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Students read a 2008 paper on the role of parasites in stabilizing the fig-pollinator mutualism alongside an interactive guide that explains each section of the paper and draws the reader's attention to important points in the article.
UC Museum of Paleontology
This article works best as part of an extended engagement with the primary literature. To see how to use this article as part of an undergraduate journal club or discussion section, visit The Journal Club Toolkit.
Correspondence to the Next Generation Science Standards is indicated in parentheses after each relevant concept. See our conceptual framework for details.
- Evolution results from natural selection acting upon genetic variation within a population.
- Inherited characteristics affect the likelihood of an organism's survival and reproduction.
- The number of offspring that survive to reproduce successfully is limited by environmental factors.
- Scientific knowledge is open to question and revision as we come up with new ideas and discover new evidence.
- A hallmark of science is exposing ideas to testing.
- Scientists test their ideas using multiple lines of evidence.
- Scientists use multiple research methods (experiments, observational research, comparative research, and modeling) to collect data.
- Scientists can test ideas about events and processes long past, very distant, and not directly observable.
- Scientists may explore many different hypotheses to explain their observations.
- Scientific findings and evidence inspire new questions and shape the directions of future scientific research.
- Science is a human endeavor.
- Our knowledge of the evolution of living things is always being refined as we gather more evidence.