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VirginiaBiology

Reporting Category 4: Classification, Evolution, and Ecology

4 dot points across 4 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do biologists classify organisms and show their evolutionary relationships?

Explain the basis of the modern classification system, compare the domains and kingdoms, use dichotomous keys, and analyze relationships using phylogenetic trees and cladograms (Virginia 2018 Biology SOL BIO.6.a, BIO.6.b, BIO.6.c, and BIO.6.d).
A SOL-level answer on classification for the Virginia Biology EOC: the basis of the modern system, the three domains and the kingdoms, binomial nomenclature and the taxonomic hierarchy, using a dichotomous key, and reading phylogenetic trees and cladograms as evidence of common ancestry.
12 min answer →

What independent lines of evidence support the theory of evolution by natural selection?

Describe the evidence supporting the theory of evolution by natural selection, including the fossil record, comparative anatomy, embryology, molecular evidence, and biogeography (Virginia 2018 Biology SOL BIO.7.a).
A SOL-level answer on the evidence for evolution for the Virginia Biology EOC: the fossil record, comparative anatomy (homologous, analogous, and vestigial structures), comparative embryology, molecular and DNA evidence, and biogeography, and why independent lines that agree make the theory strong.
13 min answer →

How does natural selection act on variation to produce adaptation and change a population over time?

Explain how the role of variation and mutations drives natural selection, producing adaptation and changing the heritable traits of a population over generations (Virginia 2018 Biology SOL BIO.7.b).
A SOL-level answer on natural selection for the Virginia Biology EOC: variation and mutations as the raw material, overproduction and competition, differential survival and reproduction (fitness), and how selection produces adaptation and shifts allele frequencies, with antibiotic resistance as the worked example.
13 min answer →

How do reproductive and geographic isolation lead to the formation of new species?

Explain how speciation occurs and the effects of reproductive isolation and geographic isolation on the formation of new species (Virginia 2018 Biology SOL BIO.7.c, BIO.7.d, and BIO.7.e).
A SOL-level answer on speciation for the Virginia Biology EOC: what a species is, how geographic isolation and then reproductive isolation split one population into two, the difference between prezygotic and postzygotic barriers, and how allele frequencies diverge until interbreeding is no longer possible.
12 min answer →