Evolution by Natural Selection GCSE

Natural Selection GCSE

Success Criteria

• Describe what is meant by evolution.

• Explain how evolution takes place through natural selection

Multiple Choice

Memory Platform

Question 1: What is a mutation?

• A disease

• A random change in DNA

Multiple Choice

Memory Platform

Question 2: What is an allele?

• Chromosomes

• Different versions of the same gene

Multiple Choice

Memory Platform

Question 3: Variation always exists in a population.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Memory Platform

Question 4: Genetic variation is the difference caused due to the alleles inherited.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

Memory Platform

Question 5: Variation that arises due to the environment is known as.....

• Genetic Variation

• Environmental Variation

• Combined variation

There are nearly 9 million different species of animals and plants on the Earth.

Where have ALL these different species come from?

Scientists believed that life on Earth began over 3 billion years ago.

• The first life forms were single cells.

• All the species evolved from these single life forms.

• Scientists call this process 'evolution by natural selection'.

Today we will be learning about the process of 'evolution by natural selection'. We need to know how to describe this process.

• .

Last lesson we spoke about how there is a massive amount of genetic variation in a species.

Each rabbit will have a combination of different alleles that it inherited from its parents.

.

Some rabbits will have alleles for better eyesight, others will have alleles for better hearing.

Will these alleles make them better at surviving?

We will now learn more about natural selection through watching this video:

• Darwin's Natural Selection (kayscience.com)

Evolution by natural selection:

• Evolution is where a species changes over a period of time.

• The 6 key words to use when describing evolution are:

  ● Mutation

  ●Genetic variation

  ●Advantage

  ●Survive

  ●Pass on genes

  ●Changes over time

• We will practice an example now.

Multiple Choice

Evolution is where a species changes over a period of time.

• True

• False

How did the giraffe evolve to have a long neck?

How did the giraffe evolve to have a long neck?

• There was a mutation in the DNA of a giraffe which caused a genetic variation and meant the giraffe had a long neck.

• This gave the giraffe an advantage as it had more food available from taller trees so it survived and passed its genes to the next generation.

• This lead to a change over time which is evolution. 

How did the anteater evolve to have a long tongue?

Open Ended

How did the anteater evolve to have a long tongue?

(Use these words: Mutation

●Genetic variation

●Advantage

●Survive

●Pass on genes

●Changes over time)

How did the anteater evolve to have a long tongue?

• There was a mutation in the DNA of a anteater which caused a genetic variation and meant the anteater had a longer tongue. This gave the anteater an advantage as it could reach into the anthills and collect more food. This helped the anteater to survive and pass on its genes to the next generation. This lead to a change over time, which is evolution.