Transitional fossils are fossils of organisms that have characteristics of their ancestors’ species and their descendants’ species. Why do you think these fossils are important to the study of evolution? Do you think the word transitional is a scientifically appropriate description for these fossils? Knowing how fossils form, do you think it’s likely that humans will ever piece together a complete fossil record for every species that ever existed on Earth? Why or why not?

How does the molecular clock work? a. it analyzes the brain functionality of two different species.b. it examines and compares the physical characteristics of two different species.c. it illustrates relationships between two different species.d. it compares the number of mutations that exist in the dna of two different species.

How can you approximate the number of calories required to keep you in energy balance?

To answer this question, researchers studied populations of the dusky salamander (desmognathus ochrophaeus) living on different mountain ranges in the southern appalachian mountains. the researchers tested the reproductive isolation of pairs of salamander populations by leaving one male and one female together and later checking the females for the presence of sperm. four mating combinations were tested for each pair of populations (a and b)—two within the same population (female a with male a and female b with male b) and two between populations (female a with male b and female b with male a). the proportion of successful matings for each mating combination was measured. for example, when all the matings of a particular combination were successful, the researchers gave it a value of 1; when none of the matings were successful, they gave it a value of 0. then the researchers calculated an index of reproductive isolation that ranged from 0 (no isolation) to 2 (full isolation). the reproductive isolation value for two populations is the sum of the proportion of successful matings of each type within populations (aa + bb) minus the sum of the proportion of successful matings of each type between populations (ab + ba). the table provides data for the geographic distances and reproductive isolation values for 27 pairs of dusky salamander populations.