Chapter 16 Questions
Vocabulary: Evolution, artificial selection, natural selection, adaptation, fossil, homologous, speciation, theory, The HMS Beagle, linear growth curve, exponential growth curve, population, geology, biogeography, embryology, anatomy, modern synthesis, microevolution, macroevolution, convergent evolution, coevolution, adaptive radiation, extinction, gradualism, punctuated equilibrium
1. Why is evolutionary theory associated with Charles Darwin?
2. How was Darwin influenced by his personal experiences? Cite some examples.
3. How was Darwin influenced by the ideas of others?
4. What does evolution mean in biology?
5. Explain the phrase, “descent with modification.”
6. When did Darwin first see evidence of evolution?
7. What defines a species? (Hint: Your syllabus can help you with the answer to this).
8. Darwin was influenced by a number of scholars in a variety of scientific fields. Three people in particular were particularly important: Jean Baptiste Lamarck, Thomas Malthus, and Charles Lyell. Briefly explain the contribution each of these men had on Darwin’s beliefs.
9. What is Lamarckian inheritance? Is it a good or a bad explanation? Explain.
10. Darwin observed that artificial selection can produce specific traits. Suppose a farmer has a corn crop in which each ear of corn has some yellow kernels and some has white kernels. Describe how the farmer could produce a variety of corn that has all white kernels.
11. Outline Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. Be sure to include four logical steps.
12. What were the strengths and weaknesses of Darwin’s ideas?
13. Why are Darwin’s ideas now widely accepted?
14. Is natural selection the same thing as evolution?
15. Use the theory of natural selection to explain how the average running speed of zebras might increase over time.
16. How has Darwin’s theory been updated?
17. Can an individual evolve?
18. Is evolution the survival of the fittest?
19. Is evolution predictable?
20. Describe how natural selection provides a mechanism for evolution.
21. Explain how a new species or variety of organism is believed to have originated through the evolutionary process of natural selection.
22. Explain, using examples, how the fossil record, comparative anatomy, and other evidence supports the theory of evolution.
23. Explain how natural selection leads to organisms that are well suited for the environment (comment on the differential survival and reproduction of chance inherited variants, and the role environmental conditions play in this phenomenon.)
24. Explain how evolution through natural selection can result in changes in biodiversity.