Evolution

5. Era The geologic era that follow Precambrian time and that lasted from 542 million to 251 million years ago.
9. Era The most recent geologic era beginning 65 million years ago; also called the Age of Mammals.
10. Time the period in the geologic time Scale from the formation of the earth to the beginning of the Paleozoic era from about 4.6 billion to 542 million years ago.
12. Time Scale The standard method used to divide the Earth's long natural history into manageable parts.
14. The process in which inherited characteristics within a population change over generations such that new species sometimes arise
15. A group of organisms that can mate with one another to produce fertile offspring.
16. Selection The process by which individuals that are better adapted to their environment survive and reproduce more successfully than less adapted individuals do; a theory to explain the mechanism of evolution.

1. A genetically determined characteristic.
2. Tectonics The theory that explains how large prices of the Earth's outermost layers called tectonic plates move and change shape.
3. Breeding: The human practice of breeding animals or plants that have certain desired traits.
4. Era the geologic era that lasted from 251 million to 65.5 million years ago; also called the Age of Reptiles.
6. A characteristic that helps an organism survive and reproduce in its environment.
7. Dating: Any method of determining whether an event or object is older or younger than other events or objects.
8. Dating: Any method of measuring the age of an object of even in years.
11. Describes a species that has died out completely.
13. Record The historical sequence of life indicated by fossils found in layers of the Earth's crust.