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Parasites and pathogens take the leap

Grade Level(s):

  • 9-12
  • General

Source:

  • Evolution: Education and Outreach

Resource type:

  • Article

Time: 20 minutes

Overview

Diseases like SARS, HIV, and West Nile Virus may be new to humans, but they are old news to other species. These and other emerging infectious diseases have recently added humans to the list of hosts they infect. An evolutionary perspective can help us better understand and, we hope, control this problem.
This article appears at SpringerLink.

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  • [Evidence of evolution: Grades 9-12] An organism's features reflect its evolutionary history.
  • [Mechanisms of evolution: Grades 9-12] Occupying new environments can provide new selection pressures and new opportunities, leading to speciation. (LS4.C)
  • [Studying evolution: Grades 9-12] As with other scientific disciplines, evolutionary biology has applications that factor into everyday life.
  • Disciplinary Core Idea LS4.C: Adaptation

This article is written for teachers and comes with links to additional examples, supplementary information, and classroom tips. It is also available as a pdf at https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s12052-007-0002-y.pdf