Variation and Adaptation

Question 1

How do fossils form?

Answer 1

Organism dies and is buried by sediment. Sediments become cemented
together.

Question 2

Describe how the age of fossils changes when found in horizontal rock layers.

Answer 2

In sedimentary rock layers, the oldest layer is at the bottom. Each layer is younger than the layer below it.

Question 3

Who was Charles Darwin?

Answer 3

Darwin was a naturalist on the HMS Beagle and he studied organisms during a five year journey.

Question 4

What theory did Charles Darwin form?

Answer 4

The theory of evolution

Question 5

Where did Charles Darwin do his studies?

Answer 5

The Galapagos Islands

Question 6

What is selective breeding?

Answer 6

The process of choosing organisms with the desired traits to be parents for the next generation

Question 7

Give 3 examples of selective breeding.

Answer 7

a. Breeding sheep with soft wool so that the offspring have soft wool
b. Breeding race horses for speed and endurance
c. Breeding pigeons for large tail feathers

Question 8

What is a species?

Answer 8

Organisms that can mate and produce fertile offspring

Question 9

What does the fossil record show?

Answer 9

It shows how life forms have changed over time.

Question 10

What adaptation did the Galapagos finches have?

Answer 10

Beak shape

Question 11

In what type of rock are fossils usually found?

Answer 11

Sedimentary

Question 12

What is natural selection?

Answer 12

The process where organisms that are better suited to the environment live longer and reproduce more than organisms less suited to the environment

Question 13

Give 2 examples of natural selection.

Answer 13

a. Beak shape
b. Color of moths

Question 14

What is overproduction?

Answer 14

More organisms are born than can survive

Question 14

How does natural selection work?

Answer 14

Natural selection works on characteristics passed by genes

Question 15

What factors affect natural selection?

Answer 15

Overproduction, competition, and variations

Question 16

What is competition?

Answer 16

Members of a species compete with one another for limited food, shelter, mates, etc.

Question 17

What are variations?

Answer 17

Differences between members of a species

Question 18

What is an adaptation?

Answer 18

Any heritable trait that helps an organism, such as a plant or animal, survive and reproduce in its environment.

Question 19

What is embryology?

Answer 19

The study of the development of embryos

Question 20

Why do scientists study embryos?

Answer 20

They look for similarities of different organisms to see if they share a common
ancestor

Question 21

What evidence can be used to infer evolutionary relationships?

Answer 21

Fossil record, similarities in bodies of living organisms, similarities between living organisms & fossils, similarities among embryos of different organisms, & genetic and molecular information

Question 22

What is a common ancestor?

Answer 22

An ancestor that several organisms evolved from

Question 23

How does the fossil record show evidence of change in organisms?

Answer 23

It shows the changes in species and the increase of biodiversity; it also shows the extinctions

Question 24

What is common ancestry?

Answer 24

The idea that all organisms share a common ancestral species from which they evolved

Question 25

What is an extinction?

Answer 25

When a species no longer has any living member

Question 26

What is a mass extinction?

Answer 26

When multiple organisms go extinct at the same time

Question 27

How do scientists find the cause of an extinction? What do they look at?

Answer 27

They analyze rock layers before, during, and after an extinction event. fossils that have body structures that are found both in ancestral species and in its descendants

Question 28

What is a mass extinction?

Answer 28

When many species go extinct at the same time

Question 29

What are vestigial structures?

Answer 29

An anatomical feature or behavior that no longer seems to have a purpose in the current form of the organism. Examples: appendix, goosebumps, wisdom teeth 32. What are homologous structures? A body part of one species that closely resembles that of another species. A body part similar in position, structure, and evolutionary origin, but not
necessarily in function. Example: dolphin fin, mole paw, human hand

Question 30

What is a common ancestor?

Answer 30

The most recent individual from which two or more species descended

Question 31

What is a transitional fossil?

Answer 31

fossils that have body structures that are found both in ancestral species and in its descendants