SC State Science Education Standard B-5

1. The Evidence for Evolution SC State Science Education Standard B-5 Indicator 5.5 Exemplify scientific evidence in the fields of anatomy, embryology, biochemistry, and paleontology that underlies the theory of biological evolution. Anatomy The greater the number of shared homologous structures between two species, the more closely the species are related. Paleontology Paleontology (the study of ancient life) is another tool that scientists use to reconstruct the history of evolution. Paleontologists collect and analyze fossils to create a geologic time scale of when various organisms first appeared on Earth. Embryology Embryology (the study of the embryonic development of organisms) provides another type of data for reconstructing the evolutionary history of organisms by comparing the anatomies of their embryos in various stages of development. Biochemistry http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/evo101/images/vert_tree.gif Phylogeny Comparing the similarities in the genes and gene products (proteins) of organisms (through the study of biochemistry) provides some of the most promising information concerning the evolutionary history of organisms. Using evidence gathered from the fields of anatomy, embryology, biochemistry, and paleontology, scientists develop models of how groups of organisms are related to each other. Background photo: http://www.nsf.gov/news/mmg/media/images/trilo_h.jpg Deb Whittington & Mark Davidson, 2007