Evolution/Adaptations
MA Curriculum Strands
10. Give examples of ways in which genetic
variation and environmental factors are causes of
evolution and the diversity of organisms.
11. Recognize that evidence drawn from geology,
fossils, and comparative anatomy provides the
basis of the theory of evolution.
12. Relate the extinction of species to a mismatch
of adaptation and the environment.
Define the following:
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Species
Evolution
Variation
Adaptation
Gradualism
Punctuated Equilibrium
Describe Natural
Selection
• See page 159.
• Copy the Table 1 and summarize
Compare and Contrast Acquired
Characteristics with Natural
Selection
Natural Selection
Hypothesis: Acquired Characteristics
Characteristics
developed during a
parent’s lifetime
will be passed to
the offspring.
Ex: bodybuilders
creating a muscular
child-False
Same
Both explain
how organisms
change over
time!
1.Organisms have more offspring,
much more than can survive.
2. Variations occur among the
species. Ex: different colored fur on
rabbits
3. Variations are passed to
offspring. (Babies)
4. Some variations are helpful…
those with these variations have a
reproductive edge.
5. Over time individuals
w/variations dominate the
population…become a separate
species
Evolution Summary
• Evolution is the result of random mutations in a
species.
• Mutations = Variations
• Helpful variations = Adaptations
• Adaptations give organisms an advantage and they
reproduce and pass these traits down and eventually
dominate and over very long periods of time become
a new species.
• Environmental pressures = Space, food, predators.
• Can be a slow or rapid process
Evidence for Evolution
Group 1
•Fossils
165 - 166
Group 2
•Aging &
Embryology
•167 - 169
Group 3
•Homologous
•Vestigial
Structures
•DNA 170 -171