A group of birds called ratites are flightless birds.  Ratites include ostriches, emus, and the extinct moas.  Scientists believed that the moas most recent common ancestor would have been a flightless bird as well.  But that is not the case.  Read the following article, Dinosaur Extinction Grounded Ancient Birds, New Research Finds from sciencedaily.com. 

How did these flightless moas get to the island of New Zealand?  Why did the moas evolve to not have the ability to fly?  How does the evolution of birds relate to the extinction of the dinosaurs? 

Can Climate Change Drive Evolution?

Scientists say that our climate is changing (we will study all about climate change during our ecology unit).  According to the Enviromental Protection Agency (EPA),

"Average global temperature has increased by almost 1ºF over the past century; scientists expect the average global temperature to increase an additional 2 to 6ºF over the next one hundred years."  

How does climate change relate to evolution?  Read the following article:  Carnations had evolutionary bloom boom in Europe - New species have evolved at a surprisingly rapid pace by Laura Sanders.  Describe how the flower has evolved and the role of climate change in this evolution.

What makes a species a species?

Can something be a plant and an animal at the same time?  What is the difference between plant and animal cells? What is a species?  Can two species be combined to make another?  Read the following article:  Making the most of a meal:  Sea slug swipes recipe for food-producing chemical from algae it eats by Stephen Ornes and then comment and relfect.

Do fossils tell you the whole story?

We know that dinosaurs once roamed the Earth because we have fossils of these extinct creatures.  And we can even tell when by using radioactive dating.  But do fossils tell the whole story?  What other evidence is used to show us evolution has taken place?

Read the following article, Can Modern-Day Plants Trace Their New Zealand Ancestry?.  Scientists are trying to trace the evolutionary path of the plants that are on the island of New Zealand.  Are the current plants descendents of plants from after Pangea split apart, or are they more recent inhabitants of the island.  What evidence was used to support scientist's current hypotheses?  What other evidence is used to support evolution?  What is wrong with just relying on fossil evidence?

What makes a new species?

In class we have been learning about what a species is, how species evolve over time, and how speciation occurs.  Scientists have recently discovered a new species of cricket and it is the first insect of its kind to be a pollinator. 

Read Jiminy Cricket!  Pollinator caught in the act by Rachel Ehrenberg.  How did this new species evolve?  How does it depend on the orchid?  How does the orchid depend on the cricket?  What type of evolution is occuring with these two species?

How do we know?

Humans and dinosaurs never coexisted... so how do we know so much about them?  Scientists can use carbon dating to determine their ages.  But how do we know what they looked like if all we have are their bones?  How do we know what they ate or how they hunted?

Scientists have recently discovered a dinosaur that they believe was poisonous.  When it bit something, it delivered a poison.    Read the article Dino-bite! Study suggests dinosaur's teeth packed poison by Stephen Ornes.  Why might this be a useful adaptation?  And why do scientists think they were poisonous?  What evidence do scientists have?

How can scientists explain what happened in the past?

Scientists believe the Earth formed 4.6 billion years ago, the oceans were created 4.4 billion years ago and the first cells appeared on Earth 3.5 billion years ago.  How do scientists know this?  Obviously we can't go back in time to observe all of this.  So what evidence do scientists have to know these events occured at these time periods? 

The island of Madagascar is famous for its lemurs, flying foxes, and mongooses.  But how they got to this isolated island has been a question that scientists have pondered for many years.  Recent researchers believe that Animals Populated Madagascar by Rafting There.  How did the wildlife on Madagascar become so unique?  Where did the animals come from?  And what evidence do we have that supports this idea?

Natural Selection vs. Selective Breeding

Do you have a favorite breed of dog?  Mine has always been pugs and my parents prefer schipperkes.  Some people prefer mixed breeds.  Here is my dog Amber who is part Basenji.

Dogs come in all shapes, sizes, colors, fur type and have different temperments and behaviors.  Over the years, people have domesticated dogs from once wild wolves.  People have bred dogs for all types of reasons - to be good hunters to good companion animals.  But does this selective breeding have anything to do with Darwin's theory of Natural Selection? 

Read the following article from sciencedaily.com:  "Survival of the Cutest' Proves Darwin Right" to help you explain how selective breeding relates to Darwin's theory of Natural Selection.

What type of birds live the longest?

Everyone wants to live a long and healthy life.  Evolutionarily, the longer you live, the more time you have to reproduce and pass on your genes to offspring. 

Scientists at Cornell University have just completed a study looking at what makes some bird species more fit than others.  Read the article "Big Plant-Eating Birds That Dwell With Others on Islands Live Longest" on sciencdaily.com then write a response. 

Why do some birds living to only 10 years old, and others live 30 or more years?  What traits allow the longest living birds to reach such an old age?  How does natural selection and extrinsic factors affect the lifespan of these birds?  How might this study relate to human lifespans?

Are men more evolved than women?

The fast evolving human chromosome is the Y chromosome.  Read all about it in Seth Borenstein's article:  Are Men More Evolved Than Women? 

What role do your genes play in evolution?  Why would it be advantageous for the Y chromosome to evolve at such a quick rate compared to the rest of the chromosomes?

Human Evolution

With advances in modern medicine and healthcare, humans have been able to lead longer and healthier lives.  The average life span in the early 20th Century was 30-45 years old and the current world average is 66.57 years old.  In the United States, the average life span is currently 70-80 years old. 

Why is our life span in the United States so much higher than the average?  And why has it changed so much over the last 100 years?  And will this cause any problems?  If natural selection acts on the organisms that are most fit and adapted to their enviroment, and "unfit" humans are able to survive and lead longer lives due to medical advances... what affect will that have on human evolution?

Read the following article, Ongoing Human Evolution Could Explain Recent Rise in Certain Disorders, to help you write your response. 

Evidence of Evolution

Last week we quickly went over some of the evidence for evolution at the end of our notes.  Scientists believe the earth is 4.6 billion years old and the first mammal dates to about 220 million years ago, flowering plants only evolved 130 million year ago, and modern humans evolved 150,000 years ago.  Scientists have recently discovered that 4 - legged animals emerged earlier than thought.  What types of evidence do scientists use to determine the age of organisms and when things first emerged on earth?  What other sorts of evidence could help them determine relationships between organisms and species?

Natural Selection

In our lab today we learned how certain species are able to survive when they are best adapted for their environment.  If they blend in they won't be eaten by predators.  The fittest of a species are able to reproduce and pass their "fit" genes to their offspring.  But as the environments change, the traits that made them so successful could now make them stand out like a sore thumb.

Male peahens, known as peacocks, have a very bright and ornate tail.  The bigger the better.  But this beautiful tail can cause the birds to be a little clumsy when flying and it doesn't help with camouflage.  Their tails make them an easy target for predators.  So why are the males so showy?  Why is this an attractive trait?  Why is this a trait that is selected for?  How do you think peacocks got these tails?

Refer to your class notes and watch this short PBS video, Tale of the Peacock,  to help you write your response.

Darwin's Evolution

As you probably all have guessed, I really like birds.  I not only have a pet lovebird named Jaws, but I have a bird feeder "station" in my backyard to attract lots of wildbirds. The feeder station is basically a big pole that has four different bird feeders hanging from it.  I have out nectar for hummingbirds, peanuts for chickadees, oak titmice, and nuthatches, thistle for the goldfinch, and sunflower seeds for the finches.  The birds are constantly trying to find a spot on one of the feeders, they compete for seed.  But they are not the only ones...  The squirrels really love the peanuts and always try to break into the feeder.  They have knocked down my feeders many times.  You can see some pictures in the slide show to the right that were all taken near my bird feeders.  I almost have as many pictures of squirrels as I do of birds. 

Stores actually sell feeders that are supposed to be squirrel proof.  One is the Yankee Flipper by Droll Yankees.  When a bird sits on the perch, they can get seed out of the seed ports.  But when a squirrel, who is much heavier, sits on or hangs on the perch, it pulls a little covering down over the seed ports.  The squirrels then are unable to get any seed.  Here is a picture of the feeder with a squirrel being flipped and not getting any seed.

But it looks like some squirrels have been able to solve this problem...  Watch this video on the Twin Cities Naturalist blog:  Abs of Steel.

What part of Darwin's theory does this demonstrate?  Explain how this relates to what we have learned in class about evolution, natural selection, fitness, etc.