Escape and radiate coevolution

High school (ages 12+)
Animals & Nature

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/escape-and-radiate-coevolution

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 scientific name?Not applicable to a process; involves numerous species across taxa
2. What is the habitat?Ubiquitous across terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems globally
3. Why do plants grow thorns or make chemicals?Plants use thorns, spines, or toxic chemicals to keep animals from eating them. This helps the plant survive and reach new places.
4. How does the monarch butterfly deal with milkweed toxins?The monarch caterpillar can eat the toxic milkweed and keep the poison inside its body. It uses that poison to protect itself from predators.

Biotic Pressure: The influence of living organisms on each other's evolution, such as predation or competition.
Adaptive Radiation: The rapid diversification of a lineage into multiple new species, often occupying different ecological niches.
Secondary Metabolites: Organic compounds produced by organisms that are not directly involved in normal growth, development, or reproduction, often serving defensive roles.
Niche Partitioning: The process by which competing species use the environment differently in a way that helps them to coexist.