HOW DOES EVOLUTION WORK?

Breeding Bunnies

This project tries to show the different genotypes for the characteristic of the fur that exists in the rabbits, and what frequency is of that each generation has this gene.

Discussion Questions
1) What was your original hypothesis?
Our original hypothesis: We think that most of them are going to have fur because the furless ones are going to be will by the cold weather. Apart from that the dominant alleles are the bunnies with fur, and the furless are recessive, so there´s more frequency of F (fur).
2) Based on your lab data, do you need to change your hypothesis? Explain.
No, we don´t need to change our hypothesis, because we have studied this topic before in Biology and we knew what was going to happen with the bunnies.
3) Compare the number of alleles for the dominant characteristic with the number of alleles for the recessive characteristic.
The number of alleles for the dominant characteristic is bigger than the number of alleles for the recessive characteristic, because the white beans died. The alleles for the dominant characteristic appeared in each generation, but the alleles for the recessive characteristic disappeared in each generation.
4) Compare the frequencies of the dominant allele to the frequencies of the recessive allele.
There are more possibilities that the individuals of the next generation are going to have fur because the dominant allele is the one with fur. So the frequencies of the bunnies with fur are higher than the ones without it.
5) In a real rabbit habitat new animals often come into the habitat (immigrate), and others leave the area (emigrate). How might emigration and immigration affect the gene frequency of F and f in this population of rabbits? How might you simulate this effect if you were to repeat this activity?
The emigration and immigration affects the frequency of alleles F and f by the fact that there are few more white rabbits, the greater the like hood that the offspring haven´t hair color. Likewise, the fewer rabbits haven´t hair in the population, either by the emigration of the same or the mass emigration of rabbits with hair, the less likely they are descendants of hairless rabbits. And the same happens with the population of rabbits whit hair.
6) How do your results compare with the class data? If significantly different, why are the different?
This point we haven´t been resolved because we make no comparison between the data obtained by us and the Class Data.
7) How are the results of this simulation an example of evolution?
Because thanks to this simulation we were able to witness how it works heredity, genetics and natural selection by observing the data and extracting conclusions.

WHY IS EVOLUTION CONTROVERSIAL?

A CARTOON




Procedures
Part A: Understanding the Trial

Doug Linder, law professor at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, has assembled a Web site with excerpts and eyewitness accounts from the Scopes Trial. Go to "Famous Trials in American History: Tennessee vs. John Scopes, the 'Monkey Trial'." Read the introduction for an overview. You also may want to read H. L. Mencken's newspaper reports or the Tennessee statute that made the teaching of evolution illegal in public schools and universities.
1. On the main page of the Scopes Trial site above, jump to "Trial Pictures and Cartoons." View the two cartoon sites listed.
2. Explain what you think the artist was trying to depict in each cartoon. Write your descriptions based on your knowledge of evolution and your understanding of the circumstances surrounding this trial. You may need to reexamine the trial facts presented in Professor Linder's Web site to gather additional background information.
Part B: Draw a Cartoon
1. Become an editorial cartoonist yourself. Create your own cartoon about the evolution controversy. Your cartoon should include a drawing, a caption, and an explanation of what you intend to convey.
2. You may wish to view sample editorial cartoons at comics.com before you draw your own. Avoid putting down people with opinions different from your own. Use your cartoon to educate, not humiliate.
3. Give your cartoon descriptions and your original cartoon to your teacher for presentation to the rest of your class.

Part C: Court Decisions

1. Visit the National Center for Science Education's site titled, "Eight Significant Court Decisions."
2. Read about a court case influencing the teaching of evolution in this country and explain it to the rest of your class.



Part A:

The first picture of the first cartoon refers to since as like Clarence Darrow was defending the theory of Darwin's evolution. In the image Darrow says to to the monkey ' father, with this the author was trying to represent the idea that tape-worm Darrow of which the man descends from a low order of the animals.

In the second photo of the first cartoon, the artist tries to represent as Darrow supports the theory of the evolution and William Jennings Bryan was insisting on the history of the Divine Creation of the man, since exposes in the Bible. In the image one sees as Darrow insists Bryan who does not exist Holy Claus. Holy Claus represents to the theory that exposes the bible on the creation of the man.

In the third photo of the first cartoon, the artist tries to represent as bryan was defending the religion

In the second cartoon the two monkeys cannot believe that the violent persons that they are seeing are their descends. This refers to that, in any sectors, the theory of the evolution was not accepted. For this reason there was the trial of John Scopes. After the trial, six days later, Bryan died and fifteen states that were against the teaching of the theory of evolution there were only two states (Arkansas and Mississippi).

WHAT IS THE NATURE OF SCIENCE?

A Survey about science

1. General information, age, gender, ocupation.

2. What is the science?

3. Do you like science? Why or why not?

4. What are the steps in the scientific process?

5. What is the scientific theory? Give an example.

6. What is fact? Give an example.

7. What is a scientific law? Give an example.

8. What is the difference between astronomy and astrology?

9. What is evolution?

10. Why is evolution called a theory?

First Survey.

1. Rodrigo Diaz Sortino, 17 años, género masculino, ocupación estudiante.

2. Para Rodrigo la ciencia es el material social que estudia el comportamiento del hombre en un determinado tiempo y espacio.

3. Si, me gusta por que amo la ciencia y todo lo que ella descubre.

4. Tiene cuatro pasos, la hipótesis, el desarrollo, la práctica y la demostración.

5. Una regla que se aplica a la mayoría de los aspectos. La teoría del big-bang.

6. Un hecho es algo que paso y que esta comprobado.

7. Algo comprobado científicamente que se aplica a todos los casos que dicha ley habla.

8. La astronomía estudia los cuerpos del planeta. La astrología estudia a los signos, por ejemplo: leo, tauro, libra, entre otros.

9. Es el paso de los primates a los humanos.

10. Debido a que no se puede probar.

Miranda Lizarraga did this survey.

Second survey

1. My name is lucila florencia visentin, and I am 15.

2. The science is human knowledge.

3. Yes, because I can learn through science.

4. Hypothesis and investigation.

5. The discovery is something that occurs in nature and is studied.

6. It is something occurs in nature.

7. It is a law study the human life.

8. Astronomy is the science that studies the earth's bodies.The astrology studies the “Astros”.

9. It is the human' evolution, hommosappiens, astrolopitecus, and the others.

10. Because it talks about the evolution of the human.

Mercedes Diaz Sortino did this survey.

Third Survey

1. Maria Constanza Sanchez, 17 años, estudiante.

2. La ciencia en mi opinión es la encargada de los descubrimientos, de los hechos ocurridos a nuestro alrededor.

3. Si, me gusta debido a que somos lo que somos gracias a los descubrimientos de la ciencia.

4. La ciencia consta de una hipótesis un desarrollo y una teoría.

5. Es la teoría que se encarga de explicar lo que realiza la ciencia, por ejemplo el descubrimiento de la relatividad.

6. Un hecho es algo que ocurrió y gracias a eso se pudo crear un hipótesis y de ella una teoría.

7. Es una ley que estudia los hechos que se realizaron a partir de la ciencia.

8. La astronomía estudia a los astros con su relación con el exterior mientras que la astrología estudia los astros en su interior.

9. La evolución es el proceso por el cual los humanos y la tierra van evolucionándose.

10. Porque es algo que no se puede probar ya que va pasando el tiempo y se va modificando.

Mercedes Diaz Sortino did this survey,

Fourth survey

1 – A) 30-50

B) Woman

c) Masseur

2 - The science is the matter that explains verifiable phenomena

3 - Yes, because it is based on the investigation (research) and on the casuistry.

4 - The steps that I know are the analysis of the situation, the check, and checking.

For example the gravity.

5 - A scientific theory is a theory that is based on concrete and verifiable facts. For example, the theory of the relativity.

6 - A fact is something that happens in a time and certain space

7 - A scientific law is a law based on a theory or scientific terms of reference

8 - The difference is that the astronomy studies the universe and the stars, and the astrology studies the signs of the zodiac.

9 - The evolution is a process of development, where something grows and is changing with passing of the time.

10 - Because the development of the modifications was verified by concrete facts in the time of the mankind.

Ingnacio did this survey

Fifth survey

1 – A) 30-50

b) Woman

c) Teacher

2 – It´s something that you can study about

3 – Yes, because I can learn a lot of new things.

4 – I don´t know.

5 – It´s a hypothesis that has been proved.

6 – It´s something that you can prove (the day has 24 hours)

7 – It´s something that has been proved. (People die)

8 – Astronomy is the study of the space, and astrology is the Zodiac´s study.

9 – Something that changes

10 - Because it has been proved.

Ignacio did this survey.

Sixth survey

1. General information

a. Age (circle)

6–11 12–15 16–20 20–30 30–50 over 50

b. Gender: Masculine

c. Occupation: Student

2. What is science?

Es lo que alguien expresa de hacer cosas científicas

3. Do you like science? Why or why not?

Sí, porque se experimentan cosas que uno no conoce

4. What are the steps in the scientific process?

Tener una teoría y luego un experimento

5. What is a scientific theory? Give an example.

Es una teoría comprobada y experimentada

6. What is a fact? Give an example.

No lo se.

7. What is a scientific law? Give an example.

Una teoría que es experimentada y no resulta.

8. What is the difference between astronomy and astrology?

Pienso que astronomía tiene que ver con los astros y la manera de estudiarlos y la astrología con las constelaciones

9. What is evolution?

Cambios a medida del tiempo en lo físico

10. Why is evolution called a theory?

Porque no se sabe bien cómo comenzo y se hizo una teoría.

Juan did this survey

Seventh survey

1. General information

a. Age (circle)

6–11 12–15 16–20 20–30 30–50 over 50

b. Gender

Masculine

c. Occupation

Doctor

2. What is science?

La ciencia es la manera de estudiar el porqué de las cosas

3. Do you like science? Why or why not?

Si me gusta porque me sirve justamente para saber porqué sucede todo.

4. What are the steps in the scientific process?

Los pasos consisten en la planificación y la experimentación

5. What is a scientific theory? Give an example.

Es una hipótesis ya experimentada. La teoría de la evolución.

6. What is a fact? Give an example.

Un hecho es la manera que tiene el científico de llegar al resultado.

7. What is a scientific law? Give an example.

Una hipótesis que es experimentada y no resulta como se pensaba.

8. What is the difference between astronomy and astrology?

La astronomía estudia a los astros a través de la información que podemos obtener de solo verlos, y la astrología estudia la posición y movientos de estos.

9. What is evolution?

La evolución es el proceso por el cual se formó el ser humano, segun la teoría de Darwin, el hombre desciende del simio

10. Why is evolution called a theory?

Es llamada teoría porque es mundialmente aceptada, obviamente no por los creyentes que creen que el hombre fue creado por dios.

Juan did this survey.

Eighth survey

1) a_ 54 b_ masculine c_ Public book-keeper

2) The study of the nature that surrounds us, her description, her utilization and her understanding.

3) Yes, some. The exact ones and the social ones. The social ones because they help me to understand the human behavior and the exact ones because it is my profession. La observación, las pruebas y la conclusión.

4) A theory is scientific when it is based on true stories and verified. Theory of the gravity.

5) A fact is something that has happened. The Earth attracts the objects.

6) They are irrefutable hypotheses. The Law of Boyle and Mariotte

7) The astronomy studies the bodies that compose the universe on the other hand the astrology studies the influence of these bodies on our conducts.

Miranda did this survey

The correct answers

What is the science? The science is the collection and testing prior to development methodology (or accidental) of knowledge

Do you like science? Why or why not? The answer to this question depends on each person.

What are the steps in the scientific process?

· Observe and investigate

· Ask a question or problem

· establish a hypothesis

· Conduct research

· Reaching a conclusion.

What is the scientific theory? Give an example. A scientific theory is the approach of an abstract system which is a scientific explanation or description of a related set of observations or experiments, theory of Newtonian gravity

What is fact? Give an example. That which belongs to the reality (physical world or world of objects), which makes its own existence independent of our thinking.

What is a scientific law? Give an example. A scientific law is a scientific statement that asserts a constant relationship between two or more options.

What is the difference between astronomy and astrology? Astronomy: Science that studies the physical universe beyond the Earth's atmosphere/Astrology: Superstitious practice which claims that the stars influence human life

The astronomy is a science, the astrology is not a science, and this is the difference.

What is evolution? Continuous process of transformation of species through changes in successive generations.

Conclusion about the surveys

We did eight surveys with 10 questions each except one.

· Of eight surveys only three people answered well the first question.

· Of eight surveys only one answered well the third question.

· Of eight surveys only four people answered well the fourth question.

· Of eight surveys only five people answer well the fifth question.

· Of eight surveys only one person answered well the sixth question.

· Of eight surveys only three people answered well the seventh question. But this people didn’t say the big difference: that the astronomy is a science and the astrology is not.

· Of seven (because the last survey hasn’t this question) surveys only three people answered well the eighth question.

· Of seven surveys nobody answered well the last question.

Possible solutions

Most people have problems when they have to define fact, science, scientific law, and the steps for science. Also they don’t know well the difference between astronomy and astrology because people know which studies Astros and which studies zodiac’s signs, but they don’t know which is a science and which isn’t.

Most people watch TV, and a solution would be to show advertising with information about science, so people are more informed and avoid mistakes.

WHAT KILLED THE DINOSAURS?

PART A

1 The Cretaceous is usually noted for being the last portion of the "Age of Dinosaurs", but that does not mean that new kinds of dinosaurs did not appear then. It is during the Cretaceous that the first ceratopsian and pachycepalosaurid dinosaurs appeared. Also during this time, we find the first fossils of many insect groups, modern mammal and bird groups, and the first flowering plants.

The breakup of the world-continent Pangaea, which began to disperse during the Jurassic, continued. This led to increased regional differences in floras and faunas between the northern and southern continents.

The end of the Cretaceous brought the end of many previously successful and diverse groups of organisms, such as non-avian dinosaurs and ammonites. This laid open the stage for those groups which had previously taken secondary roles to come to the forefront. The Cretaceous was thus the time in which life as it now exists on Earth came together.

2 Grazing mammals, such as members of the perissodactyl and artiodactyls diversified in the Miocene and Pliocene as grasslands and savanna spread across most continents.

The Pliocene was a time of global cooling after the warmer Miocene. The cooling and drying of the global environment may have contributed to the enormous spread of grasslands and savannas during this time. The change in vegetation undoubtedly was a major factor in the rise of long-legged grazers who came to live in these areas.

Additionally, the Panamanian land-bridge between North and South America appeared during the Pliocene, allowing migrations of plants and animals into new habitats. Of even greater impact was the accumulation of ice at the poles, which would lead to the extinction of most species living there, as well as the advance of glaciers and ice ages of the Late Pliocene and the following Pleistocene.

PART B

1

Volcanism:

Some scientists think the answer lies locked within the remnants of long-dormant volcanoes. Massive beds of ancient lava found around the world depict an earth 65 or 70 million years ago where volcanic eruptions were commonplace.

Mammal Competition:

Extinction implies that the species that perish are poorly adapted to a changing set of conditions.

Faced with an evolving group of competing organisms-the mammals- perhaps dinosaurs were driven to extinction by competition

Continental Drift:

It's difficult to imagine a process more gradual than continental drift. But some scientists say that, slow or not, this repositioning of the world's landmasses was disastrous for dinosaurs.

As continents heaved upward, pushed by the movement of tectonic plates, ocean currents were redirected and global sea levels fell. The Interior Seaway, for example, which once divided North America in half, simply drained away as the Colorado Plateau rose thousands of feet

Asteroid Impact:

It's widely agreed that such an object-10 kilometers across-struck just off the coast of the Yucatan peninsula 65 million years ago.

According to scientists who maintain that dinosaur extinction came quickly, the impact must have spelled the cataclysmic end.

2 Our group have choose the theory of de meteorite

There are a lot of theories about why this K-T (Cretaceous-Tertiary) extinction occurred, but a widely accepted theory (proposed in 1980 by physicist Luis Alvarez and his son Walter Alvarez, a geologist), is that an asteroid 4-9 miles (6-15 km) in diameter hit the Earth about 65 million years ago. The impact would have penetrated the Earth's crust, scattering dust and debris into the atmosphere, and causing huge fires (generated by hot debris thrown from the crater), tsunamis, severe storms with high windsand highly acidic rain, seismic activity, and perhaps even volcanic activity. The impact could have caused chemical changes in the Earth's atmosphere, increasing concentrations of sulfuric acid, nitric acid, and fluoride compounds. The heat from the impact's blast wave would have incinerated all the life forms in its path.

The dust and debris thrust into the atmosphere would have blocked most of the sunlight for months, and lowered the temperature globally.

Those organisms that could not adapt to the temperature and light changes would die out. Since plants' energy is derived from the sun, they would likely be the first to be affected by changes in climate. Many families of phytoplankton and plants would die out, and the Earth's oxygen levels may well have dramatically decreased, both on land and in the oceans, suffocating those organisms which were unable to cope with the lower oxygen levels.

Major changes in the food chain would result from all of these these environmental upheavals. The herbivores (plant eaters) who ate those plants would starve soon after the plants died. Then, at the top of the food chain, the carnivores (meat eaters), having lost their prey, would have to eat each other, and eventually die out. Their large carcasses must have provided smaller animals with food for quite a while.

LOCATION OF THE IMPACT CRATER

There are many impact craters on Earth. A 120-mile-wide (180 km), 1-mile-deep (1600 m) impact crater, Chicxulub, is found at the tip of the Yucatán Peninsula, in the Gulf of Mexico. This crater dates back to 65 million years ago, and is probably the site of the K-T meteorite impact. Evidence of K-T period tsunamis all around the Gulf of Mexico has been found.

The Shiva crater is a another huge impact crater located under the Arabian Sea off the coast of India near Bombay. This crater also dates from the K-T boundary, 65 million years ago, when the Chicxulub crater at the tip of the Yucatán Peninsula also formed. Although it has shifted because of sea floor spreading, when pieced together it would be about 370 miles (600 km) by 280 miles (450 km) across and 7.5 miles (12 km) deep (and may be just part of a larger crater). It is estimated to have been made by a bolide (an asteroid or meteoroid) 25 miles (40 km) in diameter. This crater was named by the paleontologist Sankar Chatterjee for Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction and renewal.

WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE FOR EVOLUTION?

Evolution through time periods:

Precambrian time is divided in three times:

Hadean: in this time, the solar system was forming, surrounded by a cloud of gas and dust around the sun. This gas, is supposed to be derived from a supernova (the explosion of an old, massive star). Particles surrounding the sun began to coalesce by gravity into larger lumps, or planetesimals, which continued to aggregate into planets. Left-over" material formed asteroids and comets - like asteroid Ida. The oldest meteorites and lunar rocks are about 4.5 billion years old, but the oldest Earth rocks currently known are 3.8 billion years old. Sometime during the first 800 million or so years of its history, the surface of the Earth changed from liquid to solid. Once solid rock formed on the Earth, its geological history began.

Archaean: The atmosphere was very different from what we breathe today; at that time, it was likely a reducing atmosphere of methane, ammonia, and other gases which would be toxic to most life on our planet today. Also during this time, the Earth's crust cooled enough that rocks and continental plates began to form. It was early in the Archaean that life first appeared on Earth. Our oldest fossils date to roughly 3.5 billion years ago, and consist of bacteria microfossils. In fact, all life during the more than one billion years of the Archaean was bacterial.

This is an artist's depiction of what an Archaean coast might have looked like 3.5 billion years ago.

Proterozoic era: Many of the most exciting events in the history of the Earth and of life occurred during the Proterozoic -- stable continents first appeared and began to accrete, a long process taking about a billion years. Also coming from this time are the first abundant fossils of living organisms, mostly bacteria and archaeans, but by about 1.8 billion years ago eukaryotic cells appear as fossils too. With the beginning of the Middle Proterozoic comes the first evidence of oxygen build-up in the atmosphere. This global catastrophe spelled doom for many bacterial groups, but made possible the explosion of eukaryotic forms. These include multicellular algae, and toward the end of the Proterozoic, the first animals.

Phanerozoic Eon is divided in three times :

Paleozoic Era: The Paleozoic is bracketed by two of the most important events in the history of animal life. At its beginning, multicelled animals underwent a dramatic "explosion" in diversity, and almost all living animal phyla appeared within a few millions of years. At the other end of the Paleozoic, the largest mass extinction in history wiped out approximately 90% of all marine animal species. The Paleozoic took up over half of the Phanerozoic, approximately 300 million years. During the Paleozoic there were six major continental land masses; each of these consisted of different parts of the modern continents. For instance, at the beginning of the Paleozoic, today's western coast of North America ran east-west along the equator, while Africa was at the South Pole. These Paleozoic continents experienced tremendous mountain building along their margins, and numerous incursions and retreats of shallow seas across their interiors.

Mesozoic Era The Mesozoic is divided into three time periods:

the Triassic (245-208 Million Years Ago), the Jurassic (208-146 Million Years Ago), and the Cretaceous (146-65 Million Years Ago). Mesozoic means "middle animals", and is the time during which the world fauna changed drastically from that which had been seen in the Paleozoic. Dinosaurs, which are perhaps the most popular organisms of the Mesozoic, evolved in the Triassic, but were not very diverse until the Jurassic. Except for birds, dinosaurs became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous. Some of the last dinosaurs to have lived are found in the late Cretaceous deposits of Montana in the United States. The Mesozoic was also a time of great change in the terrestrial vegetation. The early Mesozoic was dominated by ferns, cycads, ginkgophytes, bennettitaleans, and other unusual plants. Modern gymnosperms, such as conifers, first appeared in their current recognizable forms in the early Triassic. By the middle of the Cretaceous, the earliest angiosperms had appeared and began to diversify, largely taking over from the other plant groups.

Cenozoic era The Cenozoic is the most recent of the three major subdivisions of animal history. The other two are the Paleozoic and Mesozoic. The Cenozoic spans only about 65 million years, from the end of the Cretaceous and the extinction of non-avian dinosaurs to the present. The Cenozoic is sometimes called the Age of Mammals, because the largest land animals have been mammals during that time. The Cenozoic is divided into two main sub-divisions: the Tertiary and the Quaternary. Most of the Cenozoic is the Tertiary, from 65 million years ago to 1.8 million years ago. The Quaternary includes only the last 1.8 million years.

B.To calculate your birthday related to the earth´s age you must do the following instructions:

I am 15 years old

My birthday: December 13

1) The earth is: about 4.6 billion years old

It has: 4.6 billion /365 = 12,602,740 days

2) Number of days from January 1st until my birthday:

31+28+31+30+31+30+31+31+30+31+30+13=347 days

3) Number of days substracted from the total number of days in a year:

365-347= 18 days

4) Equivalent number of years on the geologic time scale:

18 x 12602740= 226,849,320 years

5) Millions of years ago: 227 MYA

6) Name of the geological period that corresponds to this year:

MESOZOIC, TRIASSIC

7) A card for the Earth!

Happy Birthday, Earth!

During the Triassic, almost all the Earth's land mass was concentrated into a single supercontinent centered more or less on the equator, called Pangaea.

The climate was generally hot and dry.

Both the start and end of the Triassic are marked by major extinction events, which were particularly severe in the oceans. It was accompanied by huge volcanic eruptions that occurred as the supercontinent Pangaea began to break apart.