REVIEW – Evolution Core Exam
1. Identify the four geologic eons and sort them from earliest to most recent.
2. Identify the four original geologic eras and sort them from earliest to most recent.
3. Explain how the oxygen level in the atmosphere of the early earth went near zero to over 30 percent by the late
Paleozoic Era. (The atmosphere of the early earth had almost no oxygen. By the middle of the Paleozoic Era the oxygen
level had risen to about 30 percent. What organism started the change about 3 billion years ago?)
4. Increased oxygen levels in the atmosphere allowed the formation of ozone in the upper atmosphere. How does the
ozone in the upper atmosphere benefit life on earth?
5. Describe the major events that mark the end of the Paleozoic Era and the Mesozoic Era.
6. During what geologic time era did most major animal phyla alive today first appear on earth? During what period?
7. Define absolute dating and relative dating, and explain why both are important when analyzing the evolutionary
relationship between fossils. (Fossils are important to the study of evolution. How do paleontologists determine the
absolute age of fossils?)
8. Describe the relationship between evolution and natural selection. Explain how natural selection causes evolution.
9. Explain how Thomas Malthus’ research on populations, population growth, and overproduction, helped Darwin
recognize the importance of inherited variability, competition, and the struggle to survive and reproduce in the process
of natural selection.
10. Describe homologous structures and vestigial structures, and explain how each can provide evidence of evolutionary
relationships.
11. Describe adaptation as it applies to evolution and natural selection.
12. List the 4 categories that Darwin used to classify the evidence that he presented to support his theory of evolution.
13. Describe the process of natural selection.
14. Describe some evidence of natural selection that is available today that was not available to Darwin.