Natural Selection
More on Natural Selection
Adaptations
Fossils
Scenarios
100
This process, sometimes described as "survival of the fittest", describes how organisms with traits that are favorable for survival tend to survive longer, reproduce, and pass those traits on to their offspring.

What is natural selection?

100

A term that refers to any living thing.

What is an organism?

100

Any inherited trait that gives an organism an advantage in its particular environment.

What is an adaptation?
100

These are the preserved remains of a once-living organism.

What are fossils?

100

An example of this type of adaptation is the presence of blood vessels close to the surface of kangaroo ears to aid in the release of body heat to keep the kangaroo cool.

What is a structural adaptation?

200
This word is defined as the generation of organisms that results from the reproduction of parent organisms.

What is offspring?

200

This terms refers to the physical features or characteristics of an organism.

What is trait?

200

This type of adaptation is related to physical features of an organism that increase the possibility of survival and/or reproduction.

What is structural adaptation?

200

This type of fossil is the hollowed out space left behind in rock of the hard parts of an organism.

What is a mold fossil?

200

The widening and narrowing of an organism's pupils in response to low or high amounts of light is an example of this type of adaptation.

What is a physiological adaptation?

300

This factor that influences natural selection does so by parent organisms having more offspring than the environment is prepared to support.

What is overproduction?

300

True or False:

Giraffes trying over and and over again to reach higher and higher branches for food results in the neck of the giraffe getting longer and longer over many generations is an example of natural selection.

False

300

This type of adaptation identifies and describes actions an organism may perform to increase the possibility of survival and/or reproduction.

What is a behavioral adaptation?

300

This type of fossil includes hard and soft tissues preserved by substances such as ice, tar, or amber.

 

What is preserved remains?

300

A dog having 9 puppies in its litter is an example of this factor that influences natural selection.

What is overproduction?

400

This factor that influences natural selection describes the presence many natural differences in traits within a species.

What is variation?

400

Fact:  Parahippus had 3 toes and Equus has 1 toe.  

True or False:  This change over time could have occurred because parahippus kept breaking its extra toes when running to escape predators.  Over time, to improve its chances for survival, parahippus had offspring with only 1 toe instead of 3.

False

400

This type of adaptation relates to biological processes that occur within an organism that increases the possibility of survival and/or reproduction.

What is a physiological adaptation?

400

This type of fossil involves hard tissues being replaced by minerals.

What is a petrified fossil?

400

The puffer fish swelling up to appear much larger is an example of this type of adaptation.

What is a behavioral adaptation?

500

This factor that influences natural selection describes how an adaptation becomes favored over time resulting in the adaptation becoming more common within a species.

What is selection?

500

Fact:  Sharks have multiple rows of sharp teeth so that when a tooth is lost for various reasons, another one is ready and waiting to take its place.

True or False:  The most likely explanation for multiple rows of teeth in a shark's mouth is because, in the past, some sharks within a species had a single row of teeth and some had an extra row.  The sharks with extra rows of teeth were better able to catch prey for longer periods of their lifetimes increasing their survival and chances for reproduction.  They were able to pass this trait on to their offspring.

True

500

Sometimes adaptations are the result of this type incorrect translation of an organism's genetic code that ends up being favorable for survival and/or reproduction.

What is a mutation?

500

Identify this type of fossil:

What is a carbon film fossil?

500

The image below is of land snail shells.  This image best illustrates what factor that influences natural selection?

What is variation?