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Index Fossils Easy to recognize, widely distributed. used to establish and compare the relative ages of rock layers Relative dating Places rock layers and their fossils in a temporal sequence Radiometric dating Relies on isotopes, which decay, or break down, into stable isotopes at a steady rate. Half-Life time required for half of the radioactive atoms in a sample to decay. Geologic Time scale The timeline of earths history. Eons, eras, and periods in that order= biggest to smallest. Paleozoic is older than mezzo which is older the Cenozoic. PALEOZOIC: AMPHIBIANS MESOZOIC: REPTILES, DINASOURS CENEZOIC: MAMMALS, BIRDS Macroevolutionary patterns Grand transformations in anatomy, phylogeny, ecology & behavior, which usually take place in clades larger than a single species. Two patterns of macroevolution are adaptive and convergent evolution. Background extinction Normal extinction of various species as a result of changes in local environmental conditions. Mass extinction when many types of organisms become extinct at the same time Gradualism The theory that evolution occurs slowly but steadily Punctuated Equilibrium a theory of evolution holding that evolutionary change in the fossil record came in fits and starts rather than in a steady process of slow change Adaptive radiation process by which a single species or small group of species evolves into several different forms that live in different ways. Convergent Evolution Evolution produces similar structures and characteristics in distantly related organisms. Coevolution The process by which two species evolve in response to changes in each other over time. Extinct A species that has died out Paleontologists People who study fossils to learn about ancient life Plate tectonics Theory that the result of sold plates moving slowly as little as 3cm a year PANGAEA-> GONDWANA->LAWRASIA->MODERN CONTINENTS