Endangered and Extinct
Extinct organisms can be related to these types of organisms
Living or Extinct
Any remains, impression, or trace of a living thing of a former geologic age, as a skeleton, footprint, etc.
Fossil
These occur during reproduction and can cause new traits in a population
Mutations
The name of the mice living in the Sonora desert that have rapidly evolved due to a volcanic eruption
Rock Pocket Mice
The ability of populations of bacteria to develop resistance to antibiotics is an example of this
Natural Selection
This can cause the extinction of a species
Env. Change / Loss of Food / Disease / etc.
This process explains how hard parts of organisms, like bones or shells, are preserved in sediment over millions of years
Characteristic that affords organisms the ability to hide
Camouflage
The peppered moth evolved quickly due to this environmental change that occurred in England
Pollution (soot) from factory stacks coating the mostly white birch trees
These changes are sometimes helpful, sometimes harmful, and sometimes neither for a species
Mutations
This fossil studied in class is approximately 541 million years old
Trilobite
Fossils in deeper layers of rock are generally older than those in upper layers. Scientists use this principle to build these branching diagrams that show evolutionary relationships
Evolutionary tree
This term describes the differences of a trait within a population
Variation
Whales have evolved over millions of years. Did they evolve from sea mammals to land mammals or from land mammals to sea mammals?
Land mammals to sea mammals
Three factors that provide evidence for the theory of evolution
DNA, FOSSILS, FOSSIL LAYERS, EMBRYOS, AND HOMOLOGOUS STRUCTURES
Threatened with extinction
Endangered
Law that states that organisms found in deeper, undisturbed rock layers are older
Law of Superposition
Any alteration in the structure or function of an organism or any of its parts that results from natural selection and by which the organism becomes better fitted to survive and multiply in its environment.
Adaptations
Explain why over 40% of female African elephants are tuskless.
Due to strong poaching during two civil wars, many elephants with tusks (mostly male) were killed. Those without tusks (mainly females) survived long enough to reproduce and pass on the trait of being tuskless increasing the percentage of African elephants without tusks.
Charles Darwin developed his theories after studying many organisms. He based much of his theory of natural selection on this species.
Finches on the Galapagos Islands
Two of the extinct species fossils you identified
Trilobite, Ammonite
Explain why the fossil record is considered incomplete
Not all organisms can fossilize
Species that have favorable qualities survive long enough to reproduce- this is known as...
Survival of the fittest
What is a drill core and how does it aid us in understanding evolution?
Drill cores are cylindrical sample of rock, ice, or sediment that contains earth's layers and the history of life within them. We can use them to understand earth's climate, the history of life on earth, and past environments.
Genetic mutations occur during this process