1. Changing Organisms Vocabulary

2. cast Imprint fills in with sediment that hardens, NOT the actual organism

3. mold Organism dies and leaves a mold or imprint (like a cupcake mold)

4. coprolites Fossilized poop, useful to see what organisms ate and environmental conditions

5. imprints Organism dies, falls and leaves an outline, footprint or body print

6. petrification Organism replaced by minerals and rock

7. mummification Dried out organism preserved; sometimes natural or by humans

8. fossil Evidence of past life; can be actual remains or evidence (like a footprint or cast/mold)

9. trace fossils Scattered/widespread evidence of an organism

10. Index fossil Found over a large area in a small amount of places to serve as a time frame

11. paleontology Study of past life

12. geologic history All the events on Earth since Earth began (what organisms were alive, became extinct, environment, geologic events)

13. relative age Age of something compared to others

14. punctuated equilibrium Things were the same then different organisms then the same, then different

15. geologic isolation Species left alone becomes a different species; unable to mate with others

16. gradualism Organisms changed slowly, or gradually over time; replaced by new species

17. adaptation Structure or behavior that allows organism to survive

18. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Offspring born with traits that help them survive happens over night…

19. Charles Darwin Evolution – change in organisms over time Usually takes millions of years but can be super fast like in bacteria

20. natural selection Survival of the fittest Fastest, blends in, larger teeth, can adapt to environmental change

21. Alfred Wegener Continental drift- theory that continents were and still are moving

22. Pangaea When all continents were connected together to make 1 super continent

23. plate tectonics Explains how continents move as a result of convection currents in mantle