Answers for Change Over Time Study Guide

1) Adaptation- A trait that allows an organism to survive in its environment.

Evolution- the change in the population of a species over time.

Mutation- a random change to a gene that results in a new trait.

Natural selection- survival of the fittest; the organisms that are the best adapted to their environment are the ones that will live long enough to reproduce and pass on their favorable adaptations.

Speciation- the process of natural selection producing a new species out of existing species over thousands or millions of years.

Variation- the differences among the members of a species.

Geologic Timescale- a table that divides the Earth’s history into eras, periods epochs, and so forth.

Extinct- when the last living member of a species dies.

2) 1-Sexual reproduction because an offspring is produced with genes from multiple sources.

2-Mutation because it adds new traits to the gene pool.

3) REMEMBER THIS: Need to know that the faster a species can reproduce the faster that natural selection can take place. Also need to know that observable differences can mutate and change in shorter amounts of generations than internal structures.

4) Look at your For the Birds OR that we did. If you don’t have one look at someone else’s at your table.

5) Speciation is where one species of organisms are separated in some manner, usually geographic isolation, and accumulate different traits over long periods of time until they are no longer able to breed and produce fertile offspring, thus making them two or more different species.

6) Read pages 141-143 in the review book for this answer.

7) It is where a geographic barrier separates a group of organisms and prevents them from interacting with each other.

8) 1-mountains 2-oceans 3-large rivers 4-canyons 5-deserts 6-continental drift

9) Climate change and catastrophes are the largest causes, human activities are also a major cause. Fossils of organisms that are no longer on the Earth are evidence for extinctions.

10) This is from the lab that we did-everybody should be able to answer this question. If you can’t answer it ask someone at your group.

11) Know how to read the diagram on pg. 145 of our review books. The fossils showed how the organisms slowly changed over time.

12) Be familiar and be able to read the diagram on pg. 148 in our review book. Be able to answer questions on pg. 149 about the diagram.