Transcript Core Content: Heredity and Adaptation In

Life Science
Heredity and Adaptation
EALR 4:
Life Science
Big Idea:
Biological Evolution (LS3)
Core Content:
Heredity and Adaptation
In prior grades students learned about variations in inherited characteristics. In grades 4-5
students learn that some differences in inherited characteristics may help plants and
animals survive and reproduce. Sexual reproduction results in offspring that are never
identical to either of their parents and therefore contributes to a species’ ability to adapt to
changing conditions. Heredity is a key feature of living plants and animals that enables
changes in characteristics to be passed on and for species to change over time. Fossils
provide evidence of what ancient extinct plants and animals looked like.
Teacher Resources
Formative Assessment Probes:
Understanding Student Ideas, Volume 2 by Page Keeley
*These books are in each building.
• 4-5 LS3A "Habitat Change" Probe #19, page 143
• 4-5 LS3B " Baby Mice" Probe # 17, page 129
Lessons from Washington Grade Level Expectations Grades 4&5, published
by Loose in the Lab :
o 4-5 LS3D "The Shark Tooth Stew"
o 4-5 LS3D "Crinoid in a Cup"
Link for buying fossil shark teeth:
http://www.teachersource.com/BiologyLifeScience/Fossils/FossilSharkTeeth.aspx
4-5 LS3A : In any ecosystem, some populations of organisms
thrive and grow, some decline, and others do not survive at all.
What might happen in this ecosystem if the
pond dried up?
How would this affect the fish? Turtle?
Deer? Cattails? Dragonfly?
List some reasons why some populations may not survive as
well as others.
Why is the polar bear
population declining?
4-5 LS3A
Polar bears are on the top of the food chain and
there are no other animals in the north that will
threaten them.
What do polar
bears eat?
During the winter months, the polar bear's favorite food is the
ringed seal. Bears will wait for hours at a ringed seal hole. When
the seal comes to the surface for air, the polar bear is ready to
catch it. When the ice melts sooner in the spring, the polar bear
cannot catch the seal because seals swim too fast.
Evaluate similar populations in an ecosystem with regard to
their ability to thrive and grow.
Which bird population
may be more likely to
survive ?
Crows ?
Seagulls ?
4-5 LS3A
4-5 LS3B Plants and animals inherit many characteristics from
their parents. Some inherited characteristics allow organisms to
better survive and reproduce in a given ecosystem.
What advantage
might the baby
giraffe with the
longer neck have
over the baby
giraffe with the
shorter neck?
Communicate that plants and animals inherit many
characteristics (e.g., color of a flower or number of limbs at
birth) from the parents of the plant or animal.
4-5 LS3B
What characteristics do the puppies share with their
mother dog?
Give examples to illustrate an inherited characteristic that
would enable an organism to better survive and reproduce in a
given ecosystem.
The evolution of the peppered moth over the last two
hundred years has been studied in detail. Originally, the vast
majority of peppered moths had light coloration, which
effectively camouflaged them against the light-colored trees
and lichens which they rested upon.
4-5 LS3B
Can you find both the light and dark colored
moths? Which one would be easiest for birds to find
to eat?
Because of widespread
pollution during the Industrial
Revolution in England, many of
the lichens died out, and the
trees that peppered moths
rested on became blackened
by soot, causing most of the
light-colored moths to die off
from predation. At the same
time, the dark-colored moths
flourished because of their
ability to hide on the darkened
trees.
Since then, with improved environmental standards, lightcolored peppered moths have again become common, but the
dramatic change in the peppered moth's population has
remained a subject of much interest and study, and has led to
the coining of the term industrial melanism to refer to the
genetic darkening of species in response to pollutants.
4-5 LS3C Some characteristics and behaviors result from an
individual plant’s or animal’s interactions with the environment
and are not passed from one generation to the next by
heredity.
This tree has a broken limb.
Will the young trees that grow from
this tree also have a broken limb?
Use an example to explain that some characteristics or behaviors result
from an individual plant’s or animal’s interactions with the environment
and are not passed from one generation to the next by heredity (e.g.,
trees can lose a limb, animals can have accidents that cause scars,
people can exercise and build muscles).
Will this man's son be born
with an arm like his?
4-5 LS3C
Use an example to explain that some characteristics or behaviors result
from an individual plant’s or animal’s interactions with the environment
and are not passed from one generation to the next by heredity (e.g.,
trees can lose a limb, animals can have accidents that cause scars,
people can exercise and build muscles).
4-5 LS3C
This woman is an
accomplished violinist.
Will her children be as
good at playing as she
is?
4-5 LS3D Fossils provide evidence that many plant and animal
species are extinct and that species have changed over time.
Why do you think
that the small horse
does not live on the
planet Earth any
longer?
What may be different now on the planet compared to 60
million years ago?
Compare and contrast fossils with one another and with living plants
and animals to illustrate that fossils provide evidence that plant and
animal species have changed over time.
4-5 LS3D
Show what you know!
1. List two reasons why some populations may not survive as
well as others. (4-5 LS3A)
2. Choose two similar animals that live in the same
ecosystem. Describe how both populations thrive and
grow. (4-5 LS3A)
3. List three characteristics that plants or animals inherit from
their parents. (4-5 LS3B)
4. Choose an inherited characteristic that might help a plant or
animal survive. (4-5 LS3B)
5. If both parents have tattoos on their arms, will their
offspring be born with tattoos, too? (4-5 LS3C)
6. Describe how we as scientists know that a plant or animal
has changed from the time of dinosaurs to the present. (4-5
LSD)