Class _________________________ Date ______________
Directions: Please answer each of the following questions.
1. Fossils may provide evidence of:
a) past biodiversity
b) temperatures of past environments
c) mountain building
d) all of the above
2. How many organisms from the past have gone extinct?
a) less than 10%
b) between 30-50%
c) between 60-80%
d) more than 90%
3. If you found an index fossil in a layer of rock in Montana and a similar fossil in a layer of rock in England, you would know that:
a) the fossils and rock layers are the same age
b) the fossils from Montana are older
c) the fossils from England are older
d) none of the above
4. Finding fossils of coral reefs in the Nevada desert provides evidence that:
a) Nevada used to be much colder than it is today
b) an ocean once covered what is now Nevada
c) there was a mistake because no coral reefs exist in deserts
d) ancient corals used to live on land
5. While exploring a fossil site, you find a bunch fossil leaves with smooth edges. What could you learn from this evidence?
a) what animals ate the plants
b) what the temperature was like
c) the altitude at which they lived
d) none of the above
6. What can fossil pollen tell you about the past?
a) the type of ecosystem that existed
b) the types of allergies animals had
c) where the rivers ran
d) all of the above
8. What evidence is used to understand that the early ancestors of whales walked on land?
a) all mammals walk on land
b) the presence of blubber
c) the change in the shape of their limbs (flippers and tail)
d) the absence of hair