Webquest – Evolution & Natural Selection
Go to each of the websites listed and follow the directions for that particular site.
A) http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/sex/mating/
Read through the narrative.
1. Why do you think that guppies have such variation?
2. Run at least two simulations, what changes do you see when numbers of predators
increase?
3. How is this an example of natural selection? What are the selective pressures
working on the population of fish?
B) http://anthro.palomar.edu/evolve/evolve_3.htm
Scroll down to Genetic Changes over Generations. Read the whole section then click on
Antibiotic Resistance. Read through the text and watch the microbe clock.
1. Why are antibiotics causing resistance in bacteria?
2. Describe what happens in the Petri dish over time?
C) http://www.handprint.com/LS/ANC/evol.html
Click on Tour of the human fossil record. Then, click on chart of human evolution. Look at
the chart, click on information about the organisms and answer the following questions.
1. What is the scientific name for humans?
2. Briefly describe the skeleton of the modern human.
3. Click on homo erectus and read the information. Where did homo erectus first
evolve and where did it migrate to?
4. Click on The Homonid Brain, read the information. What is the characteristic shape
of the homonid brain? What is the function of the frontal lobe? Where has the
modern brain “expanded” the most?
D) http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/vertpaleo/fhc/firstCM.htm
Click on AMAZING FEETS – Tales told by toes.
1. What is an ungulate?
2. What are the closest living relatives of the modern horse? How was this
determined?
Click on Sedimental Journey: Fossils in the context of Geological time
1. Smith came up with the two important principals of stratigraphy. What are they?
2. When did life on our planet begin?
3. Which era is called the age of the mammals?
E) http://www.agiweb.org/news/evolution/
Click on the Nature of Species on the left hand side bar. Read the information and answer
the questions.
1. What is a species?
2. What makes one species different from another?
Click on Examples of Evolution on the left hand side bar. Read the information and answer
the questions.
1. Briefly explain the evolution of Mammals.
2. Briefly explain the evolution of Whales.
F) http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-intro-to-biology.html
Scroll down to common misconceptions. Read the section and answer the questions.
1. Why are humans taller than they used to be?
2. If there is a morphological change in a population has evolution occurred?
3. Explain why the author does not consider evolution to be progress.
G) Use a general internet search (Google or Bing) to find the difference in
“macroevolution” and “microevolution”
Extra Credit:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/educators/lessons/lesson3/act2.html
Watch the animation and answer the questions below.
1. Why is the Russian prison system considered to be "ground zero" in the fight
against TB?
2. What is responsible for the evolution of TB strains that are resistant to multiple
drugs?
3. How does the misuse of antibiotics affect the evolution of disease-causing
bacteria? Use the theory of natural selection to explain the growing resistance to
antibiotics.
4. Why should we care about a resistant strain of TB in Russia?