The Biology of Skin Colo
(
Short
Film
Student
Handout
) (
The
Biology
of
Skin
Colo
)
(
The
Biology
of
Skin
Colo
Short
Film
Student
Handout
)
NAME DATE
This handout supplements the short film The Biology of Skin Color.
1. True / False. Biologists classify specific forms of traits as good or bad. For example, long tails in cats could be classified as good and short tails as bad.
2. Explain the reasoning or evidence you used to answer Question 1.
3. If you travel north from the equator, what generally happens to the intensity of ultraviolet (UV) light?
a. The intensity increases.
. The intensity decreases.
c. The intensity stays the same.
d. It is impossible to predict.
4. Who would you expect to be most at risk for developing the bone disease rickets?
a. Children born to mothers with dark skin, living far from the equato
. Adults with dark skin who live close to the equato
c. Children born to mothers with light skin, living close to the equato
d. Adults with light skin who live close to the equato
e. Anyone who eats a diet that includes a lot of fish
5. When Dr. Nina Jablonski describes her discovery of the UV data collected by NASA, a headline is visible that reads, “Ozone Depletion Raising Risk of Skin Cancer, Scientist Says.” Use this headline and your understanding of what causes skin cancer to infer a beneficial feature of the ozone layer for humans. Why would a depleted ozone layer increase the risk of skin cancer?
6. Describe how having dark skin may have provided an advantage in survival and reproduction to people thousands of years ago in some places in the world but not in others.
7. Biologists sometimes say that “natural selection depends on the specific environment where a species lives.”
What does this statement mean?
a. If populations of a species are in different environments, traits that individuals need to meet their needs in each environment will appear.
. Traits can be helpful or harmful. If populations of a species are in different environments, some traits that are helpful in one environment might be harmful in another environment.
c. Traits are always either helpful or harmful, and the environment of a population doesn’t matter. If populations of a species are in different environments, the same traits will always be helpful.
d. Species were formed to perfectly match their environment. The traits of individuals in a species depend on the specific environment in which they were created.
8. Describe how UV light damages the DNA in skin cells.
(
Evolution
www.BioInteractive.org
) (
Revised
January
2018
Page
3
of 4
)