Unit 7, Module 48 Teacher Version

Active Reading Guide

Biology for the AP® Course: Active Reading Guide

Unit 7 Evolution and Natural Selection
Module 48 Extinction

48.1 Species are lost by the process of extinction

1. Scientists estimate that _99__% of species that have ever lived no longer exist.

2. Define extinction.
The loss of a group of organisms, typically a species.

3. How is extinction represented on a phylogenetic tree?

A branch that stops before making it to present day.

4. Examine Figure 48.1 Birds, crocodiles, and their extinct relatives.

List the two species that went extinct the furthest back in time.
Eoraptor and Archaeopteryx

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5. Describe three reasons species go extinct.

a. Species are unable to adapt quickly enough to environmental changes
b. Predation, hunting, overharvesting
c. The original species has changed so much, and the descendants of the original
species are so different we say the original species has gone extinct.

6. The total number of species at any point in time is the result of rates of
___speciation________ and ____extinction_________.

7. If the number of species decreases over time what can you infer about the rate of
extinction compared to the rate of speciation?
The rate of extinction is greater than the rate of speciation.

__________________________________________________________________________
Concept Check
(Answers can be found in the Teacher’s Edition and at the back of the Student
Edition.)

1. Describe extinction.

2. Describe how to represent extinction on a phylogenetic tree.

3. Identify the two processes that determine the total number of species, which is
one measure of biodiversity.

__________________________________________________________________________

48.2 Five mass extinctions have altered the course of evolution

8. Define mass extinction.

Period of rapid and substantial loss of biodiversity.

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9. What caused the mass extinction that occurred at the end of the Cretaceous
Period and killed the dinosaurs?
A giant meteorite

________________________________________________________________
Practicing Science: What caused the extinction of the dinosaurs?

AP® Practice Question

(Answers can be found in the Teacher’s Edition)

Identify the following:

1. The question being investigated by the experimenters

2. The hypothesis

3. The evidence that supports a meteor striking Earth at approximately the same
time that the dinosaurs went extinct

4. The conclusion

________________________________________________________________

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__________________________________________________________________________
Concept Check
(Answers can be found in the Teacher’s Edition and at the back of the Student
Edition.)

4. Identify the difference between extinction and mass extinction.

5. Explain what caused the mass extinction event that eliminated the dinosaurs.

6. Describe what the five mass extinctions had in common.

__________________________________________________________________________

48.3 Extinction opens up habitats that can be filled by other species

10. Why are mass extinctions usually followed by periods of adaptive radiation?
A mass extinction eliminates many dominant species and opens many habitats that
were formerly occupied. Survivors of the extinction can adapt to fill those open
habitats.

11. The extinction of the dinosaurs allowed what group of organisms to become
ecologically dominant?
Mammals

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 Unit 7, Module 48 Teacher Version
Active Reading Guide

__________________________________________________________________________
Concept Check
(Answers can be found in the Teacher’s Edition and at the back of the Student
Edition.)

7. Identify the process by which speciation happens relatively quickly following a

mass extinction or in any situation where there are lots of available habitats.

8. Dinosaurs once dominated many ecosystems. Identify the group of organisms

that became dominant after the dinosaurs went extinct.

__________________________________________________________________________

48.4 Humans are changing the environment, leading to the loss of

many species

12. Periods of ecological stress can lead to (high, low) rates of extinction. (Circle the
correct answer)

13. Scientists refer to modern times as the ___anthropocene________, which

emphasizes the dominant impact of humans on present-day Earth.

14. We might be in the middle of a sixth mass extinction. Identify two ways this
mass extinction is different from the other five mass extinctions.
a. It is occurring more rapidly than other extinctions.
b. The current threats are from humans, not natural events.

15. E.O. Wilson has estimated that the Earth is losing how many species per year?
Give your answer as a range.
5,000-25,000

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 Unit 7, Module 48 Teacher Version
Active Reading Guide

__________________________________________________________________________
Concept Check
(Answers can be found in the Teacher’s Edition and at the back of the Student
Edition.)

9. Describe three ways in which humans are causing biodiversity loss.

10. Identify one species that has gone extinct as a result of human activities.

__________________________________________________________________________

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