ls4.b natural selection ls4.c adaptation

Adaptive Behavior

flower mantid

twig caterpillar

walkingstickpreying mantis

thorn treehopper

preying mantis

sphinxmoth

katydid

PatternCamouflage

DisguiseCamouflage

Blending Camouflage

Bundle for the Grade 6-8 NGSS

LS4.B Natural SelectionLS4.C Adaptation

www.exploringnature.org

LS4.B Natural Selection and LS4.C: Adaptation Grade 6-8

From Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity

Resources included in this Next Generation Science Standards Bundle include: • Next Generation Science Standards covered in this Bundle.• Rubric Building NGSS Resources (3 pages)1) Adaptation and Natural Selection Reading (1 page)2) Adaptation and Natural Selection Short Answer Quiz with Key (2 pages)3) Camouflage and Adaptive Behaviors - Reading, Research and Report (2 pages)4) Adaptive Traits - Authentic Performance with Possible Solutions (2 pages)5) Natural Selection and the Peppered Moth - Historical Anecdote6) Adaptive Traits in Insects - Diagram7) Adaptive Traits in Insects - Critical Thinking Worksheet with Possible Solutions (2 pages)8) Adaptive Traits in Insects - Matching with Possible Solutions (2 pages)9) Artificial Selection - Early Domestication of Animals and Plants – Reading and Diagram (3 pages)10) Domestication of Dogs - Artificial Selection - Critical Thinking Reading, Worksheet with Possible Solutions (3 pages)11) Artificial Selection - Domestication and Breeding of Dogs Diagram12) Llama Selective Breeding - Authentic Performance with Possible Solutions (2 pages)13) Natural Selection in Caribou Herds - Critical Thinking Activity Reading and Worksheet with Possible Solutions (3 pages)14) LS4.B Natural Selection Diagram (1 page)15) Modern Application of Artificial Selection - Bt Crops - Reading (1 page)16) Antibiotic Resistance Reading with Vetted Online Links (1 Page)17) Antibiotic Resistance - Mathematical Modeling and Analysis with Worksheet and Possible Solutions (1 page)

This bundle includes 17 resources including: Reading, Color Diagrams, Activities, Performance Tasks and Assessment (38 pages total). Copyright © 2021Sheri Amsel • All rights reserved by author. Permission to copy for

classroom use only. Electronic distribution limited to classroom use only.

©Sheri Amsel • www.exploringnature.org

Adaptation and Natural Selection In a population of organisms there is always some genetic variability. This means that not

all the individuals in a population are exactly alike. If individuals have one or more traits that

help them survive to have more offspring more effectively, they have a selective advantage.

This is an example of natural selection. Natural selection can lead to a trait showing up in

more and more of a population – which leads, over time, to adaptation.

Adaptation in a population of organisms occurs as a result of an adaptive trait. This

is any inheritable trait that increases an organism’s chances of survival, so it can live

longer and have more offspring – who may also have that trait. This is called differential reproduction. An adaptive trait can improve an animal’s ability to find food, make a safer

home, escape predators, survive cold, or heat, or lack of water. It can be a physical trait, such as a skunk’s toxic spray, an armadillo’s armored skin, or a walking stick’s body shape

which mimics a twig. An adaptive trait can also be a behavioral trait, such as a hedgehog

rolling into a ball or a kangaroo rat staying perfectly still when a predator is near. Sometimes

an adaptive trait is obvious and a common part of an organism’s life, like the breathtaking

speed of a cheetah chasing prey or the silent wings of an owl. But an adaptive trait can also

appear only when environmental circumstances drive need. An example of this is when the

females of some species of snake, shark, or lizard hatch eggs with viable young without a

mate or fertilization. This is called parthenogenesis.

To summarize - there are three things that make natural selection work:

1) Genetic variability in a population, so that a trait appears that can give an advantage.

2) The trait must be inheritable so it can be passed on to the offspring.

3) The trait must lead to more surviving offspring – differential reproduction.


Adaptive Traits - Authentic PerformanceYou are an inventor working for the Department of Defense. You are told to learn how animals defend themselves in nature and make those adaptations work for the military to protect soldiers or people in every day life. Look at the adaptations of the armadillo, skunk, hedgehog, kangaroo rat, and walking stick. Describe how the adaptive traits these five animals can be copied and “adapted” for use by people. Which have already been used in every day life?

Armadillo: ________________________________________________________________________________

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Skunk: ___________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

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Hedgehog: ________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Kangaroo Rat: _____________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Walkingstick: _____________________________________________________________________________

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_________________________________________________________________________________________

©Sheri Amsel www.exploringnature.org

In the 1800s through the early 1900s, burning coal for heat and power was common

in England. In urban areas, this led to some pretty significant air pollution. Coal smoke

blackened the trees until their bark was dark brown. This affected human health, but also had

a profound affect on one local animal. The peppered moth, a light colored, speckled moth

was nocturnal and spent the daylight hours resting, camouflaged on the bark of trees. Once

the trees darkened with coal soot, the sleeping moths started to stand out against the darker

bark and fell prey to hungry birds. Yet there was some genetic variability in the population

of peppered moths resulting from a mutation that caused a darker moth phenotype. In 1848,

people noticed a dark version of the moth had emerged and was able to blend in better on

soot-blackened trees, so escaped detection by birds. The darker version of the moth had a

selective advantage. Their darker color was an inheritable trait and these camouflaged

moths were able to survive and have more young. This is an example of differential reproduction. This darker phase that protected them from predation was an adaptive trait. Adaptation had occurred.

In 1956, England passed clean air legislation and the burning of coal was reduced

throughout the country. Smokestacks were made taller to get pollutants further out into the

atmosphere. Within a few years the trees, once blackened from coal smoke, began to take on

their natural, light-colored bark again. As the trees got lighter, the dark peppered moths stood

out against the bark and were easy targets for hungry birds. Now the lighter moths had the

selective advantage. Over many generations, the peppered moth population was once again

a light colored, speckled moth.

Natural Selection and the Peppered Moth - Historical Anecdote


Adaptive Traits in Insects - MatchingAdd the letters next to the insects of the type of adaptive traits they use to increase their chances for survival. (Hint: They may use more than one.)

LS4.B: Natural Selection: Natural selection leads to the predominance of certain traits in a population, and the suppression of others.

flower mantid

twig caterpillar

sphinxmoth

walkingstick

katydid

preying mantis

Blending Camouflage(blending colors)

B

Pattern Camouflage(blending patterns)

P

Disguise Camouflage(physically matching

plant structures)

D

Adaptive Behavior(behaviorally matching

plant structures)

A

thorn treehopper



MS-LS4-5. Gather and synthesize information about the technologies that have changed the way humans influence the inheritance of desired traits in organisms.

Bt Crops - Modern Application of Artificial SelectionBattling the effects of the European corn borer caterpillar has been an ongoing challenge

for farmers that grow corn. It is estimated that it costs growers more than a billion dollars

every year in pesticides and lost crops. When scientists discovered that the proteins in a

very common soil bacterium, called Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), were toxic to the corn borer,

they helped develop the first bio-pesticide. This was sprayed on corn and other crops. It

was considered safer than other pesticides because it only killed a small number of targeted

pests. The Bt insecticide, when ingested by the caterpillar, binds to the wall of the gut and

breaks it down, killing the insects.

Then in 1995, scientists were able to move some of the genes from Bt into the corn plant

itself. This became genetically engineered (GE) Bt corn (and other crops). Bt crops fight off

not just the European corn borer, but other costly pests as well (e.g. rootworm, corn earworm,

tobacco budworm, and bollworm). Bt was thought to be such a good match for a GE pesticide

because testing showed that it only affects insects and not mammals, fish or birds.

Because of the concern over the real health affects associated with

synthetic pesticides, scientists hoped that the adoption of Bt crops

would decrease the overall use of pesticides. This seems to have

borne out, as the USDA released statistics that between 1995 -

2010, the amount of pesticide used on corn decreased 99%.

Studies are still ongoing to assess any downside to the

use of Bt crops. A 2015 publication by the National

Institute of Health (NIH) supports the safety

and benefit of using Bt crops. To date 81%

of corn grown in the U.S. have Bt genes.

Bt crops may be the oldest and most

successful genetically modified (GM)

food in U.S. history.

European corn borer caterpillar

ls4.b natural selection ls4.c adaptation

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