Download Unit 8 Learning Packet

BIOLOGY STUDENT LEARNING PACKET
RIO UNIT:
SC BIO I UP08: Origin of Life and Evolution
ESSENTIAL QUESTION:
 What events and processes have allowed organisms to evolve over time?
 What evolutionary process led to the development of eukaryotic and aerobic
organisms?
 What early hypotheses and experiments led to our current understanding of
evolution?
What should you know/be able to do at the end of this unit?
 Identify the differences between a hypothesis and a fact.
 Explain the differences between a theory and a law.
 Compare and contrast biogenesis and abiogenesis.
 Explain the concept of evolution as well as why it is referred to as a theory.
 Describe early atmosphere hypotheses and experiments.
 Describe the conditions on earth 4.6 billion years ago as well as the conditions
necessary for the emergence and development of early life.
 Describe the evolutionary process and development of prokaryotic and anaerobic
organisms on early earth.
 Research and explain the evolutionary development of eukaryotic and aerobic
organisms.
 Compare and contrast aerobic and anaerobic organisms.
 Differentiate between prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms.
 Compare and contrast the two types of fossil dating.
 Identify how biochemical similarities and shared anatomical structures support
the fossil record.
 Explain how variations in a population support natural selection.
 Describe how environmental influences affect natural selection.
 Explain the development and environmental impact of resistance in some species.
 Investigate and explain how speciation is enhanced by geographic isolation.
KEY VOCABULARY:
 Abiogenesis
 Biogenesis
 Fossils
 Biochemical Similarities
 Homologous Structures
 Geographic isolation
 Natural Selection
 Allelic Frequency
 Bipedal
 Evolution
 Charles Darwin
IMPORTANT CONCEPT(S):
 The origin and history of life on earth
 Natural Selection
 Characteristics and development of prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms
 Characteristics and development of aerobic and anaerobic organisms
 Analysis and interpretation of fossil records
LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES:
 Research and explain in essay form the experiments of F. Redi and L. Pasteur.
Explain the hypotheses that led to their experiments as well as the discoveries that
emerged. Use the “cause and effect” portion of the “Five Habits of Mind” when
formulating your essay.
 On a long poster (cut a large poster in half and tape it end to end) create a time
line of the emergence and development of life on earth. Include the following
events as well as how long ago they occurred: 1st life (prokaryotes), oxygen
accumulation in the atmosphere, 1st eukaryotes, 1st multicellular organisms, 1st
land plants, 1st mammals, and 1st humans. For each time-line marker, include an
example organism and a picture. Feel free to include additional markers and
organisms!
 Investigate Charles Darwin and his research on the Galapagos Islands. Write a
letter to the editor of Nature magazine as though you are Mr. Darwin writing from
the Galapagos Islands. In your letter, explain the following: The differences
between abiotic and biotic factors. Abiotic and biotic factors found on the
Galapagos Islands. How biotic and abiotic factors impact the animals living on
the Galapagos Islands. Finally, explain how Natural Selection has had an impact
on the survival of certain organisms.
 Watch the movie March of the Penguins. Write a paper that explains how the
movie displays Natural Selection under the harshest conditions. Use the “Five
Habits of Mind” to formulate your answer. Set up your paper so that each
paragraph is one of the “Five Habits of Mind”.
 Create an 8½ x 11 graphic representation that both solves and explains the
following problem: The half-life of carbon-14 is 5,730 years. What is the age of
a fossil containing 1/16th the amount of carbon-14 of a living organism?
 Create a Venn diagram that compares and contrasts the two types of fossil dating.
 Research and explain in essay form how the Finches of the Galapagos Islands are
a model of adaptive radiation as well as speciation as a result of geographic
isolation. Use the “Five Habits of Mind” to form your answer.
 Research the cause and effect of a malaria infection in humans. Based on your
research consider the following: DDT is an insecticide that was first used in the
1940’s to kill mosquitoes and stop the spread of malaria. At first, it was very
effective. However, over a period of years people began to notice that it was
becoming less and less effective. A possible explanation of this was that the
insects were becoming resistant to the DDT. Write a speech to the people of the
world, to be read on the international news, explaining the cause and impact of
malaria, the problems current efforts to control malaria have encountered as DDT
becomes less effective, how the resistance may have evolved, and finally, the
steps you feel need to be taken to continue the battle against malaria.
FIVE HABITS OF MIND
1. Evidence (How do you know that?)
 How do we know what’s true and false?
 What evidence counts?
 How sure can we be?
 What makes it credible to us?
 This includes using the scientific method and more.
2. Viewpoint (Who said it and why?)
 How else might this look if we stepped into other shoes?
 If we were looking at it from a different direction?
 If we had a different history or expectation?
 This requires the exercise of informed “empathy” and imagination.
 It requires flexibility of mind.
3. Cause and Effect (What led to it? What else happened?)
 Connections?
 Is there a pattern?
 Have we seen something like this before?
 What are the possible consequences?
4. Hypothesizing (What if? Suppose that?)
 Could it have been otherwise/
 Supposing that?
 What if…?
 This habit requires use of the imagination as well as knowledge of
alternative possibilities.
 It includes the habits described above.
5. Matter (Who cares?)
 Relevance?
 Does it matter?
LINKS TO RELATED RESOURCES…
WEBSITES, GAMES, LITERATURE, VIDEOS, DOCUMENTARIES
 Evolution timeline
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/teachers/biology/activities.shtml
 Take an adventure with Charles Darwin. Just click on Darwin’s Travel.
http://www.execulink.com/~ekimmel/games.htm
 Get an up close look at similar body structures in very different animals!
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/natsci/vertpaleo/fhc/relatives1.htm
 Dig for fossils!
http://www.abc.net.au/science/ozfossil/megafauna/game/default.htm
 Play the Mating Game!!! http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/sex/mating/
 Sex and the Single Guppy: Examine how this fish survives and propagates.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/sex/guppy/ed_pop.html
SAMPLE TEST QUESTIONS:
1. Who observed variations in the characteristics of animals and plants on the
different islands of the Galapagos?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Carolus Linneaus
Robert Hooke
Charles Darwin
Thomas Malthus
2. An inherited characteristic that increases an organism’s ability to survive and
reproduce in its specific environment is called a(an)
a. speciation
b. adaptation
c. adaptive radiation
d. natural selection
3. The success of an organism in surviving and reproducing is a measure of its
a. fitness
b. polygenic traits
c. speciation
d. geographic isolation
4. A group of individuals of the same species that interbreed make up a
a. biosphere
b. population
c. community
d. ecosystem
5. Which of the following conditions is likely to result in speciation?
a. random mating
b. small population size
c. no migrations into or out of a population
d. absence of natural selection
6. Radioactive dating of rock samples
a. is used for very recent fossils
b. is based on the fossils depth in the earth
c. is a method of relative dating
d. is a method of absolute dating
7. Potassium-40 is useful in dating very old fossils because
a. it does not undergo radioactive decay
b. it is found only in certain rock layers
c. it has a very short half-life
d. it has a very long half-life
8. The idea that life arises only from life is referred to as
a. biogenesis
b. abiogenesis
c. fossils
d. half-life
Use the chart below for Question #9
Sequences of amino acids in protein A
Organism Sequence of the first 4 amino acids
Cat
Asp-Arg-Arg-Glut…
Shark
Asp-Arg-Phen-Val…
Fly
Val-Iso-Pro-Try…
Corn
Meth-Arg-Try-Thre…
9. Based upon the chart above, which 2 organisms have the most similar protein A?
a. corn and shark
b. shark and fly
c. cat and shark
d. cat and fly
10. The half-life of carbon-14 is 5,730 years. How much of an initial amount of this
substance would remain after 17,190 years, which is three half-lives?
a. none
b. one-fourth
c. one-half
d. one-eighth
Answers:
1. C
2. B
3. A
4. B
5. A
6. D
7. D
8. A
9. C
10. D