1. Unit 7. Evolution (20 days)
Textbook Readings
Chapters 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26
Essential Knowledge Questions:
• 1.a.1 Natural Selection is a major mechanism of evolution
• 1.a.2 Natural Selection acts on phenotypic variations in populations
• 1.a.3 Evolutionary change is also driven by random processes
• 1.a.4 Biological evolution is supported by scientific evidence from many
disciplines, including mathematics
• 1.b.1Organisms share many conserved core processes and features that
evolved and are widely distributed among organisms today
• 1.b.2Phylogenetic trees and cladograms are graphical representations
(models) of evolutionary history that can be tested.
• 1.c.1 Speciation and extinction have occurred throughout the Earth’s
history
• 1.c.2 Speciation may occur when two populations become reproductively
isolated from each other
• 1.c.3 Populations of organisms continue to evolve.
• 1.d.1 There are several hypothesis about the natural origin of life on Earth,
each with supporting scientific evidence.
• 1.d.2 Scientific evidence from many different disciplines support models
of the origin of life.
Laboratory Exercises
• AP® Biology Laboratory Investigation 2: Mathematical Modeling: HardyWeinberg [C8]
o Goal: To calculate allele and genotype frequency using the HardyWeinberg theorem, to discuss the effect of natural selection on allele
frequencies; to predict the effect of selection against a particular
phenotypic class on allele frequency, to discuss the relationship between
evolution and changes in allele frequencies (dry lab)
•
AP® Biology Laboratory Investigation 3: Comparing DNA sequences to
Understand Evolutionary Relationships with Blast
o Goal: To use bioinformatics as a tool to determine evolutionary
relationships and to better understand genetic diseases.
2. Chapter 21: Genetic Basis of Development
Differentiation and Morphogensis
Differential Gene Expression
Totipotency and Pluripotency
Pattern formation in Drosophilia
Homeobox genes
Chapter 22: Descent with Modification
Lamarck vs. Darwin theories of evolution
Natural Selection
Homologous structures
Vestigial organs
Chapter 23: Evolution of Populations
Gene pool
Hardy-Weinberg Law
Altering genetic composition (Hardy-Weinberg)
Advantage of heterzygosity
Types of selection (directional, disruptive, stabilizing)
Chapter 24: Origin of Species
Micro vs. macro evolution
Reproductive isolation mechanisms
Allopatric vs. sympatric speciation
Polyploidy
Adaptive radiation
Chapter 25: Phylogeny
Convergent evolution and analogous structures
Classification scheme: kingdom, phylum, class….
Cladistics
Molecular clock
Chapter 26: The Tree of Life
Miller’s experiment
Radiometric dating and half life
First prokaryote characteristics
Endosymbiotic theory