APES Chapter 4 Questions
Your answers should be complete sentences.
1. Why is Earth a remarkable planet? Why is it uniquely suited for life as we know it?
2. How do scientists account for the development of life on Earth?
3. What is biological evolution by natural selection, and how can it account for the current
diversity of organisms on the Earth?
4. How can geologic processes, climate change, and catastrophes affect biological evolution?
5. What is an ecological niche, and how does it help a population adapt to changing environmental
conditions?
6. How do extinction of species and formation of new species affect biodiversity?
7. How did we become such a powerful species in a short time?
8. Explain why a population’s ability to adapt to new environmental conditions through natural
selection is limited by its gene pool and how fast it can reproduce.
9. Why is a panda bear more prone to extinction than a raccoon?
10. Explain how a coastal wetland demonstrates resource partitioning.
11. Explain how geographic isolation can lead to speciation.
12. Differentiate between artificial selection and transgenic organisms.
APES Chapter 4 Vocabulary
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Natural selection
Differential reproduction
Adaptation
Coevolution
Hybrid
Gene pool
Fitness
Niche
Generalist species
Specialist species
Resource partitioning
Evolutionary divergence
Speciation
Geographic isolation
Endemic species
Artificial selection
Genetic engineering
Reproductive isolation
19. Transgenic organisms
20. Biological evolution