Www.njctl.org PSI Biology Evolution

Evolution

Adaptations

Classwork

1. Explain how the LUCA principle helps to explain the universal nature of the

genetic code.

2. What is an adaptation?

3. Explain how competition can help drive the process of evolution.

4. Suppose you are studying a population of bacteria in a lab. Some of the bacteria

are born with a mutation that provides them resistance to antibiotics. Explain

how competition in this population can lead to evolution and make a prediction of

how this evolution will occur.

Homework

5. Pick an animal and provide an example of an adaptation that makes it more fit for

its environment.

6. Explain why competition exists between individuals in a population, or between

individuals of different species.

7. Explain the relationship between the genetic code and the origin of evolutionary

adaptations.

Theories of Evolution

Classwork

8. Explain the error in Lamarck¡¯s theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics.

9. What is epigenetics?

10. Explain why the Galapagos Islands proved to be an integral part of Darwin¡¯s

voyage.

11. What distinguishing feature exists between finches of the Galapagos Islands?

What environmental factor creates these differences?

12. Suppose you are studying big cats around the world. How can you use their

physical structures to study evolutionary relationships? What is the term for this

process?

13. Using Darwinian terminology, explain why a bird would possess wings that are

too small to allow it to fly.

14. Explain why, at one point in our embryonic development, human beings have gill

slits.

15. According to Darwin¡¯s theory of natural selection, what will happen to the

frequency of an allele that allows an organism to successfully compete for

resources in a population?

16. Why is rRNA an especially useful tool when analyzing evolutionary relationships

between organisms?

17. ¡®Modern Synthesis¡¯ combines the original work of what two revolutionary

scientists?

Homework

18. Explain how epigenetics proves that at least some of Lamarck¡¯s theory was

accurate.

19. Pick one of the organisms Darwin studied in the Galapagos and explain how it

helped him to develop his theory of evolution.

20. How is comparative anatomy useful in determining evolutionary relationships?



PSI Biology

Evolution

21. What is the evolutionary term used to describe the similarity between the

structure of a bat wing and a human arm? How is this used to explain evolution?

22. Provide an example of a vestigial structure in the human body. Explain,

evolutionarily, why this structure exists.

23. Explain, in evolutionary terms, why a fish, pig, chicken and human are virtually

indistinguishable during their early developmental stages? What is the study of

this process called?

24. Scientists during Darwin¡¯s era discovered that the Earth was many millions of

years old (not a few thousand, as previously though) and that the Earth is

constantly changing. How did this influence the development of Darwin¡¯s theory?

25. Briefly summarize the theory of natural selection.

26. What role might fossils have played in the development of Darwin¡¯s theory?

27. Suppose humans share roughly 98% of our DNA with chimpanzees, 92% with

mice and 44% with fruit flies. How would you use this information to help

determine evolutionary relationships?

Natural Selection and Speciation

Classwork

28. What is speciation?

29. Which traits in an environment would tend to be favored in stabilizing selection?

30. Would more diversity exist in an environment that favors directional selection or

disruptive selection?

31. Suppose two species of plants are physically capable of interbreeding and their

gametes are compatible, yet interbreeding cannot occur. Suggest a hypothesis

for how this situation could arise.

Homework

32. What is the difference between directional selection and stabilizing selection?

33. Explain how the process of behavioral isolation can lead to speciation.

34. What is temporal isolation?

35. Suppose you are working as a caretaker at a zoo that has successfully bred a

zebra with a giraffe, but the offspring itself is unable to reproduce. Provide an

explanation to zookeepers to potentially explain this scenario.

36. Suppose you are studying two populations of foxes that are of the same species,

but have become geographically isolated due to deforestation. Over a decade,

you suspect that the two populations may have evolved into separate species.

Explain how you could determine whether this is true.

Population Genetics

Classwork

37. Is a group of sparrows and blue jays living in the same forest an example of a

population? Why or why not?

38. Scientists often refer to a population that exhibits a high level of genetic variability

as being ¡®elastic¡¯ or ¡®flexible.¡¯ Explain why these terms are used in this context.

39. Can the Hardy-Weinberg Equation be used to analyze multiple populations at

one time? Why or why not?

40. Identify three things that using the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium Equation can be

used to determine about a population.

41. Suppose you are studying a population in which 16% of the individuals are

homozygous recessive (bb). Using the Hardy-Weinberg equation, what is the

frequency of the recessive allele in the population?



PSI Biology

Evolution

42. Referring to the question above, what is the frequency of heterozygous

individuals in the population?

43. Suppose you are studying a population of sunfish in which long dorsal fins (L) are

completely dominant over short dorsal fins. You find that the population consists

of exactly 30% short finned fish. Calculate the frequency of homozygous

dominant individuals in the population.

44. Referring to question above, what is the frequency of the recessive allele in this

population?

45. Why is the Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium model more of a theoretical process than

a truly concrete procedure?

46. According to the requirements for Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium, are humans

evolving? Why or why not?

Homework

47. What is the relationship that exists between genetic variability in a population and

ability to respond to environmental changes?

48. For what purpose do scientists utilize the Hardy-Weinberg Equation?

49. What is the Hardy-Weinberg Equation?

50. Suppose you are studying a population of squirrels in which gray hair is

completely dominant over black hair. The frequency of homozygous dominant

individuals in the population is 41%. What is the frequency of the dominant allele

in the population?

51. Referring to question #51, what is the frequency of heterozygous individuals in

the population?

52. Suppose a population contains 10% homozygous recessive individuals. Using

the Hardy-Weinberg equation, what is the frequency of the dominant allele in this

population?

53. Identify three of the factors that need to be met in order for the Hardy-Weinberg

Equilibrium Equation to be effectively utilized.

54. Utilizing the Hardy-Weinberg equation, how can scientists determine whether or

not a population is evolving?

Genetic Drift and Patterns of Macroevolution

Classwork

55. What is genetic drift?

56. Explain how genetic drift can reduce, or even eliminate variation from a

population.

57. Can genetic drift eliminate variation from a population where there was a

consistently changing set of environmental conditions? Explain your answer.

58. Suppose you are studying an isolated population of elk in Canada that is under

intense hunting pressure. Provide an explanation from a genetic standpoint why

strict hunting regulations should be enacted for this area. Be sure to use

appropriate vocabulary.

59. What is the ¡®Founder Effect?¡¯

60. Explain why it is important that populations maintain a certain degree of genetic

diversity.

61. Explain how is it possible that 99% of all species that have ever existed are now

extinct.

62. Using the finches of the Galapagos Islands, explain the process of adaptive

radiation.



PSI Biology

Evolution

63. Both cacti (North America) and a group of plants called euphorbs (Africa) have

developed adaptations for surviving drought-like conditions, but they are not

believed to be closely related. Explain how this could possibly occur and the

name for the process.

64. In western North America, there is a species of flowering plant that has an

exceptionally long, deep flower, as well as a species of moth that has an

exceptionally long tongue. Explain how evolutionary theory could likely explain

the seemingly coincidental occurrence of these two species.

65. Explain how a rapid environmental change could lead to punctuated equilibrium.

Homework

66. Does genetic drift tend to have a more drastic impact on large or small

populations? Explain your answer.

67. What effect does a population bottleneck have on the genetic diversity of a

population?

68. Explain why a group that has endured a population bottleneck may be more

vulnerable to disease in the future.

69. Suppose you are a marine biologist working to repopulate the Atlantic bluefin

tuna in the Gulf of Mexico after years of overfishing. Explain why it is important

that you choose a genetically diverse group of tuna for your repopulation. If you

failed to do this, what situation could possible occur?

70. Using what you know about genetic diversity, explain why consanguineous

marriages are frowned upon in most cultures.

71. Explain how population bottleneck and founder effect may contribute to the

extinction of a species.

72. Is extinction a natural process? Explain your answer.

73. What role does the environment play in the process of adaptive radiation?

74. Why do you think it is important to study evolution?

75. Suppose you are studying anteaters in Africa. You find that the anteaters have

developed uniquely long noses and the ants in the area have developed larger

jaws for digging deeper in the hard soil. Explain how the two adaptations could

be related.

76. What is the name of the process described in the above question?

Free Response

1. Darwin gathered evidence to posit his theory of evolution. One category of

evidence was comparative anatomy. Within this category he described

homologous structures. Respond to the prompts below based upon the evidence

of homologous structures.

a. Explain what is meant by homologous structures.

b. The image below shows the forearm of a crocodile as well as the forearm

of a mouse. What do we learn about organisms from comparing

homologous structures such as these?



ary/article/similarity_hs_10



PSI Biology

Evolution

2. Recall the central dogma of biology: ¡°The central dogma of molecular

biology states that biological information flows in only one direction, from DNA to

RNA to proteins.¡± Using this as our foundation, explain what we can learn, about

evolution, from the fact that organisms from bananas to primates to humans,

produce and utilize common polypeptides. (utilize the terms proteins,

transcription, translation)

3. Natural selection causes changes in populations. Below is a graph representing

one type of selection pressure. Respond to the prompts with this graph, and

what it represents, in mind.

a. What is the term used for this type of selection?

b. When does this type of selection occur?



y/evolution/naturalselection/sectio

n1.rhtml

c. Use the peppered moth information provided and the image below to

describe how the population changed over time (use the following

information: dark colored moths, light colored moths, coal and black soot)



2/evrim_teorisi/turlerin_evrimi_yala

ni/turlerin_evrimi_yalani9.htm

4. The Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium using population and genetic information to

determine the possible evolution of a population. Respond to the following

prompts on the basis of the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (as shown below): p2 +

2pq + q2 = 1

a. Blondes occur in 36% of a particular self- contained human population.

Calculate the frequency of the recessive allele.

b. Calculate the frequency of the dominant allele.

c. Calculate the frequency of the heterozygous genotype.

d. List two of the five conditions that must be met in order for a population to

meet the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium.



PSI Biology

Evolution

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