Name______NOTES #

Class______Date______

Evolution NOTES

Evolution – is the process by which ______

______

An Adaptation is a characteristic that helps an organism ______.

Examples: -

-

Endangered: when a species ______dies out completely

Extinction of a species occurs when the ______changes and the adaptive characteristics of a species are ______to permit its ______. (The environment changes more quickly than a species can adapt).

-Extinction of a species is common.

Some scientists believe we all came from one common ancestor.

Evidence of Evolution:

-Fossils-the solidified remains or ______

-Fossil record-historical sequence of life

-Vestigial structures-______

Scientists use 3 ways organisms can be compared to support the theory that we came from a common ancestor.

1.

2.

3.

Comparative Skeletal Structures Comparative Embryonic Structures

Charles Darwin

-Made observations that later became the foundations for his theory of ______.

-Observed Finch’s and plants on the Galapogos Islands.

Selective Breeding is when ______, not nature, ______will be passed along to the next generation.

Natural Selection- the process by which organisms with ______at a higher rate than organisms without the favorable trait. Also known as “______

______”.

*Example: Peppered moth

4 Steps of Natural Selection:

1.______

2.______

3. ______

4. ______

The variations Darwin observed among the individuals of a population of finches were caused by ______.

Mutation-anything that can ______or cause ______in ______.

Description of the 4 Steps of Natural Selection:

______- The period between the birth of one generation and the birth of the next generation.

Speciation: Formation of new ______

  1. ______- part of a population becomes separated from the rest by natural barriers such as:

-A Mountain range

-Lake

-Canyon

2. ______- after 2 groups have separated, natural selection may act on each group in different ways. Over time separated groups may evolve different sets of traits. If the environments are different, the adaptations are different.

  1. ______- Over many generations, the two separated groups may become very different. Even if the barrier were removed, the populations may not interbreed anymore. At that point, the groups are no longer the same species.

Bill Nye Video – Evolution

  1. Genes are all made of ______.
  2. Over ______years ago scientists think life began on earth.
  3. Small changes with each generation are responsible for ______. Over millions of years this can cause ______changes, such as causing the giraffe to have a long neck.
  4. A giraffe’s neck is longer today NOT because it stretched it’s neck to reach leaves, but instead because of ______. The giraffes with the tiny bit longer necks that reached high leaves were better adapted to survive to adulthood and reproduce. Over thousands of years, giraffes with the longest necks were the ones to survive.
  5. A ______is a scientist who studies fossils to learn how creatures have changed over time to learn about evolution.
  6. Humans have changed the environment ______than most living things can adapt.
  7. Scientists believe that decedents of dinosaurs are ______.
  8. The reason scientists think this is because the stuff that makes up the scales of the dinosaurs is almost identical to the stuff that makes up ______. Also, both lay ______.
  9. A left over vestigial structure, the ______is evidence that humans might have had an ancestor that had long tails.
  10. The scientific name for the tail bone is the ______.

Chapter 8 The History of Life on Earth

*Scientists called paleontologists look for clues to help them reconstruct what happened in the past.

FOSSILS are ______that a great variety of ______existed in the past.

 Many thousands of layers of ______provide evidence for the long history of Earth and for the long history of changing life forms whose remains are found in the rocks.

 ______rock layers are more likely to ______.

Relative dating: ordering fossils to ______.

Absolute Dating: The method of measuring the ratio of unstable atoms to stable atoms, which help scientists determine the ______of a fossil.

Sedimentary

Rock

Cycle

Types of Rocks Include:

1.

2.

3.

______- A single landmass of the earth

Fossils of the same organisms have been found in many different parts of the world. These fossils provide evidence that the continents were once joined together.

Plate tectonics- Forces that drive the movement of ______of Earth’s crust around the surface of the planet.

Some possible “forces” that cause the Earth’s crust to move:

There are currently ______large rigid plates.

The ______- the calendar scientists use to outline the history of life on earth.

Condensed History

Directions: Many important events that have occurred since the Earth has formed are listed below. Use pages 200-205 in your textbook to help you fill in the diagram below, listing the events in chronological order.

Precambrian Time
Prokaryotes form.
Cells with nuclei form.
This began about 65.5 million years ago.
First birds appear.
Large mammals appear / Paleozoic Era
The ozone layer develops.
Dinosaurs dominate the Earth.
Plants become established on land.
Humans appear.
Mesozoic Era
Crawling insects appear on land.
Many reptile species evolve.
Organisms suffer largest mass extinction known.
Small mammals survive mass extinction.
Cenozoic Era
This began about 542 million years ago.
Cyanobacteria begin photosynthesis and produce oxygen.
This began about 4.6 billion years ago.
Winged insects appear.
This began about 251 million years ago.

Eras on the Geological Time Scale:

1. ______(oldest)

2. ______

3. ______- Era that dinosaurs lived in.

4. ______

Shared Characteristics of Primates:

Define Hominid.

Describe what is known about the differences between humans and their humanlike ancestors.

Similarities:

1