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Define macroevolution
the pattern of evolution over large time scales
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Define protobiont
A collection of abiotically produced molecules surrounded by a membrane or membrane-like structure
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Define Radiometric Dating
a method for determining the absolute ages of rocks and fossils, based on half-life of radioactive isotopes
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Define Half-life
the amount of time it takes for 50% of a sample of a radioactive isotope to decay
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Define geologic record
The division of Earth's history into time periods, grouped into 3 eons- Archaean, Proterozoic, and Phanerozoic
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Define Stromatolite
layered rock that results from the activities of prokaryotes that bind thin films to sediment together
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Define endosymbiosis
a model taht posits that mitochondria and plastids were formally small prokaryotes that began living within larger cells
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Define Serial endosymbiosis
a model that posits that mitochondria evolved before plastids through a sequence of endosymbiotic events
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Cambrian Explosion
Burst of life, and diversity, hard bodied animals appear
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Define Continental Drift
the slow movement of the contenental plates across Earth's surface
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Define Pangaea
The supercontinent that formed near the end of the paleozoic era, when plate movements brought all fo the landmasses of Earth together
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Define Mass Extinction
When large numbers of species become extinct throuout earth
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Define Adaptive Radiations
Periods of evoluionary change in which groups of organisms form many new species whose adaptations allow them to fill vacant ecological roles in their communities
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Define heterochrony
Evolutionary change in the timing or rate of an organism's development
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Define paedomorphosis
The retention in an adulgt organism of the juvenile features of its evolutionart ancestors
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Define homeotic genes
Any of the master regulatory genes that control placement and spatial organization of body parts in organisms by controlling the developmental fate of groups of cells
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