(BENS) Biological Evolution and Natural Selection Module Overview

Biological Evolution and Natural Selection Module Overview

This module will open the door to understanding the basic principles of evolution, or change in organisms over time.  Evolution is a unifying principle in science and in this course.  This means it explains how all life and life's machinery is connected.  The fundamentals of evolution can help to explain the past, but they also help us to make educated predictions about issues that shape our lives on the planet.

We will examine how it is possible to have so many variations within any species and why there is such an amazing diversity of life. We will learn how scientists employ fossil evidence to understand the organisms alive millions of years ago. We will study the scientists that worked to bring the theory of evolution to the scientific community.  We will learn what determines which characteristics of species continue with the offspring and how adaptations are arise and are favored over time.

 

Essential Questions

  • How do living organisms change when their environment changes?
  • How does an organism's structure affect its ability to survive?
  • What patterns of change can be seen among the life cycles of organisms?
  • What are fossils?
  • How are fossils formed?
  • Why do organisms change over time?
  • How does the past help us predict the future?
  • How have adaptations in behavior or physical structure contributed to natural selection and the vast diversity seen among organisms today?

 

Key Terms

  1. Adaptation - characteristic (structural, behavioral or physiological) that gives an organism a selective advantage in its environment; wings of birds, opposable thumb of humans
  2. Ancestor - The actual or hypothetical organism from which later kinds evolved.
  3. Behavior - The action or response taken by an organism when it responds to a stimulus or its environment.
  4. Evolution - Change in the genetic composition of a population during successive generations, as a result of natural selection acting on the genetic variation among individuals, and resulting in the development of new species.
  5. Galapagos Islands - A group of volcanic islands lying along the equator in the Pacific Ocean west of the mainland of Ecuador. The islands are famous for their rare species of fauna, including the giant tortoises for which they are named. Charles Darwin visited the islands in 1835 and collected a wealth of scientific data that contributed to his theory of natural selection.
  6. Mutation - The act or process of being altered or changed.
  7. Peppered moths - A temperate species of night-flying moth. Educators often use peppered moth evolution as an example of natural selection.
  8. Homologous structure - The similar anatomical structures such as bones or organs of two or more organisms that indicate a common evolutionary origin, even though the structures have different functions.
  9. Vestigial - A structure such as a bone or organ in an organism that has lost all of its original function due to evolution.
  10. Natural selection - The process in nature by which, according to Darwin's theory of evolution, only the organisms best adapted to their environment tend to survive and transmit their genetic characteristics in increasing numbers to succeeding generations while those less adapted tend to be eliminated.
  11. success - For a given individual, the number of offspring that survive to reproduce.
  12. Fitness - The extent to which an organism is adapted to or able to produce offspring in a particular environment.
  13. Inheritable characteristics - A trait that has been passed down from other generations.
  14. Variation - Marked difference or deviation from the normal or recognized form, function, or structure.

 

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