|
Lesson summary for...
The Evolution of Flight in Birds
Author/Source: UC Museum of Paleontology |
|
| Overview: | This interactive module examines evidence from the fossil record, behavior, biomechanics and cladistic analysis to interpret the sequence of events that led to flight in the dinosaur lineage. |
| Concepts: | This lesson covers the following concepts:- Present-day species evolved from earlier species; the relatedness of organisms is the result of common ancestry.
- Not every feature of an organism is an adaptation, but features often reflect their evolutionary history.
- Similarities among existing organisms provide evidence for evolution.
- Scientists pose, test, and revise multiple hypotheses to explain what they observe.
- The story of the evolution of living things is always being refined as we gather more evidence.
- Scientists use anatomical evidence to infer the relatedness of taxa.
- Classification is based on evolutionary relationships.
- Evolutionary trees (e.g., phylogenies or cladograms) are built from multiple lines of evidence.
|
| Grade Level: | 9-12 |
| Time: | Two to four class periods. |
| Teacher Background: | Explore these links for additional information on the topics covered in this lesson: |
|
|
|