Evidence for Evolution

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Evidence for Evolution
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Evidence for Evolution

• Fossils
• provide a record of early life evolutionary
  history
• Currently, the fossil record is incomplete (like
  a jigsaw puzzle w/ missing pieces)
• The more fossils discovered, the clearer the
  evolutionary picture becomes!

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Evidence for Evolution

• Biogeography
• The study of the locations of organisms around
  the world
• Organisms in similar
• environments have
• similar adaptations
• despite being on
• completely different
• continents.
• Ex Large, flightless birds

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Evidence for Evolution

• Anatomy
• the way an organism is put together
• Homologous structures
• Analogous Structures
• Vestigial Structures

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Homologous Structures

• Parts with a common evolutionary history
• Ex Organisms that have the same basic
  skeleton, bones are just modified for different
  functions
• It would be unlikely
• for so many animals
• to have similar
• structures if each
• species arose
• individually!

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Analogous Structures

• Body parts that are similar in function, but not
  evolutionary origin
• Ex Wings of a butterfly wings of a bird

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Vestigial Structures

• Body structure that has no function in present
  day organisms, but was probably useful to an
  ancestor
• Ex Eyes on Naked Mole Rats, Appendix in humans,
  Wings on ostrich

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Evidence for Evolution

• Adaptations Structural
• Develop over many generations (ex claw length,
  fur color, etc)
• Mimicry enables one species to resemble another
  species. Monarchs and Viceroys
• Camouflage enables species to blend in with
  their surroundings

Monarch TOXIC!
Viceroy TASTY!
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Evidence for Evolution

• Adaptations Physiological
• Changes in an organisms metabolic processes
  (occurs more rapidly)
• Bacterias resistance to antibiotics
• Insects / weeds
• resistance to
• certain
• pesticides

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Evidence for Evolution

• Embryological
• similarities between young embryos suggest
  evolution from a distant common ancestor

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Evidence for Evolution

• Biochemical
• Provides info about relationships between
  individuals and species
• Uses RNA DNA sequences to construct cladograms
  (evolutionary diagrams)