Question

1) Do you think these five organisms look more similar at the embryonic stage than they would in their adult form? Explain your answer.
2.) Why do you think evolutionary scientists are interested in the similarities between these embryos when they are so different in their adult stages?
PLEASE HELPP

Answer 1

Answer:

The five organisms look more similar as embryos than as adults. As adults, they’ll exhibit very different features. For example, mammals will develop body hair and reptiles will have scales. Amphibians won’t have scales, but they’ll have permeable skin. Fish will have fins and gills, and birds will have feathers, wings, and beaks. None of these features are visible in the embryos

Explanation:

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Answer 2

Yes, these 5 organisms look more similar in their embryonic stage than they would in their adult form.

• All 5 organisms belong to Phylum Chordata, Subphyla Vertebrata, and Division Gnathostomata. Thus they are evolutionarily close in terms of origin.

• The similarity in the embryonic stage of all 5 organisms can be attributed to their similar body structure, such as that characteristic of Vertebrates. Examples include the presence of gill slits, the replacement of notochord by dorsal nerve cord, etc.

• These similarities only exist in embryonic stages and not in adult stages due to many reasons. Reasons could include:

1. Different adaptational changes due to differing habitats(land, water, or air).
2. Different feeding habits
3. Different modes of sexual reproduction and so on.

Thus, these organisms are more similar in their embryonic stage than they would be in their adult forms.

Evolutionary scientists are interested in the similarities between these embryos because of how Ontogeny(study of an organism's life cycle) has shaped evolutionary studies in the past.

• In the 1860s, Ernst Haeckel proposed the Biogenetic Law, which stated that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny.

• His theory was that embryos of more evolved organisms resemble the adult stages of less evolved organisms as they progress through their developmental stages.

• This theory was eventually disproved by Karl Ernst von Baer, who stated that the stages embryos progress through during ontogeny never represent adult forms of other animals; they only represent the embryonic stages of other animals.

• Thus, finding similarities in the ontogeny of animals hints towards their common ancestral origins. It helps scientists to understand the phylogenetic relationship between different groups of organisms.

• It can even help classify newly discovered organisms.

Thus, ontogenic and phylogenetic relationships are important evolutionary tools for scientists.