Explanation: When a fossil record shows patterns of gradualism over short periods of time, it is called "punctuated equilibrium." This term was coined by paleontologists Niles Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould in 1972 to describe a pattern of evolution where there are long periods of stasis, or little evolutionary change, punctuated by sudden bursts of rapid evolution. Punctuated equilibrium contrasts with the traditional view of evolution, which assumes that evolutionary change occurs gradually and uniformly over long periods of time.