AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Fossils can provide evidence of how life has changed over time, how Earth’s surface has changed, and clues about what past environments were like.

Detailed explanation-2: -They can teach us where life and humans came from, show us how the Earth and our environment have changed through geological time, and how continents, now widely separated, were once connected. Fossils provide important evidence for evolution and the adaptation of plants and animals to their environments.

Detailed explanation-3: -They say the fossil record fails to show what are called “transitional forms, ” generally the in-between stages as one type of creature evolved into another. The fossil record certainly has gaps, mostly because the conditions required to create fossils have been rare ever since life began on Earth.

Detailed explanation-4: -The fossil record of whales, for instance, has a set of several well-defined members that lead inevitably to modern whales. Fossils have been found of coyote-sized semi-aquatic predators which were thought to live amphibious life-styles near the shore.

Detailed explanation-5: -The fossil record provides snapshots of the past which, when assembled, illustrate a panorama of evolutionary change over the past 3.5 billion years. The picture may be smudged in places and has bits missing, but fossil evidence clearly shows that life is very, very old and has changed over time through evolution.