Transcript PowerPoint - An Evolving Creation

Choose an Animal
 As
a class, decide on an
animal that is relatively wellknown.
Habitat
 What
is this animal’s habitat?
Identify Feature #1
 What
does this animal eat?
Identify Feature #2
 What
feature of the animal
helps it to get its food?
Identify Feature #3
 What
feature of the animal
helps it to avoid predators?
Identify Feature #4
 What
feature of the animal
helps it to attract mates?
Identify Feature #5
 Is
this animal nocturnal or
diurnal?
Question
 Which
of these features is
controlled or primarily
influenced by genes?
Mutation 1
 Choose
one trait and mutate
it in some believable way.
List this new feature in
column 1, next to the feature
you mutated.
Mutations 2-5
 Repeat
the previous step four
more times. You may mutate
the same gene every time, or
you can choose five different
genes to mutate, or any
combination.
Summary
 List
all features that the
animal currently has in the
“summary” column.
Environmental Change
 While
these mutations were
occurring, regional weather
patterns were slowly
changing and the habitat is no
longer the same.
Question #1
 Can
your animal still live in
this changed local
environment? Explain why.
Question #2
 Could
your animal still mate
with the original animal if they
could be brought together in
time? Explain why.
Question #1: Answers
= Extinction 
 Yes = Adaptation 
 No
Question #2: Answer
 No:
Speciation
 Yes: Species Variation
What have we just observed?
Evolution!
What happened to this
population of organisms?
 The
development of mutations
that are advantageous is called
adaptation and occurs naturally
through a process called natural
selection.
Important Notes:
The mutations happened at random.
 No advance warning occurred to
forewarn the organism of what mutations
would be needed.
 The death of non-adaptive organisms
establishes that adaptation is not done
purposely but rather is the consequence
of unplanned, prior variation.

Summary
Genetic variation (mutation) and natural
selection can, without advanced
planning, eventually lead to the formation
of new species.
 Adaptation and speciation are the two
main events in evolution. As shown in
this simulation, they seem to be the
natural consequence of natural events.
