3.2 Origin of Biodiversity

Significant Ideas:

• Evolution is a gradual change in the genetic character of populations over many generations, achieved largely through the mechanism of natural selection.

• Environmental change gives new challenges to species, which drives the evolution of diversity.

• There have been major mass extinction events in the geological past.

Applications & Skills:

• Explain how plate activity has influenced evolution and biodiversity.

• Discuss the causes of mass extinctions.