Evolution 3. Maybe there is something

 Learning outcomes

Content: to be able to explain microevolution using examples.

Language: to be able to use specific vocabulary to explain microevolution.

1 step one (individual work). This is the key vocabulary for the Evolution topic. Do you know meaning of these words and phrases? Use a dictionary to match the words with their translation.

to stretch

complexity

to paddle

depigmented

to spin

whirlpool

velocity

implication

step two (individual work). Write notes about the video while watching it

2 Step one (individual work). Circle the right words or phrases in italics to create grammatically correct questions.

Questions	Answers
1. What is the scientist’s/scientists hypothesis regarding the diversity of fish in the Lower Congo River?
2. What data was/were collected about the river?
3. What did they discover about how the hydrology of the Lower Congo River is affecting/affected fish species that live there?
4. What did the genetic testing of the fish species show/showed?

Step two (individual work). Match the following correct answers to the questions above. There are two extra answers that cannot be used.

1. Scientists investigated whether the rapids and whirlpools were just on the surface. They wanted to know how deep the river was under those rapids and whirlpools. They also collected data about the velocity of the river and the direction of the river’s flow.
2. They posed a hypothesis, collected data about the hydrology of the river, collected fish from various parts of the river and did genetic testing. They analysed the data and used it to support their hypothesis.
3. Because of the river’s topography, the fish are isolated in their various niches. They are unable, for example, to swim from one side of the river to the other.
4. While fish species on opposite sides of the river appeared to be the same species, they were genetically different.
5. The complexity of the river’s hydrology is key to understanding why there are so many different species of fish there.
6. The river’s features set up natural barriers that isolate species, which then diversify.

3 (individual work). Sort the words and phrases below into two columns.

Words and phrases: fossils, evolution explains the origin of life, biogeography, evolution is just a theory, individuals evolve, organisms evolve on purpose, anatomy and embryology, molecular biology.

Evidence	Misconceptions

4 (team work): Explain why the statement that a monkey is more evolved than a mouse is incorrect.

5 Step one (individual work): Match the words after reading the text below.

Adaptation is a heritable trait or behaviour in an organism that aids in its survival and reproduction in its present environment. Convergency is the process by which groups of organisms independently evolve to similar forms. Divergency is the process by which groups of organisms evolve in different directions from a common point. Natural selection is the reproduction of individuals with favourable genetic traits that survive environmental change because of those traits, leading to changes. Idioadaptation is the modification which involves progressive specialisation that results in more perfect adaptation of an organism to a particular environment. Aromorphosis is the biological change marked by general increase in degree of organisation without sharp specialisation. Degeneration is the worsening of a tissue or an organ in which its function is less or its structure is reduced.

Step two (individual work): Match the given words with the numbers on the picture:

1. Idioadaptation
2. Idioadaptation
3. Idioadaptation
4. Degeneration
5. Aromorphosis
6. Aromorphosis