Lessons
Darwin's Theory
Evidence of Evolution
The Fossil Record
Terms and Concepts
Biological Evolution
Theory of Evolution
Plate Tectonics Theory
Law of Superposition
adaptations
analogous & homologous structures
fossils
sedimentary rock
causes of extinction
Biological Classification
taxonomy
Charles Darwin & natural selection
Favorable and inherited traits
NC Standards - Evolution and Genetics
8.L.4 Understand the evolution of organisms and landforms based on evidence, theories and processes that impact the Earth over time.
8.L.4.2 Explain the relationship between genetic variation and an organism’s ability to adapt to its environment.
Lesson 1, Darwin's Theory
What is Darwin’s theory of evolution?
What is natural selection?
What are adaptations?
What causes adaptations?
What is an example of an adaptation that allows humans to survive?
What happens to species that are not able to adapt?
How do variations relate to survival?
What is an example of the lack of genetic variation ensuring death?
What is an example of genetic variation ensuring survival?
How do mutations to a species’ genes ensure the survival of its offspring?
Lesson 2, Evidence of Evolution
How do fossils help scientists understand evolution?
What other tool helps scientists to link common ancestors?
What are homologous structures?
What is an example of organisms with similar homologous structures?
What are analogous structures?
What is an example of organisms with similar analogous structures?
What do branching trees illustrate?
How can species that look totally different be linked?
How do new species form?
What is taxonomy?
Lesson 3, The Fossil Record
How do fossils form?
What are the ways in which you can date fossils?
How do you determine relative age?
How do you determine radioactive dating?
What do scientists learn from fossils?
What is the fossil record?
What kind of information does the Geologic Time Scale provide?
What are the topics of unanswered questions about the history of the Earth?
What is gradualism?
What is punctuated equilibrium?
Transitional Fossils
A transitional fossil is any fossilized remains of a life form that exhibits traits common to both an ancestral group and its derived descendant group. This is especially important where the descendant group is sharply differentiated by gross anatomy and mode of living from the ancestral group.
Study Guide and Test Review
EOG Questions
1. What do transitional fossils best support?
a. the Law of Superposition
b. the Theory of Biological Evolution
c. the Theory of Continental Drift
d. the Theory of Geological Evolution
2. Which evidence supports the idea that life on Earth has continually evolved?
a. evidence from layers of tree rings
b. evidence from rock layers, fossils, and ice cores
c. evidence gathered from melting glaciers
d. evidence that the climate has changed over the past 100 years
3. Scientists think that dolphins and whales may have evolved from a common ancestor. What evidence supports this hypothesis?
a. They eat the same food.
b. They have similar anatomies.
c. They live in the same area of the ocean.
d. They swim the same way.
4. _____ Which is the best evidence for evolution?
a. new rock layers containing fossils of simple organisms
b. new rock layers containing fossils unlike existing organisms
c. old rock layers containing fossils of complex organisms
d. old rock layers containing fossils unlike existing organisms
5. What process is most responsible for the extinction of most species of plants and animals that have lived on Earth?
a. decrease in reproduction
b. environmental changes
c. gene mutation
d. selective breeding
6. If a bat, an alligator, and a bird evolved from a common ancestor, what most likely can be concluded?
a. They are able to survive changes in their environments.
b. They are in the same biological classification.
c. They have similar anatomical structures.
d. They live in the same part of the world.
7. Which would indicate that a series of fossils represent the evolution of the horse?
a. All of the fossils are completely identical to horse bones.
b. All of the fossils show similar structures to that of the modern horse.
c. All of the fossils were found in the same layers of rocks as horse fossils.
d. All of the fossils were located in the same place on Earth as horses.
8. Recent changes in species can be found in the upper layers of rock. This provides a link between which two scientific ideas?
a. cell theory and the theory of evolution
b. the Law of Superposition and the periodic nature of the elements
c. the periodic nature of the elements and cell theory
d. the theory of evolution and the Law of Superposition