The Scientific Theory of the Evolution of Life & Taxonomy
MAJORSummative Review!!
Application of Foundation Knowledge
Biology
ORIGIN OF LIFE
1. The Miller-Urey experiment and the meteorite hypothesis both suggest how the molecules on can support life might
have appeared on Earth. What is the main difference between these two hypotheses?
EVIDENCE OF EVOLUTION
2. Describe the scientific theory of evolution.
3. Describe natural selection.
4. If you hiked in a local grassy area, and noticed that all of the wild field mice have brown coats. What could you
conclude? (Hint: think of adaptations and natural selection)
Today, rose plants have thorns on their branches. These thorns help protect the plant from being eaten by
animals. If there are no longer any animals that eat rose plants, what might be the result of evolution in the
rose plant after a million years?
5.
6. There are many ways to show evidence of evolution. What two things provide the best evidence that living
things are related?
7. Evidence of Evolution comes from diverse sources. List 4 and give 1 example of each.
1.
Example:
2.
Example:
3.
Example:
4.
Example:
8. When the adaptive characteristic of a species are insufficient to allow its survival, what is most likely to occur?
1
Refer to the pictures of the anatomy of some different vertebrate animals below for questions 9-11:
Vertebrate Limbs: From left to right, human, dog, horse, whale.
9. Refer to the illustration above. What would an analysis of DNA from these organisms indicate?
10. What are these structures called?
11. Refer to the illustration above. What does the similarity of these structures suggest?
12. A biologist analyzes the DNA sequences in three different primates. The biologist finds that primates X and Y have
very different DNA sequences. The DNA sequences in primate Q are very similar to the sequences of primate X.
From this information, what may the biologist infer?
13. Some body parts may be present in an organism but may be reduced in size and may have no use or a less
important function. What are these parts called?
14. What might you conclude from the fact that embryos of many developing animals, including
humans, are so similar?
15.
Give an example of a vestigial structure and explain how vestigial structures are significant to evolution.
2
16. Organisms – plants as well as animals – will inherit many traits. What is an inherited characteristic that increases an
organism’s ability to survive and reproduce in its environment?
17. What is one advantage of biodiversity in an ecosystem?
MECHANISMS OF CHANGE & SPECIATION
18. What is wrong with EACH of the following statements?
Natural selection is a result of an organism changing to be better suited for its environment
Natural selection is very specific and fast process that results in evolution of individual organisms
Natural selection occurs when individuals are forced to change
19. Darwin proposed the theory of natural selection and said that living things “over-reproduce”. Why is overreproduction of offspring an important part of natural selection?
20. What happens to organisms that are well suited to their environment?
21. Define speciation. Describe the 3 examples that might cause the isolation of living things before speciation to occur.
22. Speciation, the development of a new species, is a two step process. Describe reproductive isolation.
23. Two types of birds got separated from each other due to a flood. They can no longer reproduce within the original
population. What type of speciation is this?
3
24. There are three major types of adaptations that help living things survive. List and describe all 3.
25. Explain how Gene flow, genetic drift, sexual selection cause change and variation within populations.
26. Do living things inherit their adaptations OR do they develop adaptations in response to changes in the environment?
EXPLAIN.
27. The peppered moth is a classic example of natural selection. Describe what happened to these moths during the
industrial revolution in Europe. The picture below shows peppered moths before and after the industrial revolution.
28. The diagram below shows four species of birds that evolved from an ancestral species that had a small, pointed
beak. Today, all four species inhabit the same island. Explain the variation in the beaks of these four species.
4

The Kit Fox and Red Fox species are closely related. The Kit Fox lives in the desert, while the Red Fox
inhabits forests. Ear size and fur colors are two differences that can be observed between the species.
Observe the the illustrations below and then answer question #26 that follows:
29. Explain how the difference between the two species came about.
HOMINID EVOLUTION
30. Describe the evolution of the human skull, jaw, and brain.
5
CLASSIFICATION
31. What does the graph below mean?
Humans
Chimpanzees
Orangutans
Gorillas
?
32.
List the levels of classification in order from top to bottom.
33.
Which kingdoms contain organisms that are multicellular?
34.
Compare the kingdom Archaebacteria to the kingdom Eubacteria (include their characteristics, environments
found, how they get food, etc.)
35.
Describe how you may find out how closely related two organisms were to each other?
36.
Explain how DNA analysis changed how we classify organism?
37.
If an organism is photosynthetic and unicellular, what possible kingdoms could it be in?
38.
Complete the sentence: A species is ……
6
39.
Explain what binomial nomenclature is and the correct way to write a scientific name.
40.
A scientist has been exploring the Florida Everglades and collect lots of insects over the course of his study.
He finds an insect that has never been identified or named. How does the scientist determine its
classification and where does its name come from?
41.
What is the major difference between organisms in domains Archaea and Bacteria compared to domain
Eukarya?
42.
In the past 150 years, the classification of life has changed through the addition and restructuring of kingdoms
and domains. This system is always changing because:
A. Scientific study keeps producing more data.
B. Evolution keeps producing unique organisms
C. Extinctions change evolutionary relationships
D. Humans increase the rate of speciation
43.
Which organism is most closely related to the sandhill crane, Grus canadensis?
A. Falcipennis Canadensis
B. Branta Canadensis
C. Grus americana
D. Recurvirostra americana
SCIENTIFIC THINKING
44. Use the graph below to answer question: What are the independent and dependent variables?
7