Download First semester essay assignment (Evolution topics)

AP Biology, Honors, Evolution Unit First Semester Essay Assignment
INSTRUCTIONS:
Over the holiday recess, from 12/20 to 1/2/2014, your assignment is to read and study the
Evolution Unit, pages 428-509. Answer the following essay questions as you finish each
chapter, choosing which questions you answer as indicated in the instructions below. The
answers to these questions must be in essay form, typed, and either printed out or put on a
USB stick for handing in or emailed to me. DO NOT insert pictures, clip arts, or videos
into your essays if you email them. The essays are due Monday, January 6, 2014. Emails
must be received before end of school Monday January 6, 2014. Late work will be
penalized one full grade level for every late day.
QUESTIONS:
Chapter 22: Descent with modification: A Darwinian view of life
Answer any 2 of the following questions:
1) The Origin of Species developed two major points; elaborate on these two points.
2) Cite one example of how natural selection provides evidence for evolution and explain it.
3) Explain how the evidence of evolution pervades every research field of biology.
Chapter 23: The evolution of populations
Answer any 3 of the following questions:
1) Describe the modern synthesis of the theory of evolution.
2) Define microevolution and explain the two main causes of microevolution
3) Explain how genetic variation occurs within a population; explain how genetic variation
occurs between populations
4) Explain the three ways natural selection can affect the frequency of a heritable trait in a
population
5) Why doesn’t natural selection result in “perfect” organisms?
Chapter 24: The origin of species
Answer any 2 of the following questions:
1) Define the biological species concept. Differentiate between pre-zygotic and post-zygotic
barriers that isolate the gene pool of species.
2) Compare and contrast the two modes of speciation: allopatric speciation and sympatric
speciation
3) Use the complex human eye as an example to support the statement that evolutionary
novelties are modified versions of older structures.
Chapter 25: Phylogeny and Systematics
Answer 2 of the following questions (either 1 or 2; and either 3 or 4):
1) Marsupials evolved in what is now North America but the greatest diversity of marsupials is
found in what today is Australia. How do you account for this biogeographic distribution?
2) Why do extensive adaptive radiations often follow mass extinctions?
3) What complications make it difficult to determine phylogenetic relationships based on
similarities between species?
4) The principle of parsimony predicts that the evolution of the four-chambered heart should
place birds and mammals in the same clade. But most evolutionary biologists agree that birds
are separate branches from the reptilian line of evolution. How do account for this?