Natural Selection
This scientist is famous for developing the theory of natural selection after his voyage on the HMS Beagle.
Who is Charles Darwin?
In a food chain, this organism always comes first because it makes its own food.
What is a producer?
These preserved remains of ancient organisms give us evidence of how life has changed over time.
What are fossils?
Green and brown beetles live in a field. After a drought kills all the grass, almost all beetles are brown after 20 generations. Why?
Brown beetles were better camouflaged on bare dirt, survived longer, and passed the brown trait to more offspring.
True or false: All adaptations are physical features you can see.
What is false? (Behavioural adaptations also exist)
This term describes a physical feature of an animal that helps it survive in its environment, like a duck's webbed feet.
What is a structural/physical adaptation?
A hawk eats a snake, which ate a frog, which ate a grasshopper, which ate grass. The hawk is at this level of the food chain.
What is a tertiary (or top) consumer?
Darwin observed 13 species of these birds in the Galápagos, each with differently shaped beaks suited to different food sources.
What are finches (Darwin's finches)?
When wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995, rivers actually changed course. Name the chain of events that explains this.
Wolves reduced elk → elk stopped overgrazing riverbanks → plants regrew → roots stabilized soil → rivers stopped eroding.
A giraffe's long neck is an adaptation that helps it reach food in tall trees. This is an example of what type of adaptation?
What is a structural adaptation?
A population of moths lives on dark tree bark. Over time, more dark moths survive than light ones. This is an example of ___.
What is natural selection?
This term describes an organism that breaks down dead matter and returns nutrients to the soil.
What is a decomposer?
This is the word for tiny changes passed down from parents to offspring that can affect survival.
What are inherited traits?
This invertebrate has three hearts, blue blood, and can change colour and texture in under a second.
What is an octopus?
This is the term for a group of individuals of the same species living in the same area at the same time.
What is a population?
Natural selection favours individuals that are best suited to their environment. We say these individuals have survival of the ___.
What is the fittest?
When a top predator is removed from an ecosystem, prey populations explode. This effect is called a ___.
What is a trophic cascade?
The process of evolution works slowly over many of these.
What are generations (or millions of years)?
A cactus has spines, a waxy stem, and wide shallow roots. Give one reason why EACH feature helps it survive in the desert.
Spines → deter predators/reduce water loss; waxy stem → stores water; wide roots → absorb rain quickly
A polar bear's thick white fur helps it survive in the Arctic. Name TWO ways this fur is an adaptation.
What is insulation (warmth) AND camouflage?
This is the name for when an animal's colour or pattern helps it blend into its surroundings.
What is camouflage?
Energy is lost at each level of a food chain. Approximately what percentage of energy is passed on to the next level?
What is 10%?
Scientists compare the DNA of different species to determine how closely related they are. Two species with very similar DNA likely share a recent ___.
What is a common ancestor?
This term is the name by which a Hybrid mammal can reproduce when given a Lac Tepidus (Latin for warm glass of milk), some anesthesia and the help of a human breeder
FAKE NEWS
If a species cannot adapt to a changing environment fast enough, this is the likely outcome.
What is extinction?