BIO112 Spring 2024 Exam 1 Terms

radiometric dating - Correct Answer general approach used to determine the age of specimens using the rate of decay of radioactive isotopes radiocarbon dating - Correct Answer a chemical analysis used to determine the age of organic materials based on their content of the radioisotope carbon-14 potassium-40 dating - Correct Answer radiometric dating method often used in the assessment of volcanic intrusions in sedimentary layers. It is based on measurement of the product of the radioactive decay of an isotope of potassium (K) into argon (Ar). half-life - Correct Answer length of time required for half of the radioactive atoms in a sample to decay punctuated equilibrium - Correct Answer Pattern of evolution in which long stable periods are interrupted by brief periods of more rapid change Cambrian explosion - Correct Answer A burst of evolutionary origins when most of the major body plans of animals appeared in a relatively brief time in geologic history; recorded in the fossil record about 545 to 525 million years ago. macroevolution - Correct Answer Evolutionary change that produces new species microevolution - Correct Answer Evolutionary change/adaptation below the species level; change in the allele frequencies in a population over generations. Linnaeus - Correct Answer Father of taxonomy Lamarck - Correct Answer Proposed theory that organisms pass on traits they acquire in their lifetime. Cuvier - Correct Answer catastrophism: believed that the extinction of species was caused by catastrophic events such as floods Lyell and Hutton - Correct Answer scientists who said the world was old and slowly, but constantly changing Malthus - Correct Answer an English economist and demographer; suggested populations have a potential for increase that exceeds the actual rate of increase, and the resources for the support of increase are limited descent with modification - Correct Answer process by which descendants of ancestral organisms adapt to different/changing habitats and accumulate structural and functional adaptations