Question

Using a ___clock, scientists are able to estimate the amount of time that two species have been evolving independently.

Answer 1

The correct answer is "molecular".

Step-by-step explanation:

Molecular clock is an evolutionary term used by scientist to describe an approach that studies the mutation rate of a particular biomolecule to estimate the amount of time that two species have been evolving independently. The most reliable and commonly used biomolecule in molecular clock studies is sequences of the mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondrial DNA has a slow rate of mutation which makes easier to study than genome DNA.

Answer 2

Using a MOLECULAR CLOCK, scientists were able to estimate the amount of time that two species have been evolving independently.
Molecular clock is a method, which utilizes the mutation rate of bio molecules to estimate the time when two life forms diverge. The molecular clock derived the information it uses for its calculation from the nucleotide sequences of DNA or proteins. The clock is also called gene clock or evolutionary clock.