Estimated Test Date: ___________________
Fundamental Concepts and Skills
1. Geologic Time – Understand how the Earth was believed to have
developed as well as the geologic time periods.
a. PreCambrian: any time before the Cambrian period (the first
period of the Paleozoic era).
b. Paleozoic – The Age of Fish and Amphibians:
“paleo”: ancient or old age
“zoic”: animal life
c. Mesozoic – The Age of Reptiles
Means middle animal life.
d. Cenozoic – The Age of Mammals
Means recent age of animals; is divided into epoch since it was so
recent.
2. Describe the perceived origins of life and the scientists who
contributed to them.
a. Theory of Vital Force – spontaneous generation.
b. Biogenesis
c. The Oparin Hypothesis.
d. Endosymbiont Hypothesis and the theory of the first cells on
Earth.
e. Contributions of Redi, Pasteur, Miller and Urey, etc.
3. Describe the contributions Darwin had to the evolutionary theory.
a. His travels and observations (Galapagos turtles and finches).
b. His collaboration and publications with fellow researchers such as
Malthus and Lamarck.
4. Describe how changes in the environment and natural selection
result in changes in populations.
a. All populations produce more offspring then the environment can
support.
b. This leads to a struggle with only a fraction of the offspring
surviving.
c. There is great variety among individuals of a population.
d. Thos individuals best fit to the environment survive and produce
more offspring.
e. The unequal ability of individuals to survive and reproduce leads
to gradual changes in a population, generation after generation.
5. Describe the evidence for evolution from molecular biology.
a. Closely related organisms have very similar DNA and amino acid
sequences.
b. Fewer differences in these sequences are seen between closely
related species.
c. More differences are seen between more distantly related species.
Reading
pp. 417-434
pp. 8-11; 13;
424; 427-428
pp. 369-387
pp. 397-410
pp. 393-396
6. Describe the basis for the current system for classification.
a. Organisms are grouped based on structural similarities –
Analogous and Homologous.
b. Organisms are grouped based on fossil evidence of common
ancestors – Useful and Vestigial.
c. Organisms are grouped based on similarities in developmental
stages – Embryological.
d. Organisms are grouped on similarities in DNA.
7. Describe how populations grow.
a. A population is a group of interbreeding individuals that live in
the same place at the same time, competing with one another for
food, water, shelter and mates.
b. The available resources (food, water, shelter, and mates) regulate
population growth.
c. Populations grow the fastest when there are excess resources
available.
d. Populations stop growing when the amount of resources start to
run out. The carrying capacity is the maximum number of
individuals in a population that can survive on available
resources.
e. A resource that an organism needs to survive is known as a
limiting factor.
Assessments
Field Trip to the Natural History
Museum
Peppered Moth Lab
Woolybooger Experiment
Sex and the Single Guppy
Population Webquest
pp. 382-385
pp. 435-440;
Chapter 5