Evidence of Evolution science 10

1. The Five Evidences of Evolution
SB5: Students will evaluate the role of natural selection in the
development of the theory of evolution.

2. Support for Evolution
 1 ) The fossil record
 Fossils provide a record of species that lived long ago.
 Fossils show that ancient species share similarities with
species that now live on Earth.

3. Evidence of Evolution
 2) Anatomical Evidence
 A) Derived traits are newly
evolved features, such as
feathers, that do not
appear in the fossils of
common ancestors.
 B) Ancestral traits are
more primitive features,
such as teeth and tails,
that do appear in
ancestral forms.
 C) Homologous structures
are anatomically similar
structures inherited from a
common ancestor.

4.  D) Analogous structures
can be used for the
same purpose and can
be superficially similar in
construction, but are not
inherited from a
common ancestor.

5. E) Vestigial Structures
 Structures that are the
reduced forms of
functional structures in
other organisms
 Evolutionary theory
predicts that features of
ancestors that no longer
have a function for that
species will become
smaller over time until
they are lost.

6. Evidence of Evolution
3) Comparative Embryology
 Vertebrate embryos
exhibit similar structures
during the early phases
of development.

7. Evidence of Evolution
4) Comparative
Biochemistry
 Organisms have
similarities in DNA that
scientists use to classify
them.

8. 5) Geographical Distribution
 The distribution of plants
and animals that Darwin
saw during his South
American travels first
suggested evolution to
Darwin.
 He noticed that animals
and plants that were on
the same islands had
evolved similar traits but
they still were more
similar to organisms from
their native country/island.
 Picture of a English rabbit and
Mara