| A | B |
|---|
| During what time did most of Earth's history occur? | About 90% occurred during the Precambrian time. |
| What life forms appeared during the Precambrian time? | Simple anaerobic forms; then photosynthetic forms; Aerobic forms evolved; eukaryotes appeared; then multicellular forms increased in complexity. Life existed only in the sea. |
| When was the first evidence of diversity of marine life on Earth? | Early in the Paleozoic Era in the Cambrian Period, there was diverse marine life. |
| What life forms appeared in the period known as "the Cambrian Explosion"? | There was diversification of life: many organisms had hard parts; first known representatives of most animal phyla evolved; invertebrate (jellyfish, worms, sponges); brachiopods; Trilobites. See 430. |
| When did the ancestors of the modern octopi and squid appear? | during the Ordovician and Silurian Periods |
| When did the first land plants evolve? | during the Ordovician and Silurian Periods. |
| What major evolutionary change occurred in animals during the Devonian Period? | Animals started to go on land. |
| When was "the age of fishes"? | the Devonian Period |
| What is an amphibian? | It's an animal that lives part of its life on land and part of its life in water. |
| How did the Carboniferous period get its name? | Remains of ancient plants formed thick deposits of sediment that changed into coal over millions of years. (Coal is carbon...) |
| When did reptiles, winged insects, and giant ferns appear on Earth? | during the Carboniferous and Permian Periods |
| Give examples of organisms that survived the mass extinction that occurred at the end of the Paleozoic Era. | Many fishes and numerous reptiles survived it. |
| What are 2 major events that occurred during the Mesozoic Era? | Dinosaurs increased in dominance, and flowering plants appeared. |
| Name some important organisms in the Triassic Period. | Fishes, insects, reptiles, cone-bearing plants; reptiles ("Age of Reptiles"). |
| What was one of the earliest dinosaurs? | It was the Coelophysis, a meat-eater with light, hollow bones; it ran swiftly on its hind legs. |
| When did mammals first appear? | during the Triassic Period, but they were small (about the size of a mouse) |
| During the Jurassic Period, what animal ruled the Earth? | the dinosaur |
| What relationship do birds have with dinosaurs? | The Archaeopteryx was one of the first birds; it had the skull and teeth of a dinosaur, but the body structure & feathers of birds. Other evidence in China supports this theory, too. |
| When did flowering plants evolve? | during the Cretaceous Period |
| What new forms of life appered during the Cretaceous Period? | leafy trees, shrubs, small flowering plants |
| What occurred at the end of the Cretaceous Period? | another mass extinction: more than 1/2 of all plant and animal groups died, including all dinosaurs. |
| By what other name is the Cenozoic Era known? | "Age of Mammals" |
| What types of mammals existed during the Tertiary Period? | Whales & dolphins evolved; the ancestors of cattle, deer, sheep, and other grass-eating mammals (grasses had evolved for their food). |
| What type of climate existed during the Quaternary Period? | There were a series of ice ages; Then about 20,000 years ago, the climate began to warm. |
| When is it theorized that the first Homo sapiens appeared (according to the fossil record)? Where? | Homo sapiens appeared about 200,000 years ago in Africa; they then migrated from Africa, ultimately colonizing the world. |
