Name: ______________________________ Per: _____
Notes: Evolution
Vocab Builder
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
I.
evolution
scientific theory
traits
offspring
inherited traits
acquired traits
species
natural selection
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
fitness
adaptation
population
variation
mutation
fossils
prokaryotes
relative dating
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
absolute dating
half-life
transitional forms
biogeography
homologous structures
vestigial structures
Origins of Life on Earth
A. ______________ Model of Life
1.
In 1924, Russian scientist Aleksander Oparin proposed that Earth is approximately
____________________________ and that the ________________ atmosphere contained:
a.
_____________ (NH3)
b. _____________ (H2O) vapor
c.
_____________ (CH4)
d. _____________ (H2)

Which important gas(es) is/are missing? ________________________
2. ____________ from the sun, lightning and heat from the earth broke apart these
_______________.
3. The _________ randomly bonded together to form _________ _________, _________ and
_________ _________, which accumulated in the oceans.
What are proteins made of? _________ _________
4. Over millions of years these _________ ______________ combined to form simple cells that
filled the Earth’s primordial oceans.
B. Miller & Urey’s Experiment (1953)
1.
In 1953, Stanley Miller and Harold Urey showed that you can make _________ ____________
from ______________ molecules.
2. The experiment:
a.
Miller electrocuted a _________ of water vapor, methane, ammonia and hydrogen gas.
b. He collected the liquid and found ____________________________________________!
c.
However, as of today, no one has produced a _________ cell from _________ materials.
1
A. General Info
A. Evolution means “______________________________”
B. Process by which ______________ organisms have descended from Earth’s earliest forms of life
C. It is a _______________ ______________ What is a scientific theory?

______________________________________________________________________________
D. Foundation of modern biology that ____________________________________________________
III.
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
A. Background Info
1.
Most Europeans in the 1700-1800’s ______________:
a.
Earth was only ______________ _____________ years old
b. Since their creation, neither ______________________________

Approximately how old is Earth? ______________________________
2. In 1841, Thomas Malthus predicted in his Essay on the Principle of Population that the
____________ ______________ will grow faster than the ___________ and
___________needed to sustain it

What happens to populations of organisms that exceed their resource limits?
___________________________________________________________________________
3. ______________ of Acquired Traits
a.
In 1809, Jean Baptiste de Lamarck proposed that traits developed during a parent’s
lifetime are inherited by their offspring

Is this a supported hypothesis?
My, How You’ve Changed!
Inherited Traits

Acquired Traits
Which of the items in your lists do you think you might pass on to your children?
___________________________________________________________________________________
2
4. In 1830, Charles Lyell explained in his book __________________________ how geological events
(__________,__________,) build up or tear down the Earth over __________ of years
a) Explains how
_____________________________________________________________________

Why are these geological discoveries so important?
___________________________________________________________________________________
C. Evolution by ________________ ________________
1.
Voyage Around the World
a.
In 1831, _____________ _____________set sail from England on the
________________ for a voyage around the world
b. As the ship’s _____________, Darwin recorded _____________ and collected
_____________ of the many _____________ and _____________ species he saw
c.
Galapagos _____________
i.
Group of islands 1,000 km off the coast of Central and S. America that are close
together but have very different _____________ and an amazing
________________________________(iguanas, finches, tortoises)
ii.
_____________ animals and plants seemed very well _____________ to their
island’s environment
iii.
_____________ shape of each species of Galapagos _____________ is
related to its eating _____________
iv.
Based on his observations, Darwin _____________ that the Galapagos plant and
animal species ____________________________ from Central and S. America
2. ___________________________________ (book)
a.
1859, Darwin _____________ his findings
b. _____________ are not _____________ and _____________
c.
Proposed a mechanism for evolution called natural selection =
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
d. Survival of the _____________
iii.
Fitness = _____________________________________________________
iv.
Adaptation =
____________________________________________________________
v.
Over time, natural selection results in changes in the inherited traits of a
population, increasing that species’ fitness.
3
3. Summary of Darwin’s Theory
a.
Organisms produce more __________________ that can survive (think mice, bunnies, etc)
b. Individual organisms of the same species __________________, and some of this
__________________ is __________________.
c.
i.
Today, we know these variations are the result of mutations.
ii.
Mutations occur by _________ _________ and if favorable, it will be
_________by organism’s _________ (e.g. Peppered moths, antibiotic resistant
bacteria or insecticide resistant insects)
Organisms struggle to _________
Why?
i.
Individuals of each species _________for resources (food, space, mate, etc)
d. Species alive today have descended with modification from ancestral species of the past.
This process unites all organisms on earth into a single ___________________________.
IV.
Evidence for evolution
A. ___________________ – provides evidence about the history of life on Earth
1.
Fossils ________________________________________________________________.
EX:
2. Fossils occur in a particular order; ___________ forms existed before more ___________ forms
(e.g. the oldest known fossils are prokaryotes)
3. Fossil dating techniques
a.
Relative Dating - layering of ___________ results in the ___________ and ___________
fossils usually further ___________
b. Absolute/Radiometric Dating
i.
Some rocks contain ___________ that are ___________ and will
___________ (break down) at a ___________ rate over time
ii.
Half-life =
____________________________________________________________
iii.
Scientists can ___________ the age of a sample by ___________ remaining
amount of radioactive ___________ like carbon14
4. Transitional Forms
a. ___________ ___________ of life appearing in the fossil record that are "in-between"
existing types of organisms found today or in the past
b. Many examples of ___________ ___________ exist in the fossil record
4
B. Biogeography
1. Geographical ___________ of ___________
2. Species living on different ___________ who ___________ from the same ancestor, look
slightly different because they were exposed to different ___________ ___________ (e.g.
armadillos and anteaters, lions and tigers)
3. Consistent with ___________ ___________
C. Comparative Anatomy
1.
Homologous structures –
________________________________________________________________________
a.
Example: basic bones in the arms of a human, wings of a bird and fins of a whale.
2. Vestigial Structures- ____________________________________________________
3. Atavism - rare reappearance of a ___________ __________________ specific to an
evolutionary ancestor (gene is turned back on)
a.
Ex: whales with legs, human babies with true tails
D. Comparative Embryology - closely related organisms pass through similar stages as ___________ ->
______________________________
E. DNA
1.
Scientists can compare the _____of different ___________ to determine their relatedness
2. Closer similarities means more likely to have a ___________ ___________
3. Example: a human’s DNA is ~ 97% similar to that of a chimpanzee.
5