4 | Evolution of Australian biota
1: Evidence for the rearrangement of crustal plates and continental drift indicates that Australia was once part of an ancient super continent
Lesson 1 | Gondwanan Australia
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Identify and describe evidence that supports the assertion that Australia was once part of a landmass called Gondwana, including
– Matching continental margins
– Position of mid-ocean ridges
– Spreading zones between continental plates
– Fossils in common on Gondwanan continents, including Glossopteris and Gangamopteris flora, and marsupials
– Similarities between present-day organisms on Gondwanan continents -
Solve problems to identify the positions of mid-ocean ridges and spreading zones that infer a moving Australian continent
Lesson 2 | Evolutionary relationships
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Discuss current research into the evolutionary relationships between extinct species, including megafauna and extant Australian species
Lesson 3 | The platypus
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Identify data sources, gather, process and analyse information from secondary sources and use available evidence to illustrate the changing ideas of scientists in the last 200 years about individual species such as the platypus as new information and technologies became available
