Darwin’s Natural Selection Worksheet (40 Points)
Name____________________________
Date _____________________
Read the following situations below and answer ALL the questions using ​BLUE
or ​PURPLE​ text. Everywhere you see a short line, you need to enter an answer.
1. There are 2 types of worms: worms that eat at night (nocturnal)
and worms that eat during the day (diurnal). The birds eat during
the day and seem to be eating ONLY the diurnal worms. The
nocturnal worms are in their burrows during this time. Each
spring when the worms reproduce, they have about 500 babies
but only 100 of these 500 ever become old enough to reproduce.
A. What type of worm has natural selection selected AGAINST? ____
B. What type of worm has natural selection selected FOR? ____
C. Identify Darwin’s key points in the worm scenario above.
C1. Does this population have variations, yes or no? _____
C2. Which variation(s) is/are favorable _____Why? _____
C3. Do more offspring get produced than survive? _____
C4. Describe the survival rate ______
C5. How will this population change/evolve over time? ______
2) There are 3 types of polar bears: ones with thick coats, ones
with thin coats and ones with medium coats. It is fall, soon to
be winter. The temperatures are dropping rapidly and the bears
must be kept warm, or they will freeze to death. Many of the
bears have had around 2 cubs each but due to the extreme
temperatures, many mothers only have one cub left.
A. What type of polar bear has natural selection selected AGAINST? ____
B. What type of polar bear has natural selection selected FOR? ____
C. Identify Darwin’s key points in the polar bear scenario above.
C1. Does this population have variations, yes or no? _____
C2. Which variation(s) is/are favorable _____Why? _____
C3. Do more offspring get produced than survive? _____
C4. Describe the survival rate ______
C5. How will this population change/evolve over time? ______
3) In ostriches, there are 2 types: ones that run fast and those
that run slowly. The fast birds can reach up to 40 miles an
hour. Jackals love to eat ostrich, and they can reach speeds
of up to 35-40 miles per hour. A flock of ostrich will lay
about 10 eggs (each mother only lays 1), but many rodents
break into the eggs and eat the fetus before they hatch.
A. What type of ostrich has natural selection selected AGAINST? ____
B. What type of ostrich has natural selection selected FOR? ____
C. Identify Darwin’s key points in the ostrich scenario above.
C1. Does this population have variations, yes or no? _____
C2. Which variation(s) is/are favorable _____Why? _____
C3. Do more offspring get produced than survive? _____
C4. Describe the survival rate ______
C5. How will this population change/evolve over time? ______
4) There are two types of rabbits: those that strictly eat grass
and those that strictly eat berries and flowers. A drought occurs
one year, and the plants have difficulty producing any extras
(flowers, berries, etc.).They can only try and keep themselves
green. The rabbits have had babies all year long but many are
eaten by foxes or hawks. Due to the drought, many have starved
to death.
A. What type of rabbit has natural selection selected AGAINST? ____
B. What type of rabbit has natural selection selected FOR? ____
C. Identify Darwin’s key points in the rabbit scenario above.
C1. Does this population have variations, yes or no? _____
C2. Which variation(s) is/are favorable _____Why? _____
C3. Do more offspring get produced than survive? _____
C4. Describe the survival rate ______
C5. How will this population change/evolve over time? ______
5) Bob believes that giraffes have long necks because they
have stretched their necks to try and reach food that is high
in trees. Since the parent had stretched its neck, it passed
the long neck on to its offspring.
Ryan believes that giraffes have long necks because the ones
with long necks were able to reach the food, and those with
short necks could not and died. The long necked giraffes
reproduced, and soon all of the giraffes had long necks.
Who has a better theory of evolution, BOB or RYAN? ________________
Types of Natural Selection (10 Points)
Read each passage and identify the type of natural selection by changing the
text color to B
​ LUE​ or ​PURPLE​. In addition, choose one of the bell-curve
graphs below to ​copy and paste​ that corresponds to the type of selection.
Do not move these three images​.
These are your m
​ asters​ for copying and pasting.
1) Long necks make it easier for giraffes to reach leaves high on trees,
while also making them better fighters in “neck wrestling” contests. In
both cases, which kind of selection appears to have made giraffes the
long-necked creatures they are today?
a.Directional selection b.Stabilizing selection c.Disruptive selection
Paste Graph Here ------->
2) Women often have complications during labor while giving birth to very
large babies, whereas very small babies tend to be underdeveloped. This
situation results in which kind of selection on birth weight?
a.Directional selection b.Stabilizing selection c. Disruptive selection
Paste Graph Here ------->
3)Black-bellied seedcrackers have either small beaks (better for eating soft
seeds) or large beaks (better for hard seeds). There are no seeds of
intermediate hardness;therefore, which kind of selection acts on beak size
seed crackers?
a.Directional selection b.Stabilizing selection c.Disruptive selection
Paste Graph Here ------->
4)Small Aristelliger lizards have difficulty defending territories, but large
lizards are more likely to be preyed upon by owls. This situation results in
what kind of selection on adult body size?
a.Directional selection b.Stabilizing selection c.Disruptive selection
Paste Graph Here ------->