EVOLUTION

QUESTIONSHEET 1
Myxomatosis is a virus disease in rabbits which is transmitted from rabbit to rabbit by rabbit fleas. The
virus causes blindness and then death. 12 rabbits were released in Australia in 1859. They
reproduced rapidly and started to spread quickly, so that by 1886 they were advancing at about 66
miles per year. By 1905 they had spanned the continent. Rabbit proof fencing was inadequate to halt
their progress.
In an attempt to control the huge rabbit population myxomatosis was introduced in 1950. It spread
through the rabbit population resulting in a 99.9% mortality rate. Over the next few years, however, the
rabbit population recovered although not to the pre-myxomatosis numbers. The mortality rate to
myxomatosis in rabbits at present is around 40%.
(a) Suggest two reasons for the rapid spread of rabbits across Australia between 1859 and 1905.
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(b) Suggest two reasons for the very high mortality rate in the rabbit population when myxomatosis
was introduced in 1950.
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(c) With reference to the genetic mechanisms involved; explain the recovery of the rabbit population
from the devastating effects of myxomatosis after its introduction in 1950.
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(d) Suggest why there is still a 40% mortality rate to myxomatosis in present day rabbit populations.
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EVIDENCE FOR EVOLUTION

QUESTIONSHEET 2
Only some parts of some animals and plants are fossilised. Usually, when animals and plants die their
bodies are covered by earth and they rot away. The organisms have to be in the right place at the right
time to become fossilised. Over time, the fossils are covered by earth, become compressed and
change into rock. Three main ways that fossils form are:
the body ends up in a place where decay is prevented, e.g.
frozen marshes, peat bogs, dry caves
parts of the plant or animal are replaced by other substances as
they decay, e.g. bones, teeth, xylem
hard parts of bodies decay very slowly, e.g. teeth, xylem, hair.
1 Give one other way in which living organisms may become fossilised.
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2 Explain why the soft parts of the body are not fossilised.
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EVOLUTION- THE BIG IDEA

QUESTIONSHEET 3
Iguanas are land-living reptiles. The adults feed on a variety of land plants while younger iguanas feed
on insects. They are found in many parts of the world, and share features in common with each other.
Charles Darwin studied the iguanas on the Galapagos islands and found that there were several
different types of iguanas. It appears that Ctenosaura, the black or spiny-tailed iguana of Central
America, is ancestral to Galapagos iguanas. The Galapagos iguanas feed on different types of food
and showed differences in their adaptations to obtaining food. Land iguanas feed on the fruit and pads
of Opuntia cactus. It is not unusual to see them sitting under a cactus, waiting for pieces to fall. They
normally use their front feet to scrape the larger thorns from the pads, but ignore the smaller thorns.
Usually they gulp down a cactus fruit in a few swallows. On some islands where their usual food was
scarce, iguanas adapted to feeding on seaweed. The claws of the sea iguanas are long and sharp by
comparison with the land iguana, to enable them to cling to rocks along the shore, and resist being
pulled away by heavy waves. These claws also enable them to cling to their underwater feeding sites.
Darwin used these iguanas as examples of evolution occurring by natural selection.
1 What is meant by natural selection?
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2 Explain how natural selection has given rise to different sorts of iguanas.
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3 Evolution occurs by gradual changes from a common ancestor over long periods. How do these
iguanas provide evidence for evolution?
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4 Give two reasons why people at the time when Darwin published On the Origin of Species did not
accept the idea of evolution.
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Lamark was a scientist working around the same time as Darwin, and he also developed a theory of
evolution. Lamark believed that offspring inherit characteristics that their parents have acquired as a
result of changes that occur as they struggle to survive. Darwin believed that differences between
living organisms occur by chance, and those with the best characteristics survive to breed, passing on
their characteristics.
5 Present-day giraffes have much longer necks than fossil forms of giraffes.
Describe how:
a Lamarks theory could be used to explain this increase in neck length?
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b Darwins theory could be used to explain this increase in neck length?
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