1. Evidence of Evolution Sec 8.2

2. Fossil Record  The remains and traces of past life that are found in sedimentary rock.  It reveals the history of life on Earth and the kinds of organisms that were alive in the past.  It contains fossils from 3.5 billion years ago until 7 million years ago.

3. Evidence from the fossil record  Fossils found in young layers of rock (closer to the surface) are much more similar to species alive today than fossils found in deeper layers of rock.  Fossils appear in chronological order in the rock layers.  Probable ancestors are beneath descendants.

5.  Not all organisms appear in the fossil record at the same time.  Fish are the oldest vertebrates  Amphibians, mammals, reptiles and birds appear in subsequent layers.  This reinforces scientific evidence that amphibians evolved from ancestral fish, reptiles evolved from ancestral amphibians and both mammals and then birds evolved from different groups of reptiles.

7. Evidence from Transitional Fossils  Transitional fossils are fossils that show intermediary links between groups of organisms.  They share characteristics common to two separate groups.  These have helped scientists understand evolution and link the past to the present.

9. Vestigial Structures  A structure that is a reduced version of a structure that was functional in the organism’s ancestor.  http://ed.ted.com/on/gntiUIJA http://ed.ted.com/on/gntiUIJA

10. Questions  P 340 #3,5,6