Evolution Objectives - Unit 8

1. Compare the principles of biogenesis with the idea of spontaneous generation.

2. Summarize the results of the experiments Redi and Spallanzani that tested the hypothesis of spontaneous generation.

3. Describe how Pasteur’s experiment disproved the hypothesis of spontaneous generation.

4. Summarize the concept of half-life, and be able to calculate the half-life of a radioactive sample.

5. Describe the production of organic compounds in the Miller-Urey apparatus.

6. Explain the theory of endosymbiosis.

7. Define the biological process of evolution.

8. Understand the contributions of the following scientists to scientific thinking about evolution: Georges Cuvier, Charles Lyell, Jean Baptiste de Lamarck, Thomas Malthus, and Alfred RussellWallace

9. Describe Charles Darwin’s contributions to scientific thinking about evolution, including the reasoning in his theory of evolution by natural selection.

10. Define the following terms: strata, natural selection, overproduction, genetic variation, adaptation,differential reproduction, fitness

11. Define fossil, and explain the importance of fossils in our current understanding of evolution.

12. Compare a fossil’s relative age with its absolute age.

13. Expalin how biogeography provides evidence that species evolve adaptations to their environments.

14. Explain how the anatomy and development of organisms provide evidence of shared ancestry.

15. Define the following terms: homologous structures, analogous structures, vestigial structures.

16. Explain how biological molecules are used to determine evolutionary relationships.

17. Describe how convergent evolution occurs among different species.

18. Explain how divergent evolution can lead to species diversity.

19. Define adaptive radiation.

20. Compare artificial selection and natural selection.

21. Explain how organisms can undergo coevolution.

22. Define the following terms: gene pool, mutation, immigration, emigration, gene flow, genetic driftnonrandom mating, assortative mating, sexual selection, stabilizing selection, disruptive selection, directional selectional

23. Explain how migration and genetic drift can affect the genetics of populations.

24. Contrast the effects of stabilizing selection, directional selection, disruptive selection, and sexual selection on populations over time.

25. Define the following terms: speciation, morphology, biological species concept, geographic isolation, reproductive isolation, prezygotic isolation, postzygotic isolation, gradualism, punctuated equilibrium

26. Explain how the isolation of populations can lead to speciation.

27. Compare geographic isolation with reproductive isolation and explain how both of these types of isolation can lead to speciation.

28. Contrast the model of punctuated equilibrium with the model of gradual change.