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*****KEY Evolution & Classification Study Guide KEY*****

Directions: Use your notes and class activities to answer the following questions pertaining to our evolution
and classification unit.

1. Define evolution.

change over a very long period of time

2. According to Lamarck, how do organisms evolve?

According to Lamarck, organisms can change over their own lives based on what they need and pass
these acquired traits to their offspring.

3. In natural selection, what selects the most adapted organisms to survive?

The environmental (environmental conditions)

4. Describe the 5 parts of Darwins Theory of Natural Selection.

1. Overproduction- living things produce more offspring than can survive
2. Variation- members of a population have different traits (they are different/they vary)
3. Competition/Struggle for Survival- organisms compete for resources
4. Adaptations- some organisms have traits that help them compete better than others (these are
adaptations)
5. Survival of the Fittest- those that are best adapted to a particular environment will survive and
reproduce, passing these adaptations on to the next generation, so their frequency in the population
increases over time

5. Using the parts of Darwins Theory of
Natural Selection you described in question Overproduction- more mice are born than can survive in
the environment
4, explain what is happening in the cartoon:


Variation- there are two types of mice: one with light fur
and one with dark fur

Competition- the mice are competing to survive from the
predator

Adaptations- the dark fur is an adaptation that allows the
mice that have it to blend in with their environment and
not be seen by predators

Survival of the Fittest- the light mice are seen and eaten,
while the dark mice survive and pass the trait of dark
color onto the next generation

6. How is variation produced? Name 2 ways.



mutation and sexual reproduction

7. In the diagram below of undisturbed sedimentary rock, in which layer are the oldest fossils found? The
youngest/most recent? The most complex? The least complex?

8. What does the study of embryology show when comparing most


vertebrates?

The have similar structures, indicating that they share
a common ancestor.

9. What happens later as the embryos develop?

They become less and less similar.


10. What are homologous structures?

Body parts that have a similar internal structure due to common ancestry


11. How is could the chart below be used to determine which two organisms most closely related?
Would use the chart to compare amino acids. The organisms
that have the most similar sequences are the most closely
related and have most recently evolved from a common
ancestor.







12. Define species.



A species is a group of offspring that can interbreed and produce viable offspring.

13. Several thousand years ago a flock of migrating hawks was driven from its normal route by a severe
storm. The birds ended up on two different islands, as shown on the map below. The environment of
island A is mostly rocks and cliffs like the original nesting ground. The environment of island B is a
dense forest. The hawks have survived on these islands to the present day with no migration between
the populations. When put together the hawks can no longer breed.

Explain how this demonstrates speciation. Use the
terms barrier, isolation, and environment in your
answer.










14. Describe the difference between gradualism and punctuated equilibrium. Sketch graphs of each.


Gradualism is slo

15. What happens if the environment changes, but a species lacks the variation needed to adapt to this
changing environment?

The species will go extinct.


16. Write the 7 taxonomic levels for classifying organisms from most general to most specific.

Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus Species
(can remember by: King Philip Came Over For Grape Soda)

17. If two organisms share many taxonomic levels, what does this tell us about them?

The more taxonomic levels shared, the more closely related the organism are.


18. How do we write the scientific name of an organism?

Its genus (first letter uppercase) followed by a space and then its species (all lowercase).

19. The scientific name for humans is Homo sapiens. What is the genus? What is the species?

Genus- Homo; species- sapiens

20. Mr. Servedio wanted to know the scientific name of the bayhawk. He looked up the species name and
found it to be dominicus and found the genus to be Accipiter. When he compiled the names to write
the scientific name, he wrote dominicus accipiter. Was Mr. Servedio correct in his naming? Explain
and if he in incorrect, correct his mistake.

Mr. Servedio was not correct. The genus should be written first, with the first letter uppercase. Then a
space should be written. Finally, the species should be written in all lowercase. The scientific name of
the bayhawk should therefore be written as Accipiter dominicus.

21. What tool would you use if you came across a strange insect in your room and wanted to identify it?

A dichotomous key

22. Briefly explain how a dichotomous key is used.

A dichotomous key contains pairs of statements followed by instructions. Starting at the first pair of
statements, read both and determine which is true for the organism you are trying to identify. Then,
follow the directions to proceed to the next step indicated. Repeat until the statement indicates an
identification.

Use the cladogram below to answer the remaining questions.

1. Which species are alive today, and adapted to the
current environment? D, E, I

2. What happened to species C and J? Why?
They went extinct because they had little variation in a
changing environment, so lacked the adaptations
needed to survive.

3. Which organisms are more closely related: C and E
or E and I? Why? E and I because the share a more
recent common ancestor.

4. What is the most recent common ancestor of E & I?

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