Natural selection notes

Natural selection notes

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  Natural Selection NotesLearningTargets:
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  Students will beable to defend the evidence for evolution through natural selection in terms of the fossil record, homologous structures, artificial selection, and competition.
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  Students will usethe principles of natural selection to explain the differential survival of groups of organisms as a consequence of: the potential for a species to increase its numbers; the genetic variability of offspring due to mutation and recombination of genes; a finite supply of the resources required for life; and, the ensuing selection based on environmental factors of those offspring better able to survive and produce reproductively successful offspring. What is a Theory?Theory- a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world that can incorporate facts, laws, inferences, and tested hypotheses
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  Law- a descriptivegeneralization about how some aspect of the natural world behaves under stated circumstances and that carries the weight of scientific evidence
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  Fact-an observation thathas been repeatedly confirmed
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  Hypothesis- a testablestatement about the natural world
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  Belief- a psychologicalstate in which a person holds a premise (or statement) to be true.Evolution- Change over timeEvolution by natural selection is a theoryWhy do we study how organisms change over time?
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  Extinction Game: Usingmodels in ScienceWhy did we use this game? Why not do a lab?Bunnies could represent any species/organismVariation occurred through mutation and genetic shuffling (recombination)The environment had an effect on the advantages of fur color
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  Extinction Game: Usingmodels in ScienceThere was competition for food or predator evasionThe population changed over time after many generations depending on the specific selection factors http://phet.colorado.edu/en/simulation/natural-selection
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  The Earth isvery oldEarth is about 4.5 billion years oldMany geologists confirmed this approximate date through determining the age of rock formations and the time it would take for them to form
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  The Earth isvery oldIf weathering and other geological processes have been happening at the same rate for a very long time (or always) then the Earth must be several billion years old to account for the formations.Chemical analysis of ice cores and radio active fluorine and carbon have also been helpful in explaining the age of rock.
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  Why does itmatter how old the Earth is?What can we infer if the Earth were only a few thousand years old?
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  Charles DarwinDarwinpublished On the Origin of Species in 1859. In the book, Darwin supplied evidence that evolution has occurred AND explained his ideas about how evolution occurs.
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  Darwin continued…Darwin’s theorywas based on artificial selection. In artificial selection, nature provided the variation, and humans selected those variations that they found useful. For example, animal breeders used only the largest hogs, fastest horses, or cows that produced the most milk for breeding.
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  How we seegenetic change
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  Natural SelectionDarwin thoughtthat a similar process occurs in nature. He called this natural selection. This process can be summed up as follows: Individuals differ, and some of the differences can be passed on to their offspringMore offspring are produced than can survive and reproduce.
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  Natural Selection3. Thereis competition for limited resources, or a struggle for existence4. Individuals best suited to their environment survive and reproduce most successfully. In other words, there is survival of the fittest. Fitness is the ability to survive and reproduce in a given environment. It results from adaptations.5. Adaptations are inherited traits that increase an organism’s chance of survival. Only the fittest organisms pass on their traits. Because of this, a species changes over time
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  Common Descent
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  Common DescentDarwin arguedthat species alive today descended with modification from species of the past. This is called the principle of common descent. There is evidence for a single tree of life, He presented four types of evidence in support of evolution.
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  What are thefive (5) parts of the process of Natural Selection?
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  Common DescentDarwin hadfour pieces of evidence for this idea:Homologous StructuresFossil recordGeographic distribution of similar speciesSimilarities in early stage of development
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  The fossilrecord- some organisms went through drastic change while others went extinct or stayed relatively the same over time.
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  Geographic distribution ofliving speciesThe presence of similar but unrelated organisms in similar environments suggests the action of natural selection
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  Homologous structureshave differentmature forms but develop from the same embryonic tissues. (Some homologous structures no longer serve major roles in descendants. If the structures are greatly reduced in size, they are called vestigial organs.
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  Similarities in earlydevelopmentThe early stages, or embryos, of many animals are very similar.
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  Our inferences…
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  What does thismean for humans?This does not mean scientists believe humans come from monkeys but it does mean that long ago there may have been a common ancestor of both chimpanzees and humans!