Natural Selection: Rock Pocket Mouse

Use the video "The Making of the Fittest: Natural Selection and Adaptation" to answer all questions below: 1. What caused the dark colored rocks to appear in the desert? Iron in the dirt. Volcanic eruptions a long time ago. A meteor impact. No one knows. 2. What kind of predator are hawks, foxes, and owls? Visual predators. Scent predators. Sound predators. 3. Why do dark-colored rock pocket mice on dark lava flows have white bellies? There is no selection for dark bellies by visual predators. Mutations causing dark bellies do not occur. There is a reproductive advantage to having a dark belly. White bellies are an important part of camouflage. 4. What are the scientists looking for in the lab? A virus that effects the color of the mice. A way to change the color of the mice fur to dark. A way to breed only light colored mice. A mutation that explains the change to dark fur color if the mice. 5. Use the video narration to fill in the blanks below. A mutation is a change in the chemical letters that make up our genes. It's a copying error that may occur when our cells divide. Mutation seems to mean that something bad has happened. Well, mutations are neither good nor bad. Whether they are favored or they are rejected, or weather they are just neutral depends on the conditions an organism finds itself in. 6. How long does it take for a mutation with a 1% advantage to show up in the entire population? 1300 years 1000 years 500 years 200 years 7. What does Dr. Carroll mean when he says, “While mutation is random, natural selection is not”? (Note: More than one answer is correct.) Mutations are caused by changes in the environment. Natural selection can favor some mutations and not others. Selection can change depending on the environment. Mutations are always good and will be passed on to the next generation. 8. True or False: The mutation and process of natural selection that led to dark colored fur was unique to that lava flow. True False Expand Your Knowledge! Read the text below to learn about Charles Darwin. A naturalist who revolutionized our understanding of the natural world, and how new species come to be. Charles Darwin - The Finches of the Galapagos The Voyage of the HMS BeagleIn 1831, a young scientist named Charles Darwin set off on a massive trip around the world. He traveled on a ship called the HMS Beagle. The mission was to map the coastline of South America, but Darwin’s job was to study the plants, animals, and rocks they found along the way.The trip lasted five years, taking him across the Atlantic Ocean, around the tip of South America, and across the Pacific. While Darwin saw many amazing things, his most famous stop was a group of islands called the Galapagos Islands.Exploring the Galapagos IslandsThe Galapagos Islands are located in the Pacific Ocean. When Darwin arrived, he noticed something strange: even though the islands were close to each other, the animals on each island were slightly different.Darwin collected many different types of birds, but he was most interested in the finches (small songbirds). At first, he didn't even realize they were all related! He saw: * Birds with thick, strong beaks for cracking hard seeds. * Birds with long, thin beaks for reaching into flowers or catching insects. * Birds with medium beaks for eating a variety of foods.The Big Discovery: The FinchesDarwin realized that these birds weren't just random. He figured out that a long time ago, one type of finch likely flew over from the mainland of South America. Over many generations, the birds spread out to different islands.Why did their beaks change?Each island had different types of food available. Darwin’s theory worked like this: 1. Survival: On an island with only hard seeds, birds born with slightly stronger beaks survived better because they could eat more easily. 2. Passing it on: Those survivors had babies, who also had stronger beaks. 3. Adaptation: Over a very long time, the birds on that island changed to fit their environment perfectly.Why It MattersDarwin’s study of the finches helped him come up with the idea of Evolution by Natural Selection. He realized that nature "selects" the best traits for survival.Even though he was just a young man on a boat, his curiosity about a few small birds changed the way we understand life on Earth forever! 1. What was the name of the ship Charles Darwin traveled on for his five year journey? HMS Discovery HMS Beagle HMs Endeavor HMS Bulldog 2. What was the original mission of the HMS Beagle's trip? To map the coastline of South America. To find treasure. To explore the animals of unknown regions. To start new colonies in the Pacific. 3. Where are the Galapagos Islands located? In the Atlantic ocean. In the Arctic ocean. In the Pacific ocean. In the Mediterranean sea. 4. What strange thing did Darwin notice about the animals on the different islands? The animals were only found under water. The animals were exactly the same on every island. There were no animals on any of the islands, only plants. The animals were slightly different on every island. 5. According to the summary, what bird was Darwin most interested in? Parrots Finches Doves Sparrows 6. Match the beak type to the food it specialized in. Thick, Strong Beak hard seeds Long, Thin Beak insects, flowers Medium Beaks variety of foods 7. Where did the first finches on the Galapagos Islands likely come from? South America North America Europe Aisia 8. Which environmental stress led to the development of the different types of finch beaks? water availability mate availability shelter availability food availability 9. In the process of 'Natural Selection,' why do only certain traits get passed on to the offspring? (3 pts)