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5-6: Evidence of Evolution

5-6: Evidence of Evolution

Assessment

Presentation

Science

12th Grade

Medium

NGSS
3-ESS3-1

Standards-aligned

Created by

Abby Fancsali

Used 6+ times

FREE Resource

27 Slides • 18 Questions

1

​Science Root of the Day:

DO NOW: Write what you think the example words mean in your lab manual.

Extra Credit: Find three additional words that use this root and write them and their definition in your lab manual (6 Points Max)

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Evidence of Evolution & The Fossil Record

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4

Multiple Choice

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True or false: Darwin made his observations on the Galapagos Islands

1

True

2

False

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Multiple Choice

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Members of a species can mate with each other and produce...

1

Gene Pools

2

Fertile Offspring

3

Variation

4

Adaptations

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Multiple Select

Select all aspects of Natural Selection

1

Variation

2

Selection

3

Overproduction

4

Competition

5

Restriction

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Multiple Choice

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Bird beaks having different shapes is an example of a(n)

1

Fossils

2

Adaptation

3

Habitat

4

Naturalism

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Lesson Objectives

  • List and provide examples of the main kinds of Evidence that support the Theory of Evolution

  • Describe how Fossils form

    • Differentiate between different kinds of fossils

  • Discuss what Fossils tell us about organisms and environments of the past and support the theory of evolution

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Evolution as A Scientific Theory

  • Evolution is considered to be a scientific theory

    • Recall: A theory is a collection of well-tested and consistent hypotheses

  • There are multiple different ways the theory of evolution is supported

    • 8 broad categories

10

Observations of Natural Selection in Action

  • We can observe how a species changes over time, and see natural selection as it occurs

    • Recall: our Australian Rabbits evolved to resist a natural virus

  • Bacteria provide the fastest way to see selection pressures

    • Antibiotic Resistance can be "selected for" in a population and become the most frequent trait

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Artificial Selection

  • Artificial Selection: The selective breeding of organisms with desirable traits to obtain desirable traits

    • Humans put selective pressure on a population rather than nature

  • This can result in drastic changes

  • Examples:

    • Agricultural Breeds

    • Dogs

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12

Darwin's Pigeons

  • When he returned to England, Darwin looked to support his theory by studying domesticated animals

  • Darwin bred pigeons to have fan-shaped tails

    • Only would breed individuals with the shape he wanted

      • Some additional characteristics would still be passed on, like the number of feathers

  • Over time, all the pigeons born from his breeding had more feathers than those he let breed normally

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13

Similarities in Body Structure

  • When we Observe the body structures of different organisms we see a lot of repeating patterns

    • Example: Arms in mammals follow a one-bone, two-bone, many bones, finger pattern

  • If all these organisms had originated independently, the bone structures would be more specialized to the function of the limb

    • It instead seems the structure was inherited from a common ancestor

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Homologous Structures

  • Homologous structures: Similar structures that related species have inherited from a common ancestor

    • Fossils are the main way of identifying homologous structures

      • Looking at extinct species can help show where a trait first appeared

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Vestigial Organs

  • Vestigial Organs: Organs in an organism that are not functional, but remain from a previous ancestor

  • Examples

    • Snakes have very tiny incomplete leg bones

    • Many species that live in dark caves still have eyes, even though they cannot see

    • Humans have a coccyx (tail bone) that remains from ancestors with tails

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DNA & Molecular Evidence

  • Closely related species have similar DNA Nucleotides

    • The more closely related, the more nucleotides in common

  • Noncoding regions are also common, which indicates that they would come from a shared ancestor

    • Noncoding regions are not selected for, and it is unlikely so many species would randomly develop the exact same ones without a common ancestor

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Multiple Choice

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Which of the species listed is the most distantly related to the horse?

1

Donkey

2

Rabbit

3

Snake

4

Turtle

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Multiple Choice

Scientists infer that species with similar body structures and development patterns had a common

1

Environment

2

Predator

3

Ancestor

4

Gene

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Multiple Choice

Only organisms with a desired characteristic are bred by people in

1

Artificial Selection

2

Natural Selection

3

England

4

South America

5

The Galapagos

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Patterns of Development

  • Related Species go through many of the same developmental stages

    • All animals start as a single cell organism

    • The Earliest stages of development look very similar for most organisms

      • Have a tail

      • Have gill slits near the throat

  • These indicate that we all started from the same common ancestor and are related

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21

Hierarchical Organization of Living Things

  • When we look at different organisms, we can put them into groups

    • Example: Vertebrates have a backbone

  • We can then further divide groups into smaller groups that share specific adaptations

  • The more closely related species are, the more traits they have in common

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22

Biogeography

  • Biogeography: The study of how species are distributed on Earth

  • Biogeography tends to be consistent with evolution

    • Organisms evolved in a certain place and left descendants in places where they were

    • Not all locations with the same habitat types have the same organisms

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Multiple Choice

Scientists infer evolutionary relationships by comparing the early development of different

1

dinosaurs

2

backbones

3

proteins

4

organisms

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Multiple Choice

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Structures with the same parts have different functions; suggests that organisms share a common ancestry
1
vestigial structures
2
homologous structures
3
adaptive radiation
4
fossil

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Multiple Choice

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Study of embryos of various organisms to show a common ancestor because of similarities in development
1
natural selection
2
embryology
3
speciation
4
evolution

26

Multiple Choice

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The diagram illustrates an embryonic stage of two organisms.

Which of the following can be determined by observing the embryos shown in the diagram
1
The organisms share a common ancestry.
2
The organisms belong to the same genus.
3
The organisms are native to the same geographic areas.
4
The organisms will grow into anatomically similar adults.

27

What are Fossils?

  • Fossil: the preserved remains or traces of living things

    • Includes things like:

      • Bones

      • Teeth

      • Imprints

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How do Fossils Form?

  • Most Fossils form when living things die and are buried by sediment

  • Are found in or near still water where sediment builds up

    • After an organism dies, the soft tissue decays quickly or gets eaten

      • ​Usually only hard tissues remains

    • Over time, sediment covers the organism in layers and hardens into rock

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What are the different kinds of Fossils?

  • ​Different kinds of of fossils include

    • Molds and Casts

    • Petrified Fossils

    • Carbon Films

    • Trace Fossils

    • Preserved Remains​

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Molds & Casts

  • The most common types of fossils

    • Preserve the fine details of the organisms (Textures, shapes)

  • Mold: a hollow area in sediment in the shape of an organism

    • Forms when the organism is buried in sediment

    • Just an imprint

  • Cast: A solid copy of the shape of an organism​ where sediment fills in spaces

    • Shows all the fine details

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Petrified Fossils

  • Petrified: turned to stone

  • In petrified fossils, minerals replace all or part of an organism

    • water seeps into the cells, carrying minerals

    • Eventually water evaporates and the minerals are left behind, taking the form of the organism

  • Are usually plants or bones​

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Carbon Films

  • An extremely thin layer of carbon is left behind of an organism

  • While other sediment is removed, the carbon leaves a flat image behind

  • Preserves the most delicate details of organisms

    • Shows the outer details of an organism

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Trace Fossils

  • Show activities of an organism

    • Foot prints

    • Nests

    • Scat

  • Can reveal what an organism did and ate

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Preserved Remains

  • Preserve the entire organism

    • Freezin​g in ice

    • Trapped in amber

      • Amber: Hardened tree sap

    • Tar Pits

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Answering The Jurassic Park Question

  • It isn't possible to retrieve DNA from remains in Amber

    • While some tissue remains, the DNA degrades over time

  • Frozen Fossils do preserve some DNA, but it is extremely difficult to extract

    • DNA degrades as the fossil thaws

      • Wooly Mammoth DNA has been preserved

    • 2021:​ Scientists believe they may have successfully retrieved DNA from a frozen dinosaur

      • tests remain inconclusive as to whether it is true Dinosaur DNA

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36

Multiple Choice

A __________ fossil can form when sediment buries the hard tissues of an organism.

1

mold/cast

2

Trace

3

Carbon Film

4

Petrified

37

Multiple Choice

A __________ fossil forms when minerals replace parts of an organism

1

mold/cast

2

Trace

3

Carbon Film

4

Petrified

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Multiple Choice

Which of the following can you learn from a carbon film fossil?

1

How an organism behaved

2

What an organism ate

3

Fine Details of an organisms body

4

The bone structure of an organism

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Multiple Choice

Which of the following substances is not able to preserve entire organisms?

1

Tar

2

Water

3

Amber

4

Ice

40

What do Fossils show?

  • Paleontologists: Scientists who study fossils

  • Paleontologists gather information into the Fossil Record

    • Provides evidence about the history of life and past environments on Earth

      • Helps show how organisms have changed over time

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Fossils and Past Environments

  • The types of fossils found in an area can tell what the area was like in the past

    • Can tell if a location was under water or on land

      • Can distinguish between fresh and salt water

    • Can show the previous climates of area

      • Antartica has coal deposits, which only form in warm climate

42

Change and the Fossil Record

  • Looking through the fossil record, changes in species can be seen

    • Organisms become more complicated in subsequent generations

    • Older rocks have simpler organisms, while newer rock has more complex organisms

  • Extinct: a type of organism no longer ​exists and will no longer reproduce on Earth

    • This can occur due to different factors like environmental changes

    • Fossils help scientists construct models of what extinct organisms could have looked like

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Multiple Choice

How do fossils provide evidence that evolution has happened on Earth?
1
Fossils show how the sizes of certain animals has changed drastically over millions of years
2
Fossils show that some species have gone extinct
3
Fossils show how life forms present today are different than those from the past
4
Different sedimentary rock layers provide evidence for how the environment has changed over time

44

Multiple Choice

This is the sort of scientist who studies fossils/

1

Geologist

2

Evolutionist

3

Paleontologist

4

Fossilist

45

Multiple Choice

_____________ is the gradual change in living things over long periods

1

Evolution

2

Petrification

3

Fossilization

4

Paleontology

​Science Root of the Day:

DO NOW: Write what you think the example words mean in your lab manual.

Extra Credit: Find three additional words that use this root and write them and their definition in your lab manual (6 Points Max)

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