Menu Lesson Print

Name Class Date

CHAPTER 15 ACTIVE READING GUIDE

E VOLUTION : E VIDENCE AND T HEORY

Section 15-1: The Fossil Record

Read the passage below, which is reproduced from pp. 280–281 of your textbook. Answer
the questions that follow.
In 1668, Robert Hooke published his conclusion that fossils are the
remains of plants and animals. Hooke was one of the first scientists
to study fossils, principally petrified wood, with the aid of a micro-
scope. Hooke thought the detail he saw with the microscope was
too fine and precise to have been formed by the rock itself. He hy-
pothesized that living organisms had somehow been turned to rock.
Hooke’s view was shared by another scientist of his time, Nico-
laus Steno. In 1669, Steno proposed the law of superposition, which
states that successive layers of rock or soil were deposited on top
of one another by wind or water. The lowest stratum, or layer, in a
cross section of Earth is the oldest, while the top stratum is the
most recent. Thus, fossils within a single stratum are of the same
approximate age. Using Steno’s law, observers could establish the
relative age of a fossil; that is, they could say that a given fossil
was younger or older than another fossil. The fossil’s absolute age
(its age in years) could be estimated from the amount of sediment
deposited above the fossil.

Fill in the blank to complete each sentence.

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

SKILL: Sentence Completion

One reading skill is the ability to complete an incomplete sentence by logically determin-
ing what will complete the unfinished thought.

1. Robert Hooke was one of the first scientists to study fossils through a _________________________________________ .

2. His observations led Hooke to conclude that fossils are the remains of ________________________________________ .

3. According to the law of superposition, fossils in the same stratum are about _______________________________ .

Circle the letter of the word or phrase that best completes the statement.

4. The top stratum in a cross section of Earth is the

a. youngest.
b. layer most likely to contain fossils.
c. oldest.
d. Both (a) and (b)

54 Modern Biology Active Reading Guide Section 15-1

Menu Lesson Print
SECTION 13-3: PRACTICAL USES OF DNA 2. the fact that similar organisms arise in the same
TECHNOLOGY geographic location
1. AIDS, smallpox, and polio 3. b
2. vaccines SECTION 15-3: EVOLUTION IN PROCESS
3. virus or a bacterium 1. Coevolution
4. pathogen 2. Divergent evolution
5. cause disease 3. a change in two or more species in close associa-
6. pathogen’s surface markers tion with each other
7. it is intended to protect against 4. when unrelated species become more similar as
8. DNA technology they adapt to the same kind of environment
9. harmless virus 5. shark and porpoise
10. genome of a pathogen 6. two breeds of dogs
11. unaltered forms of the pathogen 7. c
12. to avert or keep from happening
13. d CHAPTER 16
The Evolution of Population and
CHAPTER 14 Speciation
Origins of Life SECTION 16-1: GENETIC EQUILIBRIUM
SECTION 14-1: BIOGENESIS 1. The phenotype frequency of the first generation
1. boiled broth is 0.5 pink, 0.5 red, and 0.0 white. The phenotype
frequency of the second generation is 0.25 pink,
2. After the curved neck is removed, the broth 0.63 red, and 0.13 white.
becomes cloudy and contaminated with organ-
isms. 2. The allele frequency of both the first and second
generation is 0.75R and 0.25r.
3. b
3. b
SECTION 14-2: EARTH’S HISTORY
SECTION 16-2: DISRUPTION OF GENETIC
1. a method of establishing the age of materials
EQUILIBRIUM
2. an unstable nucleus
1. Sentence 1
3. the length of time one-half of a radioactive iso-
2. One requirement of genetic equilibrium is the
tope takes to decay
presence of a large population.
4. d
3. a
SECTION 14-3: THE FIRST LIFE-FORMS SECTION 16-3: FORMATION OF SPECIES
1. If the environment contains a fixed number of
1. term to definition
nucleotides, then competition would occur
among similar RNA molecules. 2. postzygotic isolation
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

2. Because of replication, a parent RNA molecule 3. c

may pass on to its offspring any advantages it
possesses for obtaining nucleotides from the
environment. CHAPTER 17
3. d Human Evolution
SECTION 17-1: THE STUDY OF HUMAN
CHAPTER 15 ORIGINS
Evolution: Evidence and Theory 1. Anthropoid primates have a well-developed col-
larbone, rotating shoulder joints, partially rotat-
SECTION 15-1: THE FOSSIL RECORD ing elbow joints, an opposable thumb, and a
1. microscope similar dental formula.
2. plants and animals 2. Nonhuman anthropoids have an opposable big toe.
3. the same age 3. c
4. a SECTION 17-2: FOSSIL EVIDENCE OF HOMINID
SECTION 15-2: THEORIES OF EVOLUTION EVOLUTION
1. This theory states that the newer life-forms 1. fossil finds of hominids
appearing in the fossil record are modified 2. chimpanzees
descendants of older species. 3. bipedalism
4. d

Modern Biology Active Reading Guide Answer Key 205