15/5/20

ADAPTATIONS &
EVOLUTION:
Selective Pressures

Year 10 Biological Science

Recap on
Natural § Natural selection is the process by which an environmental
factor acts on a population and results in some organisms

Selection
having a greater change of survival and producing more
offspring than others.

§ Adaptation is a process in which an organism undergoes a

change that ultimately allows successful survival in their
environment. This is then passed down to other generations.

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§ Selective pressures highlight the effect in

which an environmental factors influences the
way in which organisms adapt and evolve to
survive.
§ May also be referred to as a “selective
agent”, or ”evolutionary pressure”.

Sourced from : https://antonl-evolution.weebly.com /selective-pressure.htm l

Geographical Isolation Accessibility of Food &

Water

Climate TYPES OF
SELECTIVE
PRESSURES
Risk of Predation

Disease
Likelihood of Breeding

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Galapagos
Finches

Sourced from: https://www.santacruzgalapagoscruise.com/galapagos-finches/

Galapagos
Finches

Sourced from: https://www.santacruzgalapagoscruise.com/galapagos-finches/

WHY DID THEY EVOLVE TO HAVE DIFFERENT BEAKS?

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Geographic Isolation
& Availability of Food
Resources!

Sourced from: https://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/samerica/lgcolor/gpcolor.htm

Evolutionary
Advantages Experiment
Work with the person next to you to determine what is the
most efficient method of “eating” a button!

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APPENDIX 2

Evolutionary
Advantages
Investigation
How well adapted are different organisms
in their ability to obtain food and eat it?

In pairs, you will be investigating the effectiveness of five different methods that can be
simulated as “eating”. Time will be recorded as one person attempts to use one of the
different independent variables (simulating appendages of organisms) to pick up the button
and lift it into a paper cup (simulating the mouth of the organism). The time taken for each
variable used will then be statistically compared against each other to determine the most
efficient method!

Materials:

- A paper cup
- A button
- Two pop sticks
- Two matchsticks
- A teaspoon
- Tweezers
- Stopwatch
Method:

1. Place the button in front of the paper cup.

2. Allocate Person A to time using the stopwatch, and Person B to pick up the button
using their hands and place it into the paper cup.
3. Person A should start the stopwatch as soon as Person B attempts to pick up the
button.
4. Once Person B successfully gets the button into the paper cup, Person A should
record the time that was taken, and enter it into the digital MS Excel spreadsheet. (If
Person B is unable to get the button into the cup after 2 MINUTES, stop attempting
and record 120 seconds for that variable).
5. Switch roles, and continue to repeat steps 3 – 4 until all of the following variables
have been used to try pick up the button and put it into the paper cup:
a. Pop sticks
b. Matchsticks
c. Tweezers
d. Teaspoon
6. Once you have completed the task using all five variables, repeat each activity again
but as a different role to what you did previously (DO NOT ENTER THESE
ADDITIONAL TIMES INTO THE EXCEL – write them down in your workbook).