationships?
7. In your own words, explain how Geospiza Fortis is a good example of natural selection.
8. Describe two other mechanisms for evolution in addition to natural selection.
9. Of all the species that have ever lived on this planet, what percent have gone extinct?
10. Give an example of an animal that has gone extinct because of human influence and explain what
happened.