EVOLUTION

4) Some scientists suggest that without the mass extinction of the dinosaurs, mammals would not have been able to undergo adaptive radiation. Use your understanding of competition for resources to support or refute this suggestion.

 

Adaptive Radiation happens when there is an abundance of resources for a species to take advantage of. However if dinosaurs existed, they would be the dominant species and would take over the bulk of the resources. The extinction of the dinosaurs resulted in a lot of empty niches allowing adaptive radiation to create many form of a species and fill in those niches.

 

5) Birds are the only group of dinosaurs that survive the mass extinction of 65 mya. Speculate on how their ability to fly and endothermy (being warm-blooded) may have been keys to their survival. 

Having the ability to fly allowed the birds to search for food in a large area. After a mass extinction, the temperatures may have extremely cold, so warm-blooded animals would be able to survive in the cold weather.

 

7) Many scientists consider the term "missing link" to be misleading. They suggest that it gives a false impression that evidence should have been found. Instead they counter that newly discovered evidence simply adds to our understanding- and that it was never "missing". Do you think the term "missing link" is misleading? Why or why not?

I believe it can be misleading because it may force people to question a well-established theory. The evidence can be substantial but perhaps the resources or equipment hasn’t actually been created to find more evidence . But sometimes a theory may not provide an explanation properly so a missing link may or may be important to prove or disprove a theory.