Evolution Study Guide Topics

Ice CoresAn ice core is a cylinder-shaped sample of ice drilled from a glacier.

Ice core records provide the most direct and detailed way to investigate past climate and atmospheric conditions.

Weathering

Types of EvolutionBiological Evolution – encompasses small-scale evolution (changes in gene frequency in a population from one generation to the next) and large-scale evolution (the descent of different species from a common ancestor over many generations).

Natural Selection - The process by which forms of life having traits that better enable them to adapt to specific environmental pressures, as predators, changes in climate, or competition for food or mates, will tend to survive and reproduce in greater numbers than others of their kind, thus ensuring the perpetuation of those favorable traits in succeeding generations.

Types of Evolution

Geological Evolution – Change of the earth over long periods of time.

Plate Tectonics - the theory that Earth's outer layer is made up of plates, which have moved throughout Earth's history. The theory explains the how and why behind mountains, volcanoes, and earthquakes, as well as how, long ago, similar animals could have lived at the same time on what are now widely separated continents.

Continental Drift – theory that the world was made up of a single continent through most of geologic time. (PANGAEA) That continent eventually separated and drifted apart, forming into the seven continents we have today.

Types of Evolution

Technological Evolution – innovation & technology related theory describing technology development.

Renewable and Nonrenewable Resources

• Renewable Resources– Biomass — including:

• wood and wood waste, • municipal solid waste, • landfill gas and biogas, • ethanol • biodiesel

– Water (hydroelectricity)

– Geothermal– Wind– Solar

Nonrenewable Resources• Fossil Fuels• Gasoline• Diesel fuel• Propane• Natural gas• Coal

• Uranium (nuclear energy)

Renewable

Nonrenewable

Nonrenewable Resources

Fossil Fuels are Nonrenewable, but Not All Nonrenewable Energy Sources Are Fossil Fuels• Coal, petroleum, natural gas, and propane are

all considered fossil fuels because they were formed from the buried remains of plants and animals that lived millions of years ago.

• Uranium ore, a solid, is mined and converted to a fuel used at nuclear power plants. Uranium is not a fossil fuel, but is a nonrenewable fuel

Sources

• http://www.eia.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=2• http://climatechange.umaine.edu/icecores/Ic

eCore/Ice_Core_101.html