Natural Selection
Standard 1.1 Natural selection is a major mechanism of evolution.
Performance Indicators
a. Convert a data set from a table of numbers that reflect a change in the genetic makeup of a population
over time and to apply mathematical methods and conceptual understandings to investigate the cause(s)
and effect(s) of this change. [SP 1.5, 2.2]
b. Evaluate evidence provided by data to qualitatively and quantitatively investigate the role of natural
selection in evolution. [SP 2.2, 5.3]
c. Apply mathematical methods to data from a real or simulated population to predict what will happen
to the population in the future. [SP 2.2]
Topic Presentation: Prezi
Videos By Paul Anderson:
click here
“Natural Selection”
“Examples of Natural Selection”
“Crash Course: Biology” Videos: Natural Selection: Biology #14
Text book reading: Ch 22 p. 452-459
Questions to answer:
1. Explain how the work of the following folks contributed to the development of the Theory of Natural Selection”
1. Thomas Malthus
2. Georges Cuvier
3. Charles Lyell
2. Explain how evolution as it was conceived of by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck differs from Natural Selection.
3. Draw a diagram illustrating the process of natural selection. Make sure your diagram includes all of the following
features:
1. Overproduction of offspring
4. competition
2. variation among individuals
5. differential reproductive success (fitness)
3. limited resources
6. adaptation
4. Explain how each of the following demonstrate Darwinian selection. For each, indicate the source of selection,
the criteria that determines fitness in the environment, and the end result of the selective process:
1. Artificial selection
2. Galapagos finches
3. The evolution of resistance in a population of insects or bacteria (you pick).
5. How has modern science refined our understanding of evolution since Darwin/Wallace’s publication?
Things you should make sure you understand:
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How the work of Charles Darwin was shaped by the contributions of other scientists from a variety of disciplines,
and the events of his life.
How evolution suggests an ancient Earth, and common ancestry of all living things, and how these two thoughts
are, in turn, supported by a wide variety of evidence.
Why evolution is still so controversial in certain parts of American society.
Lab: Evolution of Quackers
Class Activity: Color Variation In the Rock Pocket Mouse
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HHMI Biointeractive Click & Learn
Natural and Artificial Selection