The Evolution of Living Things Study Guide

The Evolution of Living Things Study Guide

Define the following terms.

• Overproduction: producing more organisms than an ecosystem can support
• natural selection: the process by which individuals that are better adapted to their environment survive and reproduce more successfully than less well adapted individuals do
• evolution: a heritable change in the characteristics within a population from one generation to the next
• adaptation: an anatomical, physiological, or behavioral change that improves a population's ability to survive
• fossil: the trace or remains of an organism that lived long ago, most commonly preserved in sedimentary rock
• variation: different forms of a trait
• selective breeding: the human practice of breeding animals or plants that have certain desired traits
• fossil record: a historical sequence of life indicated by fossils found in layers of Earth’s crust
• species: a group of organisms that are closely related and can mate to produce fertile offspring
• population: a group of organisms of the same species that live in a specific geographical area and interbreed
• homologous structures: similar skeletal structures in different species that indicate a common ancestor
• speciation: when a portion of a population becomes separated from the rest of the population and different adaptations accumulate within each population resulting in 2 different species.

1. Where is the oldest layer?

At the bottom

2. Where is the youngest layer?

At the top

3. Why are some fossils/organisms found ONLY in lower layers? (What happened to them?)

Organisms only found in the lower layers became extinct

4. Why are some fossils/organisms found ONLY in upper layers? (Where did they come from?)

Organisms only found in the upper layers evolved from the organisms in the lower layers

5. What does the fossil record reveal?

Evidence of the evolution of organisms; ancestors of other

organisms

1. Can individual organisms evolve during their lifetime (Yes or No)?

No!

1. What evidence of natural selection is available today that was not available to Darwin? DNA

What feature did whales possibly inherit from a four-legged ancestor? Hip bones

1. Who is Darwin?

The man who developed the theory of evolution due to natural selection

1. What physical feature of finches did Darwin study? What did Darwin use this information to determine?

He studied their beak shape. He determined that the different species of finches on the Galapagos Island evolved from one common ancestor

1. How does variation play a role in evolution?

The variation in traits allows for evolution to take place. If all of the organisms in a population were genetically identical, the population could not evolve.

1. Where does variation come from? Mutations with in the DNA

12. What type of variation exists in the moth population pictured on the left? They are different colors

13. Naturalists have observed that the dark moths are eaten at

a higher rate than the light moths in areas with more light trees. The opposite is true in areas with more dark trees. Which moths are most fit in a dark-tree environment?

The dark color moths

14. Why did the population of peppered moths in England change from light to dark after the Industrial Revolution?

The Industrial Revolution produced a lot of air pollution. This air pollution killed the lichens that coated the trees. Without lichens on the trees, the dark bark of the tree was revealed. Because the environment changed from a light color to a dark color the light color moths were no longer camouflaged from their predators. However, the dark colored moths were adapted to this environment and were able to survive, reproduce and pass on the helpful adaptation.

1. When are two groups of organisms considered to be two different species?

When they no longer mate and produce fertile offspring

1. Based on this branching tree, is a primate more closely related to an amphibian or a rodent?

rodent

1. What is coevolution? Give an example.

When two organisms evolve together as a result of a change in their environment. Ex: hummingbirds and flowers