Evidences for Evolution

1. Structural Adaptations –Physical appearance change that increases an organism’s survival –Examples: Mimicry – trying to look more dangerous Camouflage – trying to blend in and hide

2. Physiological/metabolic adaptations Changes in an organism’s metabolic processes Examples: –Insect and weed resistance to pesticides/herbicides –Antibiotic resistance in bacteria

3. Fossil Record A record of early life and an evolutionary history of ancestral organisms Examples –Whales were once land mammals –Horse evolution

Whale evolution

4. Anatomy Structural and functional similarity of a body feature among organisms Examples –homologous structures - common bone structure found in all mammals indicate a common ancestor

analogous structures are similar in function but not from a common ancestor like wings Vestigial structures do not have current function but were useful to an ancestor like appendix

5. Embryology Similarities of young embryos suggest evolution from a distant, common ancestor Examples –Fish, reptile, bird, and mammal embryo

6. Biochemistry (molecular) Comparing DNA, RNA, and amino acids and looking for sequence similarities (more changes = more distantly related) Examples –Cytochrome C –Hemoglobin