Unit 3: Evolution and the Science of Nature

Question 1

What is “evolution” in its simplest form?

Answer 1

Change over time.

Question 2

How much time have organisms had to change?

Answer 2

3.85 billion years

Question 3

How old is the Earth?

Answer 3

4.6 billion years

Question 4

How old did scientists/philosophers think the Earth was in the 1700s?

Answer 4

6,000 years

Question 5

What did scientists/philosophers believe about species in the 1700s?

Answer 5

That they were all created at once and were unchanged ever since.

Question 6

Who’s book did Darwin read that helped him in his theory of evolution?

Answer 6

Charles Lyell’s Principles of Geology

Question 7

What did Lyell’s book say about the Earth?

Answer 7

That gradual, repetitive geological processes shaped the Earth over great spans of time.

Question 8

What did Lyell’s ideas come to be known as?

Answer 8

The theory of uniformity

Question 9

How did Lyell’s idea help Darwin’s?

Answer 9

For evolution to work, you need lots of time. Lyell’s ideas made Darwin’s possible.

Question 10

What do we call the segments of DNA that decide traits?

Answer 10

Genes

Question 11

What do we call the variations of genes?

Answer 11

Alleles

Question 12

What units (DNA) are passed down through generations and account for variation?

Answer 12

Alleles

Question 13

How do alleles related to evolution?

Answer 13

They are the source/cause of random variation between individuals in a population.

Question 14

What do we call “leftover” organs or etc. in a species?

Answer 14

Vestigial structures

Question 15

What are the four parts of natural selection discussed in class?

Answer 15

1. Organisms have changed over time.
2. Organisms share a common ancestor.
3. Change is a slow process over many generations.
4. The mechanism of evolutionary change was natural selection, acting on random variation.

Question 16

What are the four steps in random variation leading to natural selection?

Answer 16

1. Variation occurs (alleles)
2. Survival advantage
3. Reproductive advantage
4. Allele becomes more frequent in the population

Question 17

What are the processes the make up the scientific method?

Answer 17

1. Observation.
2. Hypothesis
3. Experimentation
4. Analyses
5. Theory

Question 18

What is “observation” in the scientific method?

Answer 18

Observe the phenomenon to be explained

Question 19

What is “hypothesis” in the scientific method?

Answer 19

A tentative and testable explanation

Question 20

What is “experiment” in the scientific method?

Answer 20

The testing of the hypothesis, leading to falsification or support, but never “proving”

Question 21

What is “analysis” in the scientific method?

Answer 21

Evaluate the hypothesis.

Question 22

What is “theory” in the scientific method?

Answer 22

If a hypothesis hold up to repeated experimentation, it can become a theory; e.g. Newton’s Law of Motion or Cell Theory

Question 23

What changes and doesn’t change with evolution?

Answer 23

Populations change, not individuals

Question 24

What is comparative morphology?

Answer 24

Animals that seem different on the outside actually have similar internal structures, suggesting that they share a common ancestor.

Question 25

What’s the kicker in comparative morphology?

Answer 25

Vestigial structures; i.e. Why would this organ (eg) have even developed if it wasn’t to be used?

Question 26

What do we call similar structures in comparative morphology?

Answer 26

Homologous structures

Question 27

What evidence does the fossil record give us?

Answer 27

Shit loads of extinction, showing that life has changed; and the layers show simpler organisms as you go further back in time.

Question 28

What is the principle of superposition?

Answer 28

Younger fossils lie on top of older fossils

Question 29

What is the dinosaur boundary called?

Answer 29

The KT Boundary