7^th Grade Science Adaptations Name:_______________________

1. Some parakeets have feathers of yellow, some of predominantly blue, others of green. This is an example of:

a) mitigation b) variation c) migration d) none of these

2. Species evolution, consisting of inheritable changes, is at its basic level:

a) changes in rocks b) radiometric dating techniques

c) long periods of time d) changes in DNA

3. Which statement is true about teeth?

a) Form follows function b) One can tell what animals eat by tooth shape

c) Most common fossil d) All of these

4. Birds, and probably dinosaurs, do not chew food. Food is crushed by which organ?

a) stomach b) liver c) crop d) gizzard

5. Fossilized tree sap is known as _____________________________.

6. Naturalist who sailed on the HMS Beagle, and proposed the theory of evolution after studying the Galapagos Islands:

a) Jean Lamarck b) Karl Marx c) Charles Darwin d) none of these

7. Individuals compete for:

a) living space b) food c) resources d) all of these

8. A variation that fits an organism to its environment better is a(n):

a) competition b) adaptation c) tooth d) environment

9. Organisms with the traits best suited to the environment are the most likely to survive and reproduce:

a) natural selection b) Lamarckianism c) extinction d) fossilization

10. Chemical produced by fungi capable of killing bacteria:

a) sulfa drug b) placebo c) antibiotic d) nitrated aromatic

11. Slow, steady evolution or change over long periods of time:

a) Gradualism b) Punctuated Equilibrium c) Catastrophism d) none of these

12. A mutation is a change in: a) environment b) water c) DNA d) evolution

13. Evolution refers to: a) change b) environment c) climate d) apes

14. Evidence of previous life: a) climate b) rocks c) volcano d) fossil

15. Describe the back teeth of the cow jaw we saw in lab:

Penguin Evolution

Researchers led by David Lambert of Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand, collected DNA samples from 7,000-year-old nesting grounds of the Adélie penguin in Antarctica. Underneath the existing colonies lie layers of ancient frozen, fossilized penguin bones with DNA held suspended in time in the cold, dry conditions.

Comparing DNA from 96 penguin bones—some nearly 6,500 years old—with DNA from blood samples taken from 380 living Adélie penguins, Lambert and his colleagues calculated their evolution rate at between two and seven times faster than previous estimates. "What is most surprising about Lambert's study," said evolutionary biologist Robert Wayne of the University of California–Los Angeles, "is that the evolutionary rate seems so high." Wayne cautioned that it is too early to say whether this rate applies to other species.

Lambert's team focused on DNA found in a special cell compartment called the mitochondria. Mitochondrial DNA is inherited directly from the mother without interacting with male DNA. "Mitochondrial DNA is particularly useful for constructing family trees and for studying the rate of evolution because mutations are easy to detect," said Lambert. Lambert excavated bones from different depths, comparing DNA from each millennium with that in modern bones. This continuous DNA record enabled Lambert to directly measure the bird's evolution through time. What distinguishes Lambert's study is that is "a completely new approach," said Wayne. Previous efforts to calculate the rate of evolution relied on either very few time points or rare fossil records. Some approaches have extrapolated evolutionary rates over millions of years based on genetic differences between just a couple of generations.

Using the faster rate of evolution, Lambert has suggested that two groups of Adélie penguins—the Antarctica lineage and the Ross Sea lineage—that differ genetically by about eight percent evolved these differences over only 60,000 years. Previous estimates suggested that this change would have taken at least 200,000 years. Over the last 100 years, evolutionary biologists have tried to create a family tree showing the relationships between all living forms and to put a time scale on this tree, said Lambert. "Our study reveals that life may be evolving much faster than we anticipated," he said.

16. This article is about:

17. On which continent does the Adélie penguin live? __________________________

18. The DNA studied came from what part of the cell?

a) Nucleus b) Cytoplasm c) Mitochondrion d) Cell wall

19. This study suggests the rate of evolution is:

a) Slower than expected b) Faster than expected

c) Same as expected d) Evolution did not happen

20. Where did the scientists find penguin DNA, especially to have so much and know how old it was?