EVOLUTION

GENERAL BIOLOGY 2
 EVOLUTION
the process by which species adapt over time in
response to their changing environment
 EVOLUTION
the change in heritable traits of biological populations
over successive generations
MECHANISMS OF
EVOLUTION
 EVOLUTION

MICROEVOLUTION MACROEVOLUTION

MUTATION MASS EXTINCTION

NON-RANDOM MATING ADAPTIVE RADIATION

GENETIC DRIFT CONVERGENT EVOLUTION

GENE FLOW COEVOLUTION

NATURAL SELECTION PUNCTUATED EQUILIBRIUM

DEVELOPMENTAL GENE
CHANGES
 MICROEVOLUTION vs. MACROEVOLUTION

the evolutionary change on a

the evolutionary change on a large scale that happens over
small scale, such as evolution a longer period of time, such
as species diverging into one
or selection occurring on a
or more different species, or
single gene or a few genes in the formation of brand new
a single population over a groups of organisms; these
short period of time represent the long-term
culmination of many instances
of microevolution
KEY TERMS:
1. POPULATION - consists of many individuals and
therefore many genotypes. All the genotypes together
make up the population’s gene pool.
2. GENE POOL - consists of all the genes of all the
members of the population. For each gene, the gene
pool includes all the different alleles of the gene that
exist in the population. For a given gene, the population
is characterized by the frequency of the different alleles
in the gene pool.
3. ALLELE FREQUENCY - how often an allele occurs in a
gene pool relative to the other alleles for the same gene.
 MICROEVOLUTION
1. MUTATION
2. NON-RANDOM MATING
3. GENETIC DRIFT
4. GENE FLOW
5. NATURAL SELECTION
1. MUTATION
a change in the DNA sequence of an
organism resulting from errors in DNA
replication during cell division, exposure to
DNA-damaging agents in the environment.
creates new genetic variation in a gene pool
can be harmful, beneficial, or have no
effect.
EXAMPLES OF MUTATION:
ANIMALS: born with extra body parts, e.g. two-headed
snakes, four-legged ducks, and a cyclops kitten -- often lead
to the death of the animal soon or a few days after birth.
PLANTS: bearing chimera, sports, or breaks -- naturally
occurring and can cause changes in the appearance of the
foliage, flowers, fruit, or stems of any plant.
HUMANS: altered gene or chromosomal aberration
sickle-cell disease cystic fibrosis
color blindness hemophilia
Turner syndrome Down syndrome
Chimera is where two or more distinctly different tissues are overlaying
one another
Sport is a part of a plant that shows unusual or singular deviation from
the normal or parent plant
2. NON-RANDOM MATING
occur when individuals prefer mates with
particular superior physical characteristics or
by the preference of individuals to mate with
individuals similar to themselves.
also occur when mates are chosen based on
physical accessibility; that is, the availability
of some mates over others.
2. NON-RANDOM MATING
A. Inbreeding - individuals are more likely to
mate with close relatives (e.g. their neighbors)
than with distant relatives. This is common.

B. Outbreeding - individuals are more likely to

mate with distant relatives than with close
relatives.
EXAMPLES OF NON-RANDOM MATING:
Female peahens may prefer peacocks with bigger,
brighter tails.
American Robin may practice assortative mating
on plumage color, a melanin based trait, and mate
with other robins who have the most similar shade
of color.
People who look alike mate more often then they
would under totally random conditions.
3. GENETIC DRIFT
the random change of gene frequencies in a
small population.
when a small number of parents produce
just a few offspring, allele frequencies in the
offspring may differ, just by chance, from
allele frequencies in the parents.
3. GENETIC DRIFT
Two special conditions under which genetic drift occurs:
1. Bottleneck effect - occurs when a population suddenly
gets much smaller. This might happen because of a
natural disaster such as a forest fire or disease epidemic.
By chance, allele frequencies of the survivors may be
different from those of the original population.
2. Founder effect - occurs when a few individuals start or
found a new population. By chance, allele frequencies of
the founders may be different from allele frequencies of
the population they left.
3. GENETIC DRIFT
 3. GENETIC DRIFT
An example of the founder effect occurred in
the Amish. The Amish population in the U.S.
and Canada had approximately 200 founders
who immigrated in the 1700s. The population
has grown to almost 250,000 individuals who
rarely interact with people outside the Amish
community. One of the founders carried a
recessive allele for a rare condition called Ellis-
van Creveld syndrome - a type of dwarfism
that results in extra fingers and short limbs as
seen in this image. Today the Amish population
has far more cases of this syndrome than any
other population in the world.
4. GENE FLOW
also called gene migration, the introduction
of genetic material (by interbreeding) from
one population of a species to another,
thereby changing the composition of the
gene pool of the receiving population.
The introduction of new alleles through gene
flow increases variability within the
population and makes possible new
combinations of traits.
EXAMPLES OF GENE FLOW:
A bee carrying pollen from one flower population
to another
The African-American population is inherently
resistant to malaria whereas, the European
population isn't. The offspring produced by the
mating of the individuals of these populations
were seen to be resistant to the disease.
EXAMPLES OF GENE FLOW:
During the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s,
many young American servicemen had children
with Vietnamese women. Most of the servicemen
returned to the United States after the war.
However, they left copies of their genes behind in
their offspring. In this way, they changed the allele
frequencies in the Vietnamese gene pool.
Do you think the gene pool of the U.S. was also
affected? Why or why not?
5. NATURAL SELECTION
occurs when there are differences in fitness
among members of a population. As a result,
some individuals pass more genes to the
next generation than do other members of
the population. This causes allele
frequencies to change over time.
explained how populations could evolve in
such a way that they became better suited
to their environments over time.
5. NATURAL SELECTION
Darwin's concept of natural selection was based
on several key observations:
A. Traits are often heritable.
5. NATURAL SELECTION
B. More offspring are produced than can survive.
5. NATURAL SELECTION
C. Offspring vary in their heritable traits.
5. NATURAL SELECTION

Types of Natural Selection:

A. DIRECTIONAL SELECTION
B. STABILIZING SELECTION
C. DISRUPTIVE/DIVERSIFYING
SELECTION
5. NATURAL SELECTION
A. DIRECTIONAL SELECTION
occurs when natural selection favors one
extreme of continuous variation. Over time,
the favored extreme will become more
common and the other extreme will be less
common or lost.
5. NATURAL SELECTION
A. DIRECTIONAL SELECTION
Example: If thicker-shelled oysters are more resistant
to breakage than thinner-shelled oysters, crabs will be
less able to prey upon them, and thicker-shelled
oysters will be more likely to survive to reproduce.
5. NATURAL SELECTION
B. STABILIZING SELECTION
occurs when natural selection favors the
intermediate states of continuous variation.
Over time, the intermediate states become
more common and each extreme variation
will become less common or lost.
5. NATURAL SELECTION
B. STABILIZING SELECTION
Example: Very light-colored or very dark-colored
oysters might be more frequently preyed upon by
shore birds, simply because they are more obvious on
the oyster bar; as a result, the intermediate hues
become more common.
5. NATURAL SELECTION
C. DISRUPTIVE/DIVERSIFYING SELECTION
occurs when natural selection favors both
extremes of continuous variation. Over time,
the two extreme variations will become
more common and the intermediate states
will be less common or lost. Disruptive
selection can lead to two new species.
5. NATURAL SELECTION
C. DISRUPTIVE/DIVERSIFYING SELECTION
Example: Light-colored oysters are more cryptic (less
easy for a predator to see) because they match the
rock color. Dark-colored oysters blend into the
shadows cast by the rocks. In this case, intermediate-
colored oysters would be most heavily preyed upon by
the crabs, and very light and very dark oysters would
survive to reproduce.
 RECAP!!!
1. The random change of gene frequencies in a small
population.
2. The introduction of genetic material from one
population of a species to another.
3. A process that occurs if a population has variation,
fitness differences, inheritance.
4. Creates new genetic variation in a gene pool.
5. Occurs when individuals prefer to mate with
individuals similar to themselves.
 RECAP!!!
6. Occurs when a few individuals start or found a new
population.
7. Individuals are more likely to mate with distant
relatives than with close relatives.
8. Occurs when natural selection favors the
intermediate states of continuous variation.
9. Occurs when a population suddenly gets much
smaller.
10. Occurs when natural selection favors both extremes
of continuous variation.