Evolution Webquest

Open a Word file. You will put your answers to the questions in this file. When you finish this webquest, you will save your file in your G drive and then ask me to come over and save it onto my jump drive. Please do not cut and paste. If you must use someone else's words, you must cite your source. You will not need to do this often. Do not print anything!

First we will start atThe Beasts Page. We're going to play the "Shoot the Fish" game (not yet).

1. First imagine a marine (ocean) habitat with a population of fish in it. If you are a shark, you eat the fish that you can see easiest, right? Hypothesize the most common color of a population of fish in the ocean. Put it in your word file, then move on.

2. Try the fish game (not yet). Shoot only the fish that stand out against the background. You will be selecting against brightly colored fish. At the end of the game, record the most common color in your fish population. (Now play)(B.1.34)

3.What kind of selection is it that causes one phenotype to be most common? Use your vocab to answer this, if necessary. (B.1.36)

4. Play the other two fishy games (click next game) and type the answers to the questions that appear after the game in your word file.(B.1.31)

5. At the end of the third game, go to science facts. According to this, what did Darwin and Wallace not know when they published their idea that natural selection was the mechanism for evolution?

6. Oh so THAT'S why Mendel's experiments were so important! Define a mutation.(B.1.22,29)

7. Are all mutations bad?

8. Now go to the Evidence Page. Choose a programme (Referring to a TV "program" - this is a British website). Click on any beast picture (click around until you find one you're interested in). Record your beast's name and which program it was on. Now click on "See more evidence of this animal". Write down four facts about this beast.

9. Repeat step 8 for another animal.

10. Choose one of your two animals. Type its name in your word file. Now list all of its unusual characteristics. Write an paragraph from Lamarck's point of view explaining how this creature got its unusual characteristics. Now do the same from Darwin's point of view.

11. How is information about an organism's body structure passed on to its offspring?

12. If an organism is fit for its environment, will it be more or less likely to survive and reproduce than an organism that is not very fit for its environment?

13. If the environment in the above question changes drastically, what is likely to happen to the organism that was most fit?