Unit 4 Biology
Evolution Part I
Guiding Questions
1. Why is the view of evolution proposed by Darwin and Wallace now an accepted scientific
theory?
2. What are some of the sources of evidence that support the theory of evolution?
3. What is a fossil?
4. Have all species that existed been fossilised?
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What is direct fossil evidence?
What is indirect fossil evidence?
What is a trace fossil?
What is an impression fossil?
Which body parts are most likely to be fossilised?
10. What is mineralisation?
11. What conditions are needed for mineralisation to occur?
12. What are some of the different ways in which fossils have been formed?
13. Where are younger fossils found?
14. What do new fossils mark?
15. What is the relationship between fossils and modern day species?
16. How does the fossil record support the theory of evolution?
17. Is a fossil a direct ancestor?
18. What should the fossil record show us if new species arise from ancestral species?
19. What is Archaeopteryx?
20. What are some other examples of intermediate or transitional fossils?
21. What did Von Baer’s law state?
22. What features characterize all vertebrate embryos?
23. When did features of ancient evolutionary origin appear in embryo development?
24. What is comparative anatomy also know as?
25. What do basic similarities in anatomy suggest?
26. How is the pentadactyl limb seen in many vertebrates an indictor of a common ancestor?
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What is a homologous structure?
What does a homologous structure suggest?
What is an analogous structure?
Does an analogous structure suggest an evolutionary relationship?
31. What is a vestigal structure?
32. Why have vestigal structures not disappeared completely?
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What is biogeography?
What is the basic principle underlying biogeography?
What are the general principles about the dispersal and distribution of land animals?
Why do oceanic islands often have species that are similar to, but distinct from, those on
neighbouring continents?
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What is continental drift?
What was Gondwana land?
What happened when Gondwana broke apart?
What can the geographic distribution of plants and animals, and their evolutionary age be
correlated with?
41. Examples of biogeography as support for evolution?
42. What are phylogenetic or phylogenic trees?
43. What does each branch point represent?
44. Why might there be more than one phylogenetic tree representing the relationship between
different organisms?
45. What is a genetic linkage group?
46. How do genetic linkage groups support the theory of evolution?
47. What is the first thing we need to do when comparing organisms at the molecular level?
48. What does comparing homologous molecules allow us to do?
49. How does DNA hybridization work?
50. What does it tell us?
51. What can we assume based on genetic similarities identified during DNA hybridization?
52. What does DNA sequencing allow us to determine?
53. What can DNA sequence data be used for?
54. Which regions of DNA are useful for studying the phylogeny of closely related organisms and
why?
55. Why is mtDNA only useful for comparing animals that have diverged from each other in the
last 20million years?
56. Which regions of DNA are useful for studying organisms that have evolved over a longer
period of time and why?
57. Why can amino acid sequencing be used to determine evolutionary relationships?
58. How is the degree of similarity in homologous proteins determined?
59. What is the problem with amino acid sequencing?
60. What do immunological techniques do in the evolutionary field?
61. How do immunological techniques demonstrate the genetic relatedness of different
organisms?
62. Are immunological techniques reliable?
63. How old is the oldest DNA that has been sequenced?
64. How has ancient DNA contributed to our understanding of evolution?
65. What can molecular clocks be used for?
66. What is the concept of a molecular clock based on?
67. How can the molecular clock be calibrated?
68. Why are percentage differences calculated by a molecular clock likely to be underestimates?
69. What are some of the limitations that apply to the use of a molecular clock?