1. The Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection
By Summer Academy Camp
Adapted from portalsso.vansd.org/.../The%20Theory%20of%20Evolution %20by%20Natural%20Sel...

2. Cultural Connection -Whole Group Discussion-
What cultural changes have taken place over the past 200 years? 50 years? 10 years?
What changes do you see in the future for the reservation itself? Explain your reasoning for each change.
What change can you personally implement in your own community?

3. Darwin’s Voyage Charles Darwin Set sail on the HMS Beagle in 1831
Became the ship’s naturalist
Arrived in the Galapagos Islands in 1835
Observed that the animals on the islands were similar to those on the mainland

4. Darwin’s Voyage Galapagos Animals
The Galapagos animals, while similar, were also different from island to island as well as to the mainland
Most obvious difference were the sizes and shapes of the finches’ (small birds) beaks
Sizes and shapes of the beaks were adapted to what the birds ate

5. Galápagos Finches Beak shape varies depending on diet Berry eater
Seed eaters
Cactus eaters
Insect eaters

6. Darwin’s Voyage On the Origin of Species (Darwin’s book)
For the 20 years that followed his return to England Darwin studied plants, animals and adaptations
Darwin wrote about how species can change gradually over many, many generations and become better adapted to new environmental conditions.

7. Evolution
The gradual change in a species over time.

8. Natural Selection
Organisms that are better adapted to an environment are more likely to survive and reproduce than organisms that are less well adapted.

9. Adaptations Katydids have camouflage to look like leaves.
Non-poisonous king snakes mimic poisonous coral snakes.

10. Factors that affect Natural Selection:
Overproduction most species produce far more offspring than will/can survive
Overproducers
Producers
mature rapidly 
mature slowly
short-lived: most die before they reproduce
live long lives: low juvenile mortality rate 
have many offspring - tend to overproduce
have few offspring at a time
invest little in individual youngsters 
care for their young
population not regulated by density: boom and bust population figures
population stabilizes near carrying capacity

11. Factors that affect Natural Selection:
Competition: since food and resources are limited, the offspring have to compete to survive Darwin called it: “Struggle for existence”

12. Factors that affect Natural Selection:
Variation: Members within a species exhibit individual differences – these differences must be inheritable Natural selection won’t work in a population of clones! Remember that a key to variation is sexual reproduction.

13. Factors that affect Natural Selection:
Fitness : Survival to reproduce/ Only those individuals that are better suited to the environment will survive and reproduce (“Survival of the fittest”). Fitness is when individuals pass on to a portion of their offspring the advantageous characteristics.

14. How do new species form? Natural Selection Continental Drift
Changes in environment
Mutations
Man

15. Continental Drift
Fossil records show that when the continents were connected animals walked across. When the continents separated, the animals were separated.

16. Changes in the Environment
Example, the pepper moth. Originally, the pepper moth was white, which was good because it could blend in. Then, trains were invented and the soot they produced covered the trees. Making the trees black. The moths that were black could now survive better.

17. Mutations
Some species are more susceptible to mutations. Some mutations allow the animal to survive; other mutations do not allow the animal to survive. The mutations that are not decrease the chance of survival remain.

18. Man: Artificial Selection
Selective breeding as practiced by humans on domesticated plants and animals….
For example: Dogs

19. Evidence of Evolution Fossil Record Similarities in Body Structure
Similarities in Early Development
Vestigial Structures
Similarities in DNA

20. Fossil Record How fossils form
An organism dies and becomes buried in sediment
Minerals gradually replace the bones and more sediments cover the fossil
Pterodactyl
Trilobite

21. Similarities in Homologous Body Structure
If the two organisms have body structures that are similar, they must have had a common ancestor.

22. Similarities in Early Development- Embryology
Scientists look at embryos of different organisms and find that many embryos resemble one another.

23. Vestigial Structures
Vestigial Structures A structure found in an organism that is no longer in use but may have been useful at some point in the organism's life.
Whales possess a femur and pelvis, but these bones are no longer useful to the mammals.
Tail Present in human and all vertebrate embryos. In humans, the tail is reduced; most adults only have three to five tiny tail bones and, occasionally, a trace of a tail-extending muscle.

24. Vestigial Structures
Why do dogs have tiny, functionless toes on their feet (dewclaws)?
Ancestral dogs had five toes on each foot

25. Similarities in DNA
The more similar the sequences of DNA are, the more closely related the organisms are.
Humans and chimpanzees DNA is more similar than human DNA is to dog DNA.