Download ws: Intro to Evolution

Biology
Please Use a Separate Sheet of Paper
Introduction to Evolution
Please answer the following question using complete and thorough sentences. Refer to pages
298-309 of your text book.
1.
2.
3.
4.
What is the definition of evolution?
What is a species?
What is Carolus Linnaeus noted for?
What was Charles Darwin’s grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, idea that Charles would later
expand upon when forming his theory of Natural Selection?
5. What did Lamarck hypothesize about? Use the term “use and disuse” and “principles of
acquired characteristics” in your answer. (Pay attention to Lamarck, you will need to
understand his somewhat “off” notions.)
6. Knowing what you know about genetics, why is Lamarck’s theory inaccurate?
7. Even though Lamarck was off the mark, what idea did he have that influenced Charles
Darwin?
8. Charles Lyell had influence on Darwin when forming his theory of natural selection. What
was Lyell’s contribution to Darwin’s theory? Use the term uniformitarianism in your
answer.
9. What is the name of the ship that Darwin sailed on and what was the purpose of the
ship’s voyage?
10. What is variation?
11. What were Darwin’s observations regarding species on the different islands of the
Galapagos?
12. What did these observations lead Darwin to realize?
13. What is adaptation?
14. What is Natural Selection?
15. What were the ideas of Thomas Malthus?
16. What was Malthus’ influence on Darwin’s ideas?
17. Outline Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection. (There are 4 sections in your text; we will
break it down a little different in our notes, but the concept is the same!)
18. Define fitness.
19. Explain the statement: “Natural Selection acts on existing variation.”
20. What is one mistake people make about natural selection? Support your answer with
explaining why the panda’s “thumb” is considered an adaptive compromise.