Why Is Evolution Important Now? Understanding Extinction and Our Environment

Students read an article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27503150/ about the possible extinction of the Mexican axolotl, and answered the following questions:

Koop, David. “Scientists try to preserve Mexico’s bizarre axolotl.” The News Journal, [Wilmington, Delaware] 3 Nov. 2008: A5.

Reading Questions

Name _______________________ Period _______
1. What exactly is an axolotl?
2. The International Union for Conservation of Nature put the axolotl on its
annual list of threatened species. Why is the axolotl population declining?
a.
b.
3. Biologist Luis Zambrano says that if the axolotl goes extinct, it would be a great loss to:
a.
b.
4. Describe:
a. What an axolotl looks like.
b. How an axolotl moves around in its environment.
c. What an axolotl eats.
d. How the axolotl got its name.
5. How does the axolotl play a key role in laboratory research?
6. How can the axolotl be saved from extinction?

Here's cute axolotl childrens' book: https://twitter.com/Jess_Keating/status/1034423833275461633

Here is another recent article about the axolotl and extinction:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8220000/8220636.stm

Variation and Natural Selection -Variation in Wolves

A wolf bounty? Not in N.C. In a switch, there’s a reward for a human killer of rare red wolves
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/a-wolf-bounty-not-in-nc-in-a-switch-theres-a-reward-for-a-human-killer-of-rare-red-wolves/2013/11/10/328aef68-47dc-11e3-a196-3544a03c2351_story.html?wpisrc=nl_headlines

A celebration of Darwin Day and Natural Selection
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry7ND9Ja1-o

News about the Global Food Bank
http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2015/10/19/syrian-seeds-withdrawn-from-arctic-doomsday-vault

The origins of multicellular organisms
Lab yeast make evolutionary leap to multicellularity - life - 23 June 2011 - New Scientist

For more reasons to understand evolution, the following posts also address the question: Why is Evolution Important Now?

 Why Is Evolution Important Now? Understanding Extinction and Our Environment
http://cavalierscience.blogspot.com/2009/03/why-is-evolution-important-now.html

Why Is Evolution Important Now? Disease Prevention
http://cavalierscience.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-is-evolution-important-now-disease.html

Why Is Evolution Important Now? Antibiotic Resistance
http://cavalierscience.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-is-evolutions-important-now.html

Why Is Evolution Important Now? Understanding Diseases and Food Production
http://cavalierscience.blogspot.com/2009/02/why-is-evolution-important-now.html

Why Is Evolution Important Now? Understanding Predation
http://cavalierscience.blogspot.com/2010/07/why-is-evolution-important-now.html

Why Is Evolution Important Now?  Battling the Bedbug Epidemic and Cockroach avoidance of bait - Pesticide Resistance
http://cavalierscience.blogspot.com/2011/03/why-is-evolution-important-now-battling.html