1. Discuss features shared by vertebrates and arthropods that make them so successful.
2. Compare the "new" evolutionary characteristics of jawed fishes, amphibians, and reptiles that made them more successful than their predecessors at competing to fill a habitat.
3. Discuss the evolutionary significance of continental
drift in the development of monotremes, marsupials, and placental
mammals. Discuss the fact that South America was inhabited by
marsupials until relatively recently (within the last 20,000 years
or so), when the land bridge formed between North and South America,
which allowed placental mammals to reach South America and led
to the extinction of many marsupials. Consider whether the same
thing is happening in Australia now, since humans have introduced
dogs, rats, rabbits, etc.