Summer Project Ap Bio

AP Biology Summer Reading Assignment

Katrina Grier

Chapter 1: Finding Your Inner Fish

1. The author and his colleagues chose to focus on 375 million year old in their search for fossils because the amphibians look dissimilar to the fish that were discovered in 365 million year old rocks. There was a missing link between fish and amphibians and it was possible to be discovered in the 375 year old rocks. The types of rocks that were examined during this time were sedimentary rocks. These rocks were formed under conditions of mild pressure and low heat, which were conductive to the fossilization of animal remains. It was also formed over rivers and seas where animals live to live.

2. The fossil of Tiktaalik confirmed a major prediction of paleontology because it showed characteristics of both aquatic and land animals. The fossil had fins and scales, but it also had a flexible neck, a flat head, and a bone structure in its fins that corresponded to the legs of land animals. The fossil confirms this prediction by demonstrating the evolutionary transition between aquatic and terrestrial life.

3. Neil Shubin thinks Tikaalik says something about our own “inner fish” because the anatomy of Tikaalik is similar to one of a human. Many features of the fish correspond to aspects of the human body. For example, Tikaalik has a neck that can move independently from the rest of its body unlike a fish can, and also the fish bones are structures similar to the human arm. Therefore, the evolutionary history of humans can be traced back to an organism that is like Tikaalik.

Chapter #2: Getting a Grip

1. The “pattern” that Sir Richard Owen discovered in the mid-1800’s was common throughout all of the observed bones of mammal limbs. The pattern was the “one bone-two bones-lotsa-blobs-digits” pattern. This refers to the position of the bones starting with the humerus in the upper arm, followed by the radius and ulna, several wrist bones, and ending in the digits...