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Biodiversity and Evolutionary Trees

Topic
  • Genetics
  • Bioinformatics
  • Evolution
  • Phylogeny
Resource Type
  • Activities
  • Card Activities
Level
High School — GeneralHigh School — AP/IBCollege
Favorited By
17 Users
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Description

These two activities support the Click & Learn Sorting Seashells, in which students consider the morphological characteristics of seashells to construct an evolutionary tree. Students use seashell cards as a pre-activity to explore grouping organisms by shared characteristics. As a post-activity, they construct an evolutionary tree using DNA sequences.

Using these cards, students make observations and sort the shells into groups in any way that makes sense to them — according to color, size, shape, or other characteristics. They then proceed through the online interactive to construct an evolutionary tree of the seashell species. They then compare their card groupings to the evolutionary relationships. After constructing a phylogenetic tree using the interactive, they revisit that classification using ClustalX, software that aligns and compares DNA sequences. They will then use a simple viewer program called NJplot to view the tree.

Student Learning Targets
  • Group organisms based on shared characteristics.

  • Build a phylogenetic tree using DNA sequence alignment software.

Details
Estimated Time
One to three 50-minute class periods.
Key Terms

biodiversity, classification, DNA, evolutionary relationship, evolutionary tree, mollusc, morphology, phylogeny, sequence alignment

Terms of Use

Please see the Terms of Use for information on how this resource can be used.

Version History
Date Published 03.07.09
Curriculum Connections
NGSS (2013)

HS-LS4-1; SEP2, SEP6

AP Biology (2019)

EVO-1.M, EVO-1.N, EVO-3.B, EVO-3.C; SP1, SP2, SP4, SP6

IB Biology (2016)

5.1, 5.4, B.5

AP Environmental Science (2013)

II.C

IB Environmental Systems and Societies (2017)

3.2

Vision and Change (2009)

CC1; DP1, DP3

Materials
Shell Cards: Double-Sided Color (PDF) 2 MB
Shell Cards: Double-Sided Black and White (PDF) 1 MB
Shell Cards: Single-Sided Color (PDF) 2 MB
Shell Cards: Single-Sided Black and White (PDF) 1 MB
Teacher Materials (PDF) 226 KB
DNA Comparison Activity (PDF) 1 MB
Sequence Files (ZIP) 4 KB
Additional Materials
  • seashell cards

  • access to the online interactive

  • ClustalX and NJplot installed on a computer

Use This Resource With
Interactive Media
Sorting Seashells

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