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Evolution is a theory that the various types of plants and animals have their origin in other types that existed before them and that the changes in the species happened in successive generations. |
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| What is natural selection? ✔ |
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| Natural selection is essentially the survival of the fittest. It is when an animal survives when another animal doesn't because the surviving animal is better adapted to the environment and can gather the natural resources it needs (it beats the "competition"). For example, if an anteater suddenly grew another snout, it would eat all of the ants and the other anteaters would die. Then the anteater would reproduce. This is survival of the fittest. |
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| What are the trade-offs in deciding whether or not to save an endangered species or to re-create an extinct one? ✔ |
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SAVING
Pros:
- scientists can continue to study these animals
- saving the lives of animals, duh...
Cons:
- costs time, energy, money (though not as much as re-creating does)
RE-CREATING
Pros:
- may answer scientific questions
- uncover details about the world
Cons:
- animals might not be able to live in our controlled environment |
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| What can fossils tell you about organisms that lived in the past? ✔ |
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| Fossils can tell you many things; the bone structure, when it was alive, what it ate, whether it was prey or the predator, its method of travel, whether it traveled in packs, whether it had a defense of some kind to other animals, and much more. |
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| What details about the appearance and behavior of extinct organisms (ex/ dinosaurs) do you think would be hardest to determine from fossils? ✔ |
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| I think it would be hardest to determine the color of their skin, whether or not they had feathers or any other extra features, and how they interacted with other animals. |
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| What does the Law of Superposition state? ✔ |
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| The Law of Superposition states that sedimentary layers are deposited in a time sequence, with the oldest on the bottom and the youngest on the top. |
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What is an observation? ✔ |
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| An observation is solid information one observed using their five senses; taste, touch, hearing, smell, and sight. |
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| An inference is an educated guess based on background information or observations. |
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| What was Lamarck's theory? ✔ |
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| Lamarck's theory was that if an animal strived to adapt to its environment it would do so. For example, if a giraffe wanted to make its neck longer to reach the leaves on the trees and kept trying it would become longer. Then the offspring of the long-necked giraffe would have long necks as well. |
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| What was Darwin's theory? ✔ |
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| Darwin's theory was that animals evolved because of a process called natural selection. For example, there was a bird named August. August was the first bird in his generation to have wings (a mutation). Then August met another bird, Mary, and had children. Their children all had wings. This family of birds was much more successful in their environment than the birds without wings. Soon, August and Mary's children began to have baby birds as well! The birds without wings could not survive because the competition with the winged birds was too great. Therefore, the birds without wings died out and the birds with wings dominated the species. This is essentially survival of the fittest. Due to the proces of natural selection, evolution occured and the modern birds have wings. |
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| What evidence did Darwin have for his theory of natural selection? ✔ |
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Darwin's evidence was all of his observations and inferences from his famous journey. He observed the changes in the animals from previous generations and how the ones that died because they were not adapting to the environment or another animal was and they could not compete. When he put all of this information together he reached his theory of evolution.
Most of his evidence was gathered in the Galapagos Islands, where he found birds that had different beak shapes for different foods. He inferred that the population of the different birds with different beaks would vary when the environment changed. |
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Briefly explain and give an example:
- Variation ✔
- Competition ✔
- Over-reproduction ✔
- Evolution of New Species ✔
- Survival of the fittest ✔ |
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Variation:
Animals in the same species can look different.
EX: Chihuahuas and rottweilers are in the same species (dog), but they look very different.
Competition:
Animals compete with each other to survive in the same environment.
EX: If there is only one puddle of water and two foxes left on Earth (only enough to keep one alive), the two foxes will fight over it to survive.
Over-reproduction:
Animals have too many offspring and they eat all of the food supply, which kills off other animals.
EX: A cow has 10 babies. The cows eat all of the grass, and the other grass-eating animals die from lack of a proper food supply.
Evolution of new species:
Animals with the adapted characteristics survive in the environment and dominate the species by producing offspring.
EX: see August (Darwin's theory q)
Survival of the fittest:
The animals with the adapted characteristics survive in the environment.
EX: see August - 1st half (Darwin's theory q)
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| What role does the environment play in natural selection? ✔ |
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| The environment is very important in natural selection. Since the theory of natural selection is essentially survival of the fittest, animals must bbe adapted to the environment in order to survive. For example, if the whole Earth suddenly floods, only those who had gills or another form of breathing underwater could survive. However, if in another year the Earth freezes over into land and only those who can breathe in the air can survive, then the environment has changed and therefore the conditions for survival have changed. |
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| What role does variation (sometimes from mutations) play in natural selection? ✔ |
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| Variation is a big part of natural selection. If animals in the same species are different, then their rate of survival will most likely be different as well. For example, August varies from his other bird companions and therefore survives while they die. Mutations are also a big part of natural selection. If one is a positive mutation and they end up adapting to the environment, then they will survive - survival of the fittest. |
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| What role does competition (or abvailability of resources) play in natural selection? ✔ |
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| Competition and the availability of resources is important in natural selection because there is competition between the adapted animals and the normal animals for the resources. If certain animals cannot get the necessary resources and die, then it is survival of the fittest, or natural selection. |
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