Question

How do fossils help in tracing evolutionary relationships? Give 6 points please.

Answer 1

Fossils are evidence of ancient life forms which have been preserved by natural resources
The scientific study of fossils is called Paleontology
Paleontologists determine the age of fossils by using carbon dating method.
The breakdown of radioactive isotopes of certain elements such as carbon ; uranium and potassium takes place at a known rate .
So the age of rock or mineral containing isotopes can be calculated
Hereby describing the evolutionary relationship

Answer 2

Fossils can help us solve many mysteries about history.

The size of their skeletons gives us a good idea about how large these animals were. By studying the shape of their bones and the structure of their skeletons,we can establish which  were close and which were distant evolutionary relatives. By studying the structure of the fossilized bones in their hind legs and hips, we have found features which indicate that dinosaurs walked upright, with their legs extending straight down from the hips to the ground. This erect posture is one of the evolutionary innovations that makes a dinosaur a dinosaur, and it is by identifying such features that we can trace the sequence of dinosaur evolution. Two major lineages sprang from this common ancestor: We can recoganize the common ancestor.In addition to establishing evolutionary relationships, fossils can provide some information about the behavior of animals. Besides evolutionary relationships and some behaviors, the rocks in which fossils are preserved provide clues about what their environment might have been like and how long ago they lived.

Fossils show changes in lifeforms over time. Animals and plants that existed at one time do not exist at a later time. Evolution is a scientific theory that does a good job of explaining these changes over time. Note that "theory" doesn't mean "hypothesis." We have atheory of evolution, just as we have a theory of gravity and a theory of electromagnetism. It's not "just a theory" or a guess--it's a good explanation grounded in facts and science. Can it explain everything? No, but it does a good job on a lot of things. When new facts are discovered, scientists modify the theory to make it fit better and better. It's not so much that fossils support evolution, it's that evolution explains the fossils. It's not that someone thought up evolution, and then went looking for facts to support it. The facts were found first, and evolution was invented to explain the facts.

Fossils give us snapshots of life on earth at various times. We can trace the movement from simple plants like fungi and ferns, to more complex flowering plants, trees, etc. The development of animals can be similarly traced, from a time when reptiles dominated to the rise of mammals. The record is incomplete, so precise changes from generation to generation can't be traced, of course. This doesn't disprove the theory, however.