Name:
Period:
Clicker Review:
1. True or False: If a bunny has small ears and can’t hear as well, then he can grow bigger ears to be able to have a
better chance at surviving.
2. True or False: If two very muscular parents have children, their children will come out more muscular.
3. True or false: If a giraffe is trying to reach food up on a high branch, it can stretch its neck to reach the food. It
can then pass on the long neck gene to its offspring.
Adaptation Review:
1. There is a species of beetle that lives in a forest. There are two different traits the
beetles can have: they can be tan or they can be green.
2. Which trait would be naturally selected for in the forest?
___________________________________________
3. Why?
_______________________________________________________
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Some people come by this forest and cut down all the trees. While
they are cutting, some beetles of both colors are able to burrow
into the ground.
4. What trait would be selected for now after deforestation?
__________________________________________
5. Why?
___________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________
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Interpret the Graph:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Examine the graph to the right.
What does the X-axis represent?
_____________________________
What does the Y-axis represent?
_____________________________
Do you see any time in the past 600 million
years that zero species have gone extinct in a
year? If so, when did this happen?
_______________________________________
_______________________________________
What is the smallest number of families that
went extinct can you see on the graph?
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The tall spikes on this graph are labeled “mass extinctions”. What do you think a “mass extinction” might be?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
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What are 3 things you think could have caused these mass extinctions?
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Mass Extinction Notes:
Which is the correct definition?
Mass extinction occurs when an event causes ONE species to go extinct.
Mass extinction occurs when MANY species go extinct in a short period of time.
Mass extinction occurs when several species go extinct over a long period of time.
Causes of Mass Extinction:
Match each cause of mass extinction with its description below.
Impact Event
Sea Level Change
Volcanism
Climate Change
Species Competition
What is it?
When an asteroid or comet hits Earth, it can carry the force of
thousands of bombs and can affect the climate for years.
Draw it
Volcanoes can erupt for hundreds of years at a time and release
dangerous and harmful gases and dust into the air that can cause
significant climate change.
Big changes in temperature and climate can kill many organisms.
These changes can be caused by natural disasters, tectonic shifts,
and even human impact.
When the Earth’s crust moves, oceans and seas can be created or
disappear. When this happens, organisms may become extinct
where there is not time to adapt.
Organisms often compete for resources in nature. If an organism
cannot compete, it might become extinct when it cannot survive
long enough to reproduce.
Practice: Next to each description of mass extinction, write the most accurate cause (or causes) of the extinction.
(IE=impact event; V=volcanism; CC=climate change; SL=sea level; SC=species competition)
______ A tectonic plate shift causes an ocean to dry up and many aquatic species die off.
______ An asteroid hits Earth and fills the sky with dust, creating a 5-year winter.
______ A new type of plant out-competes many other plants for necessary resources.
______ 100 years of volcanic eruptions cause global temperatures to rise by 10 degrees.
______ Water levels rise, seas is created, and the new seas lower global temperatures.
What Caused the Mass Extinction of the Dinosaurs?
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EXIT TICKET:
1. A mass extinction happens:
a. Only when an asteroid hits Earth.
b. Once every 65 million years.
c. When a large change in many species’ environment makes many traits and adaptations useless.
d. When one species obtains certain trait to become dominant to all other species.
2. Some of scientists’ most supported ideas for what caused past mass extinctions include:
a. Asteroid impact
b. Volcanism (volcanoes exploding)
c. Extraterrestrial (alien) attack
d. Continental drift (movement of Earth’s crust)
e. Species competition
f. All of the above
g. Answers a, b, d, & e
h. None of the above
3. What is one reason mammals succeeded over dinosaurs after the extinction event?
a. Mammals grew larger than dinosaurs and killed them.
b. Environmental conditions changed to favor mammals. For example, the earth became colder.
c. The effects of the asteroid impact killed only dinosaurs and not mammals.
d. Diseases that affected only dinosaurs spread across the earth.
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