First, think about life on planet Earth...choose an organism (people, plant, or animal). Then, write the following in your comment to this post.
1) Ask a question about your organism that relates to evolution -- choose from one of the stems below:
a. when (years) do scientists think X (your organism) diverged from Y (a closely related organism)?
b. when (years) do scientists think trait X evolved in your organism?
c. what is organism X's nearest living relative, and how much genetic similarity to the two share?
2) Explain why you are interested in the answer to your question.
3) Give the answer(s) to your question.
4) Give 2 sources (just the URLs) for your answer(s).
5) Explain the significance of your answer(s) to your life, to humanity in general, or to our understanding of the world.
Good luck!
This is due by 11:59pm on Wednesday 3/4/15. It is a 5 point assignment. Make sure you see it post immediately...if not try again! No comment posted = no points earned.
Tara Rhodes- Period 2
ReplyDelete1. When do scientists think humans diverged from primates?
2. I am interested in this because I believe humans evolved from apes, and this has always been my biggest question in evolution.
3. One website said the split between primates and humans are 7-8 million ago, and the split between the neanderthal and modern humans are 400,000-800,000 years ago. Another website says that the split between humans and primates are 5-8 million years ago.
4. First website: http://phys.org/news/2012-08-genetic-humans-great-apes-diverged.html. Second Website: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimpanzee%E2%80%93human_last_common_ancestor
5. This helps me to understand the world more because it is more evidence showing that humans evolved from primates many, many, many years ago and how much we've evolved since the first humans.
Brad Vogeler- Period 3
ReplyDelete1. When do scientists think that dolphins developed echolocation?
2. I wanted to know why dolphins have gained this ability but humans have not.
3. Echolocation developed through evolution in both bats and dolphins.
4. http://www.dolphins-world.com/dolphin-echolocation/
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/many-genes-dolphins-and-bats-evolved-same-way-allow-echolocation
5. This is significant to the world because it helps explain how they adapted to their environment due to lack of sight.
Amber Willis- Period 2
ReplyDelete1) When do scientists think humans developed the ability to walk (bipedalism) ?
2) I am interested in this because I find it interesting in knowing exactly how long ago our main way of physically getting around all began.
3) One source said about 4 million years ago and the other said about 5 million years go.
4) http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/human_evolution.aspx
http://humanorigins.si.edu/resources/intro-human-evolution
5) This information is significant to my life and humanity in general because it is important to understand how long this important ability, also known as bipedalism, has been around. 4-5 million years ago human-beings began this incredible ability that we use to carry us around from place to place every day, which was actually one of the earliest defining human traits. More recently, other important human characteristics were developed, such as a large and complex brain, the ability to make and use tools, and the capacity for language.
Jaclyn Walters-Period 2
ReplyDelete1.) When do scientists think that humans diverged from chimpanzees?
2.) I am interested in this because I always knew that humans are very closely related to monkeys in the way we are built. That is all I know about the two species but want to find out more.
3.)One source said about 13 million years ago and the second source says 6-7 million years ago.
4.)-http://www.livescience.com/46300-chimpanzee-evolution-dna-mutations.html
-http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/ancestors-humans-and-chimps-may-have-begun-diverging-13-million-years-ago
5.) I think studying these two species and how they are related is so interesting. Chimps and humans share the same ancestors and are the closest living genetic relatives. Since chimpanzees are the closest living relatives to humans, studying chimps can help scientists learn more about human evolution.
1.) When do scientist believe that giraffes long necks evolved?
ReplyDelete2.) I am interested in this question because I have always wondered why giraffes of all creatures have these extremely long necks and when they came about.
3.) about 9 million years ago the animals had evolved into what looked like modern giraffes, but the only modern species showed up about one million years ago. The most common reason as to why they're necks grew was because the vegetation on the ground was scarce or during drought these giraffes outlived the others.
4.) http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19135-zoologger-how-did-the-giraffe-get-its-long-neck.html#.VPYZJ1PF9Hg
http://natureinstitute.org/pub/ic/ic10/giraffe.htm
5.) This reiterates the idea of natural selection and the idea of evolution being survival of the fittest.
1.) when do scientists believe insects diverged?
ReplyDelete2.) I'm interested in this because insects have an exo-skeleton and no other things do
3.) Around 407 to 396 million years ago. They survived the mass extinction at the Permo-Triassic boundary and evolved to the insects we see today.
4.)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_insects
http://evoled.dbs.umt.edu/lessons/evidence.htm
5.) This helps me understand the world better because I can now see how a mass extinction can influence the life we see today. Without this extinction insects may not be what they are today.
~Cole Heyden
Nick Panicola, Period 2.
ReplyDelete1) When did organisms start to develop eyes?
2) This topic interests me because it seems that many organisms that I see everyday have eyes.
3) The earliest fossil evidence of eyes is only about 550 million years.
4)http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/selection/eye/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/1/l_011_01.html
5) Sight has been an important sense for the history of our species and many of our ancestors. Without sight our lives and species would be very different.
PATRICK KENNELLY 2nd hour
ReplyDelete1.What is the starfish's nearest living genetic relative, and how much do they have in common?
2.The starfish is a very unique and different animal and it would be interesting to know what organism is most similar to this particular creature.
3. various different sea stars, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers
4. (wikipedia.org) , (edmondswa.gov/services/education/discovery-programs/seastars-a-relatives)
Anna Slowiak/Period 2
ReplyDelete1.) What is the hippopotamus' nearest living relative, and how much genetic similarity to the two share?
2.) I feel that there is not a lot of research done about hippos, and they aren't a frequent talked about topic, such as monkeys or fish or something.
3.) The closest living relative would be the whale, I feel that they share a lot of genetic similarity, they both pretty much live in water (whales especially) and they have similar physical appearances as well.
4.) http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090318153803.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/434566.stm
5.) It is interesting because sometimes you forget there are other types of animals and how closely related to another type of animal they be. It gives more/new information to study and see how things are connected.
Emma B
ReplyDelete1) when do scientist believe that humans developed the ability to walk upright?
2) I have always been interested in this topic because I know that we come from ancestors that did not always walk upright, and i want to know when we started doing this.
3) About 6 million years ago we developed strong knees and legs support which allowed us to put all of our weight on two legs instead of all fours.
4)http://humanorigins.si.edu/human-characteristics/walking
5) walking upright has been a main key to our success in species.
Period 2.
ReplyDelete1. What did apes and gorillas evolve from?
2. I am interested in this question because we know that humans had evolved from apes but I am wondering what apes had evolved from.
3. One of my sources said that we all have a common ancestor and from that relationship it broke off into "separate branches" one being apes and gorillas and the other was human. My other article said they evolved from smaller tree animals like squirrels.
4.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/faq/cat02.html
http://anthro.palomar.edu/earlyprimates/first_primates.htm
5. This really helps people understand more about evolution and how humans became humans. It really tells you how animals have changed throughout the years.
Chapman
ReplyDeleteP.2
1) When do scientists believe the speckled pearl mutation first appeared in cockatiels?
2) I am interested in this question because I have a speckled pearl cockatiel
3) Cockatiels are estimated to date back to 1793 and are thought to originally be cockatoos which, in the process of evolution, remained behind in size and came to look more like parakeets than "true parrots." Cockatiel coloration has resulted from natural selection to optimize camouflage while foraging on the ground. Their colorations allows them to be easily overlooked by aerial predators, especially in shady areas.
4)http://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Nymphicus_hollandicus/
http://eol.org/pages/1177835/details
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockatiel
5) This is a seemingly not important question but it shows how evolution changes everything around us
Modern African fish the Bichir
ReplyDeleteWhat is the Bichir's nearest living relative, and how much genetic similarity to the two share?
Scientists believe that the Bichir had traits that came from stem tetrapods like developing lungs and walking on 2-4 legs on land.
I am interested in this organism because it might be one of the links that lead to the developments from fish to reptile.
http://www.livescience.com/47582-unusual-fish-bichir-animal-evolution.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stem_tetrapoda
I think this orgamism has significant features that can lead to explaining more about evolution.
Hankin
ReplyDeletep.3
Catfish
What is the Catfishes nearest living organism and how much similarity do they share?
I want to know what kind of animals are closely related to the catfish
http://www.electricshock.org/electric-animals.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_eel
These show that the electric eel is very closely related to the catfish
This is important because it shows that animals can look and act very different, but still be related
Period 3
ReplyDelete1. When did zebras get their stripes and why?
2. Because not many or no animal has stripes and why they got stripes is interesting.
3. Because horse flies were less attracted to the stripes on the zebra so they evolved stripes. It helps them keep away from the flies.
4. First: http://earthsky.org/earth/how-zebras-got-their-stripes
Second: http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/how-zebras-got-their-stripes
5. This helps because it shows that evolution was helping the zebras survive and help against diseases from the flies.
Emily H
ReplyDeletethird period
1. When do scientists think that humans diverged from chimpanzees?
2. It's interesting to me because I know that humans are closely related to apes in the way our bodies are made up.
3. One source said roughly 12 million years ago and the other source says 5-8 million years ago
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/faq/cat02.html
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/evo101/IIE2cHumanevop2.shtml
Nathaniel Anleitner
ReplyDeletePeriod 3
Question 1) When do scientists believe birds separated from their dinosaur cousins?
They probably diverged in the Triassic era, around 248 to 208 million years ago.
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/Geologictime.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_of_birds
I'm interested in this question, because I remember seeing a commercial for a video saying that chickens are T-rexs' closest living relative.
This is important to scientists, because if we wanted to recreate dinosaurs with bird DNA, we would know that they diverged very long ago, and this project probably won't work because of that.
Masterson
ReplyDeletePeriod 3
1. What is the closest living relative to a Giraffe?
2. I just really love Giraffes and I can't picture a Giraffe coming form anything.
3. Okapi (Okapia johnstoni)
4.http://www.giraffeconservation.org/giraffe_facts.php?pgid=3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giraffe
5. To me this means a lot because I have always wondered this, now I can enlighten the rest of the world with my knowledge!
Brandon Butler period 3
ReplyDelete1. When did the camel develop its water storage system?
2. I think it is amazing that camels can go so long without water and i am curious about when they started to need that trait
3. The camel developed the ability to store water in fatty parts of its humps as a result of adapting to cold temperatures while crossing the Bering land bridge
4. 1.https://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198102/the.camel.in.retrospect.htm
2. http://whyfiles.org/061polar/anthro.html
5. This is important to our life because humans also crossed the Bering Land Bridge and many had to adapt to the cold temperatures.
Tatum Turner
ReplyDeletePeriod 3
1) When do scientist think reptiles diverged from fish?
2) I am interested in this question because I want to know how long it took for reptiles to come along after fish.
3) Reptiles arose about 310-320 million years ago.
4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_of_reptiles
http://animals.about.com/od/evolution/a/vertebrateevolu.htm
5)This is important because without the evolution of fish to reptiles we wouldn't have evolved into humans because we wouldn't have had the first steps. Without fish nothing would have evolved and we wouldn't be the world we are today with the creatures we have today.
Ben Peters
ReplyDeletep.3
Chameleons
Q) Why did chameleons evolve to change color?
A) They gained the color changing trait to blend in to the environment, regulate their body heat, and recent studies show it's also used to send messages to other chameleons.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080128-chameleon-color.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chameleon
This is important because it means that organisms functions are used for more than we would initially think ~ It allows us to look deeper into possibilities.
Maquel L
ReplyDeletePeriod 3
1. When do scientists think humans walked on two legs?
2. I'm interested because, was there one point in our lives where we all walked on our hands and feet. Besides us all crawling as a baby.
3. One websites says we got leg support 6 million years ago and strong knee support 4.1 million years ago. Another website says 3.9-4.2 million years ago.
4. http://humanorigins.si.edu/human-characteristics/walking
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bipedalism
5. It's important to know when we started to walk and get around efficiently and more quickly than being on hands and feet. Then they would be able to carry more things and more quickly, moving things from one place to another.
Sam Stauffer
ReplyDelete3rd period
1. what is an elephants closest living relative?
2. I was curious because elephants are my favorite animal.
3. There closest relative is the Hyrax. they share similar bone structure. they have tiny tusks.
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyrax#Similarities_with_elephants_and_sirenia http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/rock-hyrax
Sam L
ReplyDeletePeriod 3
When did humans begin to walk on 2 legs?
From at least 6 to 3 million years ago, early humans combined apelike and humanlike ways of moving around.
http://humanorigins.si.edu/human-characteristics/walking
Im interested in this question because I have seen so many videos on how primates slowly evolve into being able to walk on 2 legs rather than 4.
Ania H.
ReplyDeletePeriod 3
1) When did opposable thumbs evolve in humans?
2) I'm interested in this because thumbs are really important and useful to us so I would like to know how they became a thing.
3) About two or three million years ago the human ancestor Homa habilis is said to have semi opposable thumbs to better build fires.
4) http://www.bodylanguageuniversity.com/public/224.cfm http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/ancient-hominids-thumbs.htm
5) This is significant to our lives because many of the things that we do require the use of opposable thumbs and they have made our lives easier and more productive.
Sikora
ReplyDeletep.3
Why do scientists believe that humans were related to every type of organism that existed?
I want to know this because there are many different answers to how humans developed or came from & id like a better perspective on a scientists view.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/faq/cat02.html
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/05/100513-science-evolution-darwin-single-ancestor/
The answers had multiple examples explaining why they believe humans evolved from all organisms. Since the earliest hominid species diverged from the ancestor we share with modern African apes, 5 to 8 million years ago, there have been at least a dozen different species of these humanlike creatures. Many of these hominid species are close relatives, but not human ancestors. Most went extinct without giving rise to other species.
I found this to be interesting because I was reading this paragraph it showed many different types of answers.
Olivia Roehri
ReplyDeletePeriod 3
When did pandas develop their size traits?
I love pandas. They are my spirit animals.
3 million years ago they developed their large size
https://darwinevolved.wordpress.com/2011/06/14/panda-evolution-evolution-of-pandas/
http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/giant_panda/panda/panda_evolutionary_history/
I think it is important for people to know that at one point everything was on earth was connected at one point.
Casey Laktas
ReplyDeletePeriod 3
When did humans develop eyes?
I have learned about evolution and humans throughout the years, but not specifically about eyes.
The human eye started to form about 600 million years ago, and finished developing 500 million years ago.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/evolution-of-the-eye/
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/13/opinion/13tomasello.html?_r=0
I think it is important because we use our eyes everyday.
1. What is the river dolphin's nearest relative, and how much similarity do they share?
ReplyDelete2.I recently discovered the river dolphin and they are pink and just all around weird looking. I'm extremely curious about how they came to be because they're just absurd creatures.
3. One hypothesis is that ancestors of the river dolphin were coastal marine animals who's tolerance for freshwater and intolerance for salt water evolved at least three times. somewhere along the lines, there developped 3 separate brances between whales and ocean dolphins. http://www.wildmammal.com/index_files/river_dolphin_evolution.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1088639/
I think this is important because they are very unknown creatures, yet also very endangered. Plus they look ridiculous, google it.
1. When do scientists think that the tiger diverged from lions?
ReplyDelete2. I am interested in this because big cats are some of my favorite animals.
3. Scientists think that tigers diverged from the lion somewhere around 1.5 to 2 million years age, and definitely less than 11 million years ago.
4. http://www.forevertigers.com/evolution.htm
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2010/02/lions-and-tigers-and-snow-leopards-oh-my/
5. This is significant to the understanding of the world because many people are close to lions and tigers, and it is important to know how they relate.
Cynthia Nava, period 2
ReplyDelete1.) When do scientists believe that elephants evolved their trunks?
2.) Elephants are amazing creatures and are my favorite animal.
3.)They believe they differed from rhinos because they are short with their short limbs, elephants are really high and long-limbed. They need them for their long migration walks. The trunk may have evolved from a type of snorkel function when elephants were aquatic animals 30 million years ago.
4.) http://www.personal.psu.edu/afr3/blogs/SIOW/2011/10/the-elephants-trunk.html
http://archive.news.softpedia.com/news/Why-Do-Elephants-Have-Trunks-43239.shtml
5.) I found this interesting because I never knew they were always once an aquatic animal.
1. How did flight evolve?
ReplyDelete2. I am interested in this because I think flight is an amazing phenomenon that occurs in living creatures.
3. One reason scientist believe flight evolved was from flapping their larger arms to thrust themselves into the air and catch prey.
4. http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/vertebrates/flight/evolve.html
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/vertebrates/flight/origins.html
5.This helps me to better understand how flight works and where it comes from.
1. How might a scientist explain the... sloth-like... nature of the modern sloth? When did this trait occur in them?
ReplyDelete2. We'd assume that such a slow and lazy creature might've been naturally selected out over time, but sloths remain. Why?
3. Sloths' diets consist almost entirely of leaves which provide them with very little energy, forcing them to have very slow metabolic rates.
Of the two ground sloth families (Megalonychidae and Megatheriidae), the former first appeared in the early Oligocene (about 35 million years ago) of Patagonia, and the former in the late Oligocene (some 30 million years ago) beds of South America. They've probably been slow ever since they took to the trees and took up their vegetarian diet.
4. https://www.worldwildlife.org/s
5. Learning about sloths' lethargy helps me to understand that they're not simply lazy... They're accomplishing feats of energy conservation!
http://www.beringia.com/research/ground_sloth.html
Deletehttps://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/why-are-sloths-slow-and-other-sloth-facts