Summer 2006 Workshop
in Biology and Multimedia
for High School Teachers
The Case for Evolution
Lucy McKone
Lincoln County Schools, Mississippi
July 2006
Is there any evidence to support
that EVOLUTION stuff?
I believe so. First, let’s
clarify the theory. Then
we’ll review the evidence.
This article is licensed under the
"http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metasyntactic_variable
Life Sciences-HHMI Outreach. Copyright 2006 President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Basic Clarification
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Theory = an explanation that has
been tested in many ways
Life has existed for billions of
years.
Evolution deals the the history of
life changes, not the origin.
Image courtesy of the UC Museum of Paleontology
Understanding Evolution:
http://evolution.berkeley.edu.
Life Sciences-HHMI Outreach. Copyright 2006 President and Fellows of Harvard College.
The Case for
Evolution
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Homologous (Similar)
Structures
Fossils
DNA
Embryonic Structures
This article is licensed under the
"http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metasyntactic_variable
Life Sciences-HHMI Outreach. Copyright 2006 President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Homologous
Structures
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Different organisms sharing
similar structures
Name a bone that is found in
each animal.
What does that indicate????
Common ancestor?
For more practice, and a
comparison of homologous and
analogous structures, click on the
following link:
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/si
milarity_hs_02
Image courtesy of the UC Museum of Paleontology
Understanding Evolution: http://evolution.berkeley.edu.
Life Sciences-HHMI Outreach. Copyright 2006 President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Embryonic
Development
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Embryos of many organisms are
alike in early stages of
development.
Body appendages (limbs) on
many organisms start as buds of
tissue from the body surface.
These are often clues to shared
ancestry.
Image courtesy of the UC Museum of Paleontology Understanding
Evolution: http://evolution.berkeley.edu."
Life Sciences-HHMI Outreach. Copyright 2006 President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Fossils
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Principle of Superposition: Older fossils are
found toward the bottom.
Radioactive Dating: determines the age of
organisms:
Carbon isotopes for organic matter
Uranium, Potassium or Rubidium isotopes
for rocks with fossil imprints.
Image courtesy of the UC Museum of Paleontology
Understanding Evolution: http://evolution.berkeley.edu.
Life Sciences-HHMI Outreach. Copyright 2006 President and Fellows of Harvard College.
Fossils
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Height, feet and teeth of horses
evolved over 60 million years.
Why?
Possibly adapting to new habitat,
such as grasslands as they
developed
These fossil organisms represent
branches on the tree and not a direct
line of descent leading to modern
horses. It does show transition.
(http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/lines_0
3)
Image courtesy of the UC Museum of Paleontology
Understanding Evolution: http://evolution.berkeley.edu.
Life Sciences-HHMI Outreach. Copyright 2006 President and Fellows of Harvard College.
DNA
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Organisms that are closely
related should have similar
DNA
http://www.biolessons.com/lessonplans/evolution/tutorial/default.asp
Similar DNA indicates
sharing a common ancestor
at one time.
Life Sciences-HHMI Outreach. Copyright 2006 President and Fellows of Harvard College.