BP Unit#4 Evolution

The beaks of finches found on various Galapagos Islands differed based on:

• The available food supply

• The size of their island

• The length of their wings

• The predators that hunted them

Species go extinct when:

• They can't adapt to environmental changes quickly enough; think of the dinosaur.

• They've survived for longer than ten million years.

• Their genetic code changes.

• They lose the ability to evolve.

What is evolution?

• How organisms change over a long period of time.

• When animals move to warmer climates in the winter.

• When people breed organisms to get desirable traits.

• Ancient rock layers and the fossils they contain.

What is a scientific theory?

• An explanation for how a certain things happen, backed up by lots and lots of evidence.

• An educated guess.

• A conclusion based on only researching topics with which you agree.

• The hypothesis in an experiment.

Which best describes the function of a vestigial structure?

• It no longer has any function.

• It has the same function it had in its ancestor.

• It is a new structure that its ancestor did not have.

• It's function has changed over time.

An adaptation is a trait that helps an organism do what?

• Survive and reproduce

• Run faster

• Fight better

• Become larger and stronger

In the phrase "survival of the fittest," to what does the term "fittest" refer?

• The best-adapted organisms

• The biggest organisms

• The smartest organisms

• The strongest organisms

What kind of mutation would be most beneficial to a population of giraffes living in an area with many tall trees?

• Giraffes with longer necks have greater access to more food because they can reach leaves on higher tree branches.

• Being able to run faster.

• Having sharper horns

• Living in a large herd.

What are the parts (or features) that lead to natural selection? Use page SJp.73

• Overproduction, competition, variation, selection

• Competition, selection, extinction

• Selective breeding, evolution, competition

• Observations, fossil record, competition, evolution

How did Darwin come up with the theory of evolution?

• He compared thousands of species from his travels on the Beagle.

• He learned about it in college and expanded the ideas.

• He stole it from other scientists.

• He and his friends developed it together.