Evolution and Natural Selection

• Over time, the climate of an island became drier, which resulted in changes 2 points to the populations of various island finch species. Finch populations with a certain beak shape thrived, while those not having that beak shape decreased. Which of the following describes a necessary condition for these changes in the finch populations to occur?

  Limited food resources
• What is a common ancestor?

  A common ancestor is a species from which two species evolved from
• Explain how natural selection works

  Genetic mutations that are beneficial to an individual's survival are passed on through reproduction. This results in a new generation of organisms that are more likely to survive and to reproduce.
• Name one type of evidence that tells us about evolution and that we have evolved from a common ancestor.

  Fossils
• Theodosius Dobzhansky discovered that successful species tend to have a wide variety of genes that do not appear to be useful to the species in its present environment. What did this discovery help explain about genetics and the changes that occur in a species over time?

  Species with greater genetic diversity adapt more easily to changing environments.
• Hava humans have existed for a long time or a short time during earth's existence?

  Long
• Describe how a lava flow can cause two different species to evolve from one through speciation?

  Lava flow can cause allopatric speciation by physically separating populations, leading to a geographic isolation that promotes genetic drift and divergence, eventually resulting in the development of two distinct species
• Name one of the 4 rules/principles that have to be true for natural selection to work

  Variation exists among individuals in a species (you all look different)
• Evolution of a species takes a _____ time

  Long
• What was the first type of life on earth?

  Microorganisms (prokaryotes/bacteria)
• What was special about the fish Tiktaalik that the scientist Neil Shubin in the documentary "Your inner Fish" was looking for?

  Tiktaalik is the first known creature to evolve a limb, it had basic body parts that eventually became part of us
• Where did the first life on earth form?

  The ocean
• How does two unrelated species evolve very similar traits even though they live in different parts of the world?

  This happens because of convergent evolution. This occurs in environments that are geographically apart but have the same ecology and climate. Therefore, species adapt to similar environmental conditions