Marine iguanas, Amblyrhynchus cristatus, live on the Galápagos Islands. Scientists think these marine iguanas evolved from iguanas that dispersed to the islands from the South American mainland, about 900 km away.
- Explain why geographic isolation on the Galápagos Islands favored the evolution of a new iguana species.
Marine iguanas are herbivores. They dive into the cold ocean to find algae to eat. When the iguanas are not feeding, they rest on the lava rocks near the island shores to warm their bodies. Compared to land iguanas, marine iguanas have darker body coloring, flatter tails, shorter snouts, and longer, curved claws.
- Choose one of the adaptive body features of marine iguanas listed above and describe how this feature is beneficial to marine iguanas in their environment.
- According to natural selection, describe how marine iguanas would have evolved the feature you identified in part (b).
Scoring Guide - Score Point 4
|
 |
Scoring Guide - Score Point 4
|
|
Scoring Guide - Score Point 3
|
|
Scoring Guide - Score Point 2
|
|
Scoring Guide - Score Point 1
|
|
Scoring Guide - Score Point 0
|
|
Close Window