Biological constraints

High school (ages 12+)
Science & Technology

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/biological-constraints

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the primary sources of constraint?Historical evolutionary pathways, genetic architecture, and developmental processes
2. What is the impact on evolutionary novelty?Significantly influences the direction, rate, and possibility of evolutionary innovation
3. Why can a vertebrate limb not change a lot?The limb is made of many parts that work together. Changing one part can break the whole system, so big changes are very rare.
4. How do developmental lock‑ins keep traits the same?When a body part is built in a certain way during early life, the genes that make it work are fixed. Changing them can hurt the whole animal, so evolution keeps the same pattern.

Phenotypic Variance: The observable differences in traits among individuals within a population.
Developmental Biology: The study of the processes by which organisms grow and develop from conception to adulthood.
Pleiotropy: The phenomenon where a single gene influences multiple, seemingly unrelated phenotypic traits.
Homologous Structures: Anatomical features shared by different species because they were inherited from a common ancestor.