05.

01 Biology Notebook: Evolution

Page 1: It's A Theory
What are some reasons that cause a species to become extinct?

What is the relationship between the Woolly Mammoth and the African Elephant?

Key Terms: Jot down terms and definitions that are new to you. You will see them used in the
lesson.
Page 2: Evolution
What is evolution?

Using the table below, correctly identify each evolutionary scientist with the years they were
alive, as well as their contributions to the theory of evolution.
Evolutionary Scientist Years Alive (ex: 1900-1985) Contributions to Evolution
Jean Baptiste Lamarck
Charles Lyell
Charles Darwin
Alfred Russel Wallace
Gregor Mendel
Alfred Wegener

Identify one misconception about the theory of evolution.

Page 3: Evidence of Evolution

Using the table below, describe how each component provides evidence to the theory.
Evidence of Evolution Definition How does this provide
evidence for evolution?
Fossils
Homologous Structures
Vestigial Structures
Comparative Embryology
Molecular Biology
Biogeography
When digging for fossils, how can archaeologists determine the older and newer fossils?

What are vertebrates?

What are some examples of homologous structures in animals?

What is continental drift?

How are DNA sequences used to determine ancestry in molecular biology?

Page 4: Common Ancestry

Define common ancestry.

Describe how scientists can use comparative embryology to explain evolution from a common
ancestor.

Define vertebrate.

What common traits will all vertebrates have in common?

What similarities do you observe in the image of the bones of different organisms?
When examining different species, what forms of evidence help scientists determine how
recently those species shared a common ancestor?

Page 5: Lesson Review

Using the interactive from the lesson, test yourself until you are able to master each definition
and associated term below:
 Evolution
 Biogeography
  Paleontology
 Naturalist
 Catastrophism
 Gradualism
 Uniformitarianism
 Punctuated Equilibrium
 Evolution by Natural Selection

Sample Question:
A scientist looked at a group of embryos.  Upon examination she observed that species A and B
diverged closer to fertilization.  She also observed that species C and D diverged closer to birth. 
Which of the following statements is true?

A. Species A and B are more closely related than species C and D.

B. Species C and D are more closely related than species A and B.
C. Species A and C are related.
D. Species B and D are related.