Choose the Natural Selection Lesson

EVOLUTION

1. What are three misconceptions people have about natural selection?

2. Which salamanders produced the most offspring? ______.

3. A fit individual is one that ______and ______.

4. match up

5. What affects the survival of Euphorbia damarana ?______

6. Provide an example of chance that would reduce an organism’s fitness?______

7. What improves a male damselflies fitness? ______

8. Natural selection acts on the ______that is already ______in populations.

9. What variation existed in the salamander populations? ______

10. What was the selective pressure acting on the a salamander population? ______

11. Darwin found that populations ______by the mechanism of natural selection. Natural

selection happens because ______differ in how well they ______and

______based on how well their ______suit them for their ______.

12. Mummichogs, Fundulus heteroclitus, require the help of a liver enzyme, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), to maintain a high metabolic rate. Why do they need a high metabolic rate?

13. Why is a mutation (to Bb) in a liver cell for high LDH not enough to improve a (bb) mummichog’s fitness for coldwater?

14. How does mold on bread kill bacteria?

15. Do the simulation and complete the tables below:

AA / Aa / aa
Start of Generation 1
# of Survivors in Generation 1
# of Survivors in Generation 2
# of Survivors in Generation 3
Start of
Generation 1 / Survivors of Generation 1 / Survivors of Generation 2 / Survivors of Generation 3
A / a / A / a / A / a / A / a

16. What is the evidence for moth evolution? ______

17. What does natural selection act on? ______

Biological Warfare and the Coevolutionary Arms Race

1. What is the difference between poison and venom?

2. How did scientists test to see if the rough skinned newt was poisonous and what were the results?

3. What type of toxin is tetrodotoxin (TTX) and how deadly is it?

4. Evolutionary theory predicts that natural selection will weed out newts with too little or too much TTX. What is the disadvantage of having too little TTX? What is the disadvantage of having too much TTX?

5. What is coevolution?

6. How did researchers test whether toxicity in newts was a heritable trait?

7. How did researchers determine whether toxicity affected reproductive success?

8. How did the researchers test snake crawling speed?

9. You would expect newts to evolve just enough TTS to avoid snake predation but not more and snakes to evolve just enough resistance to eat a newt but not more. This is because tradeoffs are involved. Fill in the boxes below.

10. What evidence strongly supported the Brodies’ hypothesis that garter snakes and newts had coevolved.

Evolution Simulation

Try the finch simulation.

1. How does precipitation affect seed size?

2. How does a change in seed size correlate

to a change in finch beak size?

3. Complete the chart:

Abingdon Island / Bindloe Island
Beak Size / 20 / 17
Precipitation / 50 / 50
Number of years / 300 / 300
Beak Size at end of experiment
Total population at end of experiment

4. What starting parameters would produce an ending population of 925?

Mechanisms: the processes of evolution

(start here and click next for eight pages until URL ends with evo_22)

1. Why is the first case, Beetles on a diet,not considered evolution while the second case, Beetles of a different color, is considered evolution?

MECHANISMS OF CHANGE
Mutation
Migration
Genetic Drift
Natural Selection

SOURCES OF GENETIC VARIATION
Mutations / Definition:
Three Outcomes:
Two Causes:
Gene Flow
(migration)
Sex