Term
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Definition
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Term
| What kinds of rocks are best to look for dinosaur fossils in? |
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Definition
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Term
| How do sedimentary rocks form? |
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Definition
| weathering/erosion--> transportation--> deposition/settling--> burial of settlements--> lithification |
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Term
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Definition
| death/decay--> burial--> lithification/fossilization--> erosion/exposure |
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Term
| What kind of mineral is found in bones and teeth? |
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Definition
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Term
| What parts of dinosaur bodies are most often fossilized? |
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Definition
| body fossils like bones and teeth |
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Term
| Does natural selection inevitably lead to organisms becoming more complex? |
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Definition
| No, natural selection is about survival |
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Term
| Why do we show a polytomy at the base of the dinosaur tree? |
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Definition
| We don't have enough evidence to prove a relationship between the different clades |
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Term
| • Where do mammals (including humans!) fall on Cladogram 1? |
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Definition
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Term
What are some features that have evolved convergently between mammals on the one
hand and archosaurs or dinosaurs or certain dinosaurs on the other? |
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Definition
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Term
| How are modern crocodiles + kin different from Triassic members of this lineage? |
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Definition
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Term
| Are birds ornithischians? |
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Definition
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Term
| Which is digit 1 on your foot? Which is digit 1 on your hand? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are different hypotheses for where on the cladogram feathers evolved? |
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Definition
| Feathers present in theropods, ornithischian, and pterosaurs; no evidence for sauropodomorphs |
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Term
| When was the largest recorded mass extinction in Earth history? |
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Definition
| End of the Permian (252 Ma) |
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Term
| What was the likely cause for the mass extinction at the end of the Permian? How did this extinction influence dinosaur evolution? |
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Definition
Siberian traps—vast eruption of basalts; this volcanic eruption led to global warming
Extinction of many of the synapsids and other major groups of the
late Permian |
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Term
| When did the earliest dinosaurs live? What were they like? |
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Definition
| Early Triassic; small, bipedal, and less diverse than crocodiles and kin |
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Term
| When did dinosaurs rise to ecological dominance? |
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Definition
Jurassic (End-Triassic mass extinction
caused extinction of most of the
crocodiles + kin) |
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Term
| What is a potential causes for the mass extinction at the end of the Triassic? How did this extinction influence dinosaur evolution? |
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Definition
May be due to volcanism of
Central Atlantic Magmatic Province;
Dinosaurs show greater morphological variety than do crocodiles + kin |
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Term
| What are the challenges associated with carnivory? What are strategies carnivores have evolved to deal with these? |
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Definition
| Animals are hard to locate and kill; grasping hands, knife-like teeth, larger brain |
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Term
What are the challenges associated with herbivory? What are different strategies
herbivores have evolved to deal with these? |
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Definition
| Most parts of a plant are less nutritious and harder to digest; fermentation in the gut, large size, quadrupedality |
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Term
| How do omnivores compare with herbivores and carnivores? |
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Definition
| Tend to be relatively unspecialized; often eat animals that are easy to catch and more nutritious plant parts |
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Term
| How were plants in the Mesozoic different from plants today? |
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Definition
| Seed plants were dominant in the Mesozoic, flowering plants are dominant today |
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Term
| Why are some dinosaurs quadrupedal and others bipedal? |
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Definition
| Larger herbivorous dinosaurs need to support their weight and their large gut using 4 limbs |
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