Big Idea One: Evolution Lesson Questions
These are the essential learning questions that you will be responsible for knowing, and that you will be
tested on. In addition to these questions, you must know essential information presented in class and in
your textbook reading. In order to demonstrate mastery you must be able to apply appropriate content and
examples to your understanding of these essential learning questions.
Population Genetics (Chapter 16)
1.1 How can we represent the change in the genetic makeup of a population numerically, and how can we
interpret the reasons for this change (natural selection)?
1.2 How can we interpret data and observations of real world populations by using natural selection?
(example: Finches and Grant’s study)
1.3 How does selection act on phenotypes to change the genetic makeup of a population?
figure 16.2 moths)
(example:
1.4 How can genetic changes be represented graphically and mathematically? (example: figure 16.2,
figure 16.8, 16.10, 16.11)
1.5 How do environmental factors cause genetic changes in a population over time? (example: flowering
time and global climate change, DDT resistance, antibiotic resistance, artificial selection)
1.6 How can we use the Hardy Weinberg Equations to predict what will happen to the genetic structure of
a population? (figure 16.4)
1.7 Why is the Hardy-Weinberg Model a valid model that can be used to analyze the effect of genetic
drift, migration and selection on the genetic structure of a population? (Table 16.1)
1.8 How can the Hardy-Weinberg Equations be used to predict the effect of genetic drift, migration, and
selection on the genetic structure of a population? (Investigation: Mathematical Modeling HardyWeinberg)
Evidence of Evolution
1.9 How can evidence from several different scientific sources be used to support the theory of evolution?
(section 15.3)
1.10 How can we use multiple sources of data (morphology, biochemistry, biogeography, geology) to
refine our interpretation of evolution? (BLAST LAB)
1.11 How can we describe a method using several different sources of data to answer a question about the
evolution of an organism? (section 15.3)
1.12 How can we construct diagrams (phylogenetic trees) to represent the process of biological evolution?
(BLAST LAB)
1.13 How can we analyze and interpret information in a phylogenetic tree? (section 19.3)
Common Ancestry
1.14 What types of questions should be asked to identify core life processes and properties of life on Earth?
(section 19.2, Table 19.1)
1.15 What are some examples of core biological processes shared by all domains and within domains of
life? How do these shared processes support the concept of common ancestry? (Table 19.1)
1.16 How can we justify the claim (define the evidence) that core processes and features that evolved are
widely distributed today? (example: the genetic code, glycolysis; linear chromosomes endomembrane
system, mitochondria)
Phylogenetics and Cladistics (Chapter 19)
1.17 How can a phylogenetic tree be used to a) identify shared characteristics b) infer evolutionary history?
c) Identify data that could be used to refine the tree (example: figure 19.6 and 19.7)
1.18 How can a cladogram or phylogenetic tree be used to determine evolutionary history and speciation
events? (Figure 17A)
1.19 How can we create and test a hypothesis about the evolutionary relationships (cladogram) between
organisms using molecular genetic and morphological data? (BLAST LAB)
1.20 What type of data exists about speciation and extinction rates, and how do we analyze this data?
(section 47.3, Table 18.1, figure 18.18)
1.21 What type of data should be (has been) collected to investigate the claim that speciation and
extinction have occurred thoughout the history of Earth? (the fossil record)
Speciation (section 17.1)
1.22 How can we use graphical representations of populations under different forms of selection to
predict future population structure? (example directional, disruptive, stabilizing selection)
1.23 What is the role of reproductive isolation in speciation and what type of information is informative
with respect to reproductive isolation? (example: Apple Maggot Fly)
1.24 How are changes in gene frequencies, change in the environment, selection, and genetic drift
important in speciation events? (Investigation: Hardy-Weinberg)
1.25 How can we make a model that represents evolution within a population? (Investigation: Hardy
Weinberg and Population Fish Bowl)
1.26 What are some examples of evidence that evolution is occurring today? (examples- Finches on
Galapagos, antibiotic resistance)
Origin of Life (Section 18.1)
1.27 What is a scientific hypothesis about how life originated? (figure 18.1)
1.28 What types of questions should be asked about how life originated, and how do we evaluate the
validity of these questions? (Investigation- The Origin of Life)
1.29 Why have hypotheses regarding the origin of life been revised?
1.30 What are some of the important distinctions between origin hypotheses (RNA first, protein first,
membrane first)?
1.31
What type of data is valid in determining how life originated? (Case Study- Martian Meteorite)
1.32 What type of evidence is used (and why) to describe the conditions of the early Earth?