1 SEM ACC W/RAVEN CARDED
1 SEM ACC W/RAVEN CARDED
12th Edition
ISBN: 9781265486297
Author: Raven
Publisher: MCGRAW-HILL HIGHER EDUCATION
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Chapter 45, Problem 4S

If natural selection favors the evolution of wings in different types of vertebrates, why didn’t it produce structures that were built in the same way?

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Ostrich wings are vestigial because they are too rudimentary to perform the function for which they evolved in the species’ flying ancestor. Nonetheless, the ostrich uses its wings for other purposes. For example, an ostrich may extend its wings to the side while running, to help maintain balance, and it may spread its wings as part of a threat display. These uses show that evolution by natural selection can sometimes repurpose vestigial structures that have lost the function for which they originally evolved. But whether a vestigial structure remains useless or acquires a new function, it is homologous to the version that retains its original function in other organisms and provides evidence of common ancestry. But are all similarities between different organisms the result of shared ancestry?
Because of selective forces, the dinosaurs were superbly adapted to their environments. After the dinosaurs became extinct, the small mammals that had been relatively unimportant animals in the background flourished and evolved into many new types, including the line that led to human beings. It is unlikely that these new types would have ever evolved had not the dinosaurs disappeared. If the extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by an extraterrestrial impact, did it matter how well they were adapted to their environment? What does this suggest about the starting cause in the evolutionary success of these new types of mammals?
Which well-known group is ancestral to all living birds? What evidence in the fossil record supports this conclusion?
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