Adaptation

Question 1

What is a mutation?

Answer 1

A random change to genetic material

Question 2

Give examples of things that would increase the rate of a mutation

Answer 2

UV light
Mustard gas
Caffeine 
Gamma rays
Colchicine
X-Ray's

Question 3

What is evolution?

Answer 3

The change in the frequency on a phenotype in a population over many generations

Question 4

What is variation?

Answer 4

The differences between members of the same species

Question 5

How can variation occur?

Answer 5

When mutations are passed down to the next generation, and when parents pass on combinations of different alleles to offspring

Question 6

What are adaptations?

Answer 6

Inherited characteristics which improve survival chances by making a species better suited to its environment

Question 7

Give examples of ways the desert rat has adapted

Answer 7

Physiological
-doesn't sweat
-dry poo
-dry mouth and nasal passage
Behavioural
-forages at night 
-stays underground during the day
-stuffs cheeks with food

Question 8

Describe the process of natural selection

Answer 8

• an organism produces more offspring than the environment can support
• the offspring struggle for survival
• the organisms which are best adapted to the environment are more likely to survive to reproduce
• the offspring have advantageous characteristics from parents
• cycle starts again

Question 9

Name 3 examples of selection pressures

Answer 9

Predation
Food shortage (competition)
Disease

Question 10

Describe the process of speciation

Answer 10

A barrier separates two populations of a species. Mutations will form in each population, and natural selection will cause theses mutations to be passed on. When the barrier is removed the two populations can no longer interbreed to produce fertile offspring. Two new species have been created.

Question 11

Name types of isolation mechanisms

Answer 11

Geological
•water
•deserts
•mountains
Ecological
•pH change
Temperature change
Reproductive
•pollination mechanisms fail