On the classroom side of things, I have developed/modified the following assignments and activities in recent years in the hopes of highlighting the importance of Wallace and biogeography to evolutionary theory, and giving my students real world examples that they can work through to infer the process of speciation that Darwin and Wallace first uncovered. Suggestions for improvement are welcome, as are posts of the assignments that you use to teach these concepts.
Assignments
1) Wallace’s Line accompanying article Mr Wallace’s Line by Jared Diamond in Discover, August, 1997.
Activities
Although these activities don’t relate directly to Wallace’s travels in South America or the Malay Archipelago they are some of the activities that I have used to introduce plate tectonics and speciation. The two activities on the Hawaiian Islands were adapted from activities and information from Evolution in Hawaii: A Supplement to Teaching about Evolution and the Nature of Science from the National Academies Press. The Salamander Speciation activity was adapted from an adaptation of Investigation 9.4 in Biological Science: An Ecological Approach (BSCS Green Version), 1987, Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co.
- Plate Tectonics and the Hawaiian Islands (the dating portion of this was made to fit the ages of the Hawaiian islands)
- Hawaiian Islands and Speciation in Drosophila and Hampton Carson and Peter Bryant Change in a secondary sex characteristic as evidence of incipient speciation in Drosophila silvestris, PNAS, Vol 76, No 4, pages 1929-1932.
- Ensatina Salamander Speciation, Newt Image, Finished Maps to Part B and Part C.
