Name ______________________________ Stream _____
What you should know about evolution
Thanks to Mr. Buckley
1. define the term evolution and recognize that current life forms have evolved from earlier life forms.
2. recognize that evolution provides an explanation for the differences in structure, function, and behavior among life forms.
3. recognize that radioactive dating has determined the approximate age of the earth as 4.6 billion years.
4. define the term fossil and list examples of these.
5. state the law of superposition and relate it to the age and complexity of fossils found in undisturbed horizontal rock layers (strata).
6. explain how observations of fossils in adjacent rock strata often support the theory of evolution.
7. define the term adaptation.
8. explain how gene mutations may be increased in incidence.
9. recognize that gene mutations can only be passed on to the offspring if they occur in an organism's sex cells.
10. define the term biological adaptation.
11. state Darwin's theory of natural selection and explain the following features in his theory; overproduction, competition, variations, survival of the fittest, reproduction, and speciation.
12. define the term adaptive variations.
13. explain some initial weaknesses of Darwin's theory.
14. compare the modern natural selection theory to that of Darwin.
15. state two sources of variation not recognized by Darwin.
16. explain the modern theory of natural selection.
17. explain why increased genetic diversity tends to enhance the survival of a species.
18. recognize that traits which are beneficial to an organism tend to enhance its survival, while traits which are not beneficial tend to hurt its chances for survival.
19. explain the following examples of evolution in modern times in terms of the theory of natural selection; peppered moth, insect resistance to insecticides, bacterial resistance to antibiotics.
20. recognize that evolutionary factors operate on populations, not individual organisms.
21. define the term speciation.
22. describe the variety of pathways evolution may take.
23. recognize that the extinction of a species may occur when the environment changes and the adaptive characteristics of an organism now longer support its survival.
24. recognize that extinction is common and that most of the organisms which have appeared on this planet through its evolutionary history are now extinct (99% it is thought)
25. recognize that the species is the fundamental unit of classification.
26. state the purpose of classification.
27. recognize that organisms are classified based on structural similarities and evolutionary relationships.
28. realize that small differences between parents and offspring can accumulate over successive generations so that descendants become very different from their ancestors.
29. recognize that the more similar two organisms DNA sequences, the more closely related they are from an evolutionary standpoint.
30. recognize that 3 to 4 billion years ago it is thought that the first primitive life appeared on the earth.
31. explain briefly the heterotroph hypothesis.
32. recognize that about 1 billion years ago, increasingly complex multicellular organisms began to appear.
33. recognize that the great diversity of organisms is the result of billions of years of evolution that has filled the available niches of the earth with life forms.
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