Population: group of members of the same species living in the same place at the same time (first level of evolution, micro), change over time to adapt to environment
Species: group of individuals that can mate and make fertile offspring → biological species concept (second level of evolution, macro) change over time makes new species, speciation
Individuals cannot evolve only populations can
Evolution is a change in proportions of genes
Early Evolution Views
Curvier and Fossils: Catastrophism
Curvier was one of the first paleontologists
Species used to exist that don’t anymore and species that exist now may have not existed in the past
Catastrophism: the reason you saw different fossils in different strata of rock because all of the species in certain times went extinct
Hutton and Lyell:
Gradualism (Hutton): earth is gradually changing over time
Uniformitarianism (Lyell): earth changing at a uniform rate
Darwin thought that if earth is changing, then species must be too
Lamarck: early theories on evolution
Use and disuse: only correct idea
Use it or lose it, parts of the body that are used heavily will be accentuated, but parts that are reduced will not be maintained (won’t waste energy)
Inheritance of acquired characteristics:
Characteristics created over an individual’s lifetime would be passed on
Bonzai trees would not reproduce as small trees
Natural Transformation of Species: each species naturally goes from simple to complex, no speciation and no extinction
CHARLES DARWIN: traveled to Galapagos Islands and other places
Came up with the idea of Natural Selection NOT the idea of evolution → On the Origin of Species on the Basis of Natural Selection
“Descent with modification”
Generation to generation change for a particular trait that takes place in a population, constantly changing to become better adapted to the environment → Natural Selection
Environment is the driving force of natural selection
Selection Pressures: control which traits are the most beneficial
E.g. food source, temperature, avoid predation
Theory of Natural Selection: differential reproductive success, different ability to pass on genes
I. Organisms overproduce offspring
Based on Charles Malthus’ idea that human pop will exceed resources
II. Offspring are variation in appearance and function and some of those variations are heritable → variation is the fuel for selection
Variation is created through genetic recombination (random fertilization, independent assortment, crossing over) originally from mutation
III. Environmental resources are limited and those varied offspring must compete for their share → struggle for existence
IV. Individuals best able to survive in the environment will survive and reproduce → differential inheritance of genes
Focus on Adaptation:
Adaptation to an environment causes changes within a population and the forming of new species, if changes build up and can no longer mate must be two new species
Observations:
Unity of Life: all organisms are similar (common ancestor)
Diversity of Life: better adapted to unique environments
Match between organisms and environment
History of Life:phylogenetic tree tree with branches showing life’s diversity, and where the come from
Alfred Russel Wallace: sent his ideas of natural selection to Darwin, Darwin’s ideas were more developed so only Darwin published
Natural Selection in Action:
Beak depth in a finch changes as an environment changes
Drier years mean nuts they eat are harder → thick deep beaks survive
Wetter years means nuts are easy to eat → beak depth decreases
Drug and antibiotic resistance from bacteria and viruses
Peppered moths got polluted, trees became darker as covered by soot and other material, peppered moths became darker for camouflage
Artificial Selection: nature does not determine selected traits, but humans select them
Wild mustard creates brussel sprouts, cabbage and broccoli, by selecting for various traits
E.g. select for leaves, breed those to make kale
Evidence of Evolution:
Biogeography: geographical distribution of species
Modern species are found where they are because they come from ancestors in the hose regions
Fossil Record (palaeontology): deeper the rock fossil, older it is, can look progression of species over time
Comparative Embryology: different stages in embryonic dev.
Most animals look extreme similar in the womb, closer species are more similar embryonic development
Comparative Anatomy: anatomical similarities between species, to determine common ancestry → evidences evolution
Focuses on homology (w/ bones often), similarity from common ancestry
Homologous structures: same structure but different function in different species, only different because of adaptation
Analogous structures: structures that look similar, adapted to the same environment, but do not share a common ancestor, or similar structures
Vestigial Structures: leftover pieces of from ancestors that used to serve a function when it was necessary
Coccyx (tailbone) when humans had tails
Molecular Biology: study molecules amino acids and DNA that are shared in common between species, distant species have less DNA base pairs in common
MICROEVOLUTION
Change in ratios (in phenotypes/genotypes, change in proportion of alleles, one of those alleles is being selected for) in a population over time
Individuals cannot evolve, only populations can, generation after generation, it adapts better to the environment
Population Genetics: combines evo with genetics to measure change taking place in a population
Gene Pool: all alleles in a populations
Genetic Variation: crucial for natural selection and evolution
Measured by average heterozygosity, contains both alleles for a particular gene
Natural Selection: selects for advantageous alleles within a population
Evolution: when a population’s gene structure changes
Gene structure: ratio of dominant alleles to ratio of recessive alleles AA:Aa:aa
Hardy-Weinberg Theorem: measure the ratio of alleles and genotypes in a population
Genetic structure of a non evolving population remains constant, in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
p^2+2pq+q^2=1(100% of alleles, p + q =1) equation can measure ratio of genes in equilibrium
p^2: frequency of AA
2pq: frequency of Aa
q^2: frequency of aa
P: frequency of A allele
Q: frequency of a allele
If frequencies change over time then evolution has occurred, always begin by finding q^2, easy because only recessive expressing people have aa
Measure frequency at time A and then at time B, if you find a difference in the ratios, then quantified evolution must be occurring
Equilibrium Requirements: pop will not evolve in equilibrium can only use the equation in this theoretical state
Very large pop.
Genetic Drift: when a small random change has a large effect on a small population frequencies, doesn’t affect large pops
Bottlenecking: when an event drastically reduces population size (disaster, disease event), will not reflect same frequencies of same population → microevolution, chance creates new frequencies
Founder Effect: small subgroup moves away from large pop. will have a different ratio of genotypes of alleles than original → also microevolution, random events will change this pop. drastically
NOT adaptive (doesn’t make population better)
Isolation from other populations
Gene Flow: when two different populations begin mating, reduce the differences between the populations (become similar) → microevolution, still evolving, movement of alleles betwee pops
No net mutations
Mutations are the raw source where new variation is created (not the major source of variation though, that would be recombination)
Random mating
Nonrandom mating/Sexual Selection: just as important to drive evolution as natural selection, not adaptive, just about mating
Want to print your doc? This is not the way.
Try clicking the ⋯ next to your doc name or using a keyboard shortcut (
Unit 7: Natural Selection
