Bio 105- Contemporary Biology - Fall 2017 Learning Guide 11

Chapter: 13 & 14 Part: 2 of 2 Parts

Major Topic(s) Covered: Microevolution: Natural Selection, and Speciation

Read Section(s): 13.6; 13.12 to 13.18; 14.4 to 14.10
Group Assignment(s): None

Why this Material? Natural selection was the mechanism Darwin used to explain the
working of evolution. Today biologists agree that selection is by far the most important
factor responsible for evolution. Although selection has been directly observed in nature
some of the best examples of it and those used by Darwin come from artificial selection -
the selective breeding of domesticated plants and animals. Ernst Mayr, one of the major
proponents of the New Synthesis championed the idea of geographic isolation as a
method of speciation. He and other 20th century evolutionary biologists have developed
several models of speciation.

Learning Objectives: Upon completion of this learning guide, you should be able to:

1. Identify the 3 factors of nature that entered into Darwins thinking about natural
selection. The first factor relates to the ideas of Thomas Malthus.
Production of more individuals than the limited resources can lead to struggles for
existence
Unequal reproduction
Individuals whose traits better enable them to obtain food or escape predators or
tolerate physical conditions will survive and reproduce

2. Give one example of natural selection and be able to identify the selective force.
Blue-footed booby and the selective force is the fact that the booby has to torpedo into the
shallow water and be able to stop quickly with its tail in order to not hit the ground

3. Understand how the diploid condition helps to preserve genetic diversity despite the
fact that natural selection reduces it.

4. Know three types of natural selection and give examples of each.

13.14

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Bio 105- Contemporary Biology - Fall 2017 Learning Guide 11

Stabilizing selection: favors intermediate phenotypes; typically reduces variation

and maintains the status quo for a particular character
o Ex. this type of selection keeps the majority of human birth weights in the
range of 6.5-9 pounds
Directional selection: shifts the overall makeup of the population by acting
against individuals at one of the phenotypic extremes; most common during
periods of environmental change or when members of a species migrate to some
new habitat with different environmental conditions (helps keep the organism safe)
Disruptive selection: typically occurs when environmental conditions vary in a
way that favors individuals at both ends of a phenotypic range over individuals
with intermediate phenotypes; can lead to two contrasting phenotypes in a
population

5. Describe allopatric speciation in general terms and explain (with examples) why islands
give the best examples of speciation.
Allopatric speciation: the formation of new species in populations that are
geographically isolated from one another
Why do isolated island chains provide opportunities for adaptive radiations?
Colonization of an island presents species with new resources and no predators
Natural selection>>adaptive behavior and species is able to evolve
Subsequent colorizations of nearby islands lead to more adaptation and genetic
drift and therefore more speciation

6. Explain how sympatric speciation works in plants. Understand how the populations
become reproductively isolated. Notes

7. Understand the meaning and the use of the following terms or ideas:
Heterozygote advantage: greater reproductive success of heterozygous individuals
compared to homozygotes; tends to preserve variation in gene pools

Relative fitness: the contribution an individual makes to the gene pool of the next
generation relative to the contributions of other individuals

Neutral variation: mot evolutionary changes and most of the variation within and
between species is not caused by natural selection but by random drift of mutant alleles
that are neutral

Reproductive barriers: collection of mechanisms, behaviors, and physiological processes

that prevent the members of two different species that cross or mate from producing
offspring, or ensure that any offspring that may be produced are sterile
My Notes: 9/25/14

13.6
Darwins greatest contribution was his explanation for HOW life evolved

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Bio 105- Contemporary Biology - Fall 2017 Learning Guide 11

Artificial selection: the selective breeding of domesticated plants and animals to

promote the occurrence of desirable traits in the offspring >>key to understanding
evolutionary change
Darwin deduced that the production of more individuals than the limited resources
can support leads to a struggle for existence, with only some offspring surviving in
each generation
Artificial selection>>short term ; natural selection>>long term
Key points about natural selection:
o Although natural selection occurs through interactions between individual
organisms and the environment, individuals do not evolve; the population
evolves over time
o Can amplify or diminish only heritable traits
o Evolution is not goal directed; it does not lead to perfectly adapted
organisms
13.13
In natural selection, the events that produce genetic variation (mutation and sexual
reproduction) are random
Only natural selection consistently lead to adaptive evolution
Natural selection improves the match between organisms and their environment
Relative fitness: the contribution an individual makes to the gene pool of the next
generation relative to the contributions of other individuals
The fitness individuals in the context of evolution are those that produces the
largest number of fertile offspring
13.15
Sexual selection: a form of natural selection in which individuals with certain
traits are more likely than other individuals to obtain mates
Sexual dimorphism: distinction in appearance that are secondary sexual
characteristics, not directly associated with reproduction or survival ex. plumage
on peacocks
Looking good on the outside can be associated with good genes
13.16
Bacteria can evolve to find antibiotics
13.17
Having two sets of chromosomes helps to prevent populations from becoming
genetically uniform
Balancing selection: occurs when natural selection maintains stable frequencies of
two or more phenotypic forms in a population
Heterozygote advantage: type of balancing selection in which heterozygous
individuals have greater reproductive success than either type of homozygote, with
the result that two or more alleles for a gene are maintained in the population
Frequency-dependent selection: a type of balancing selection that maintains two
different phenotypic forms in population
13.18
Reasons why nature has organisms that arent really engineered for their lifestyle:

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Bio 105- Contemporary Biology - Fall 2017 Learning Guide 11

1. Selection can act only on existing variations

2. Evolution is limited by historical constrains
3. Adaptations are often compromises
4. Chance, natural selection, and the environment interact
Natural selection operates on a better than basis

14.4
Key event in the origin of a new species is the separation of a population from
other populations of the same species
Allopatric speciation: the formation of new species in populations that are
geographically isolated from one another
Allopatric populations: populations separated by geographic barriers
Geographic barriers
o Mountain range
o Large lake may subside until there are several smaller lakes, isolating
certain fish populations
o On a larger scale, continents can split
o Allopatric speciation can also occur when individuals colonize a remote
area and become geographically isolated from the parent population
o Example of allopatric speciation: snapping shrimp around the isthmus of
Panama; one population lives in the Atlantic Ocean on one side while
another population lives in the Pacific Ocean on the other side
14.5
Geographic isolation does not necessarily lead to new species
Speciation only occurs when the gene pool undergoes changes that establish
reproductive barriers

What, geographically, can cause these types of barriers?

o Different food sources
o Different types of pollinators
o Different predators

14.6
Sympatric speciation: when a new species arises within the same geographic area as its
parent species
Polyploid: certain species whose cells have more than two complete sets of chromosomes
Sympatric speciation in animals is more likely to happen through habitat
differentiation or sexual selection than by polyploidy

14.7
Hypothesis that 80% of living plant species are descendants of ancestors that
formed by polyploidy speciation, mostly through hybridization
Ex of polyploids: apples, sugarcane, coffee, wheat, cotton

14.8

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Bio 105- Contemporary Biology - Fall 2017 Learning Guide 11

Adaptive radiation: the evolution of many diverse species from a common ancestor
Ex. Darwins finches
Why do isolated island chains provide opportunities for adaptive radiations?
Colonization of an island presents species with new resources and no predators
Natural selection>>adaptive behavior and species is able to evolve
Subsequent colorizations of nearby islands lead to more adaptation and genetic
drift and therefore more speciation

14.9
Process of speciation is extremely slow
However we can actually see it going on in Lake Victoria that is Uganda and
Tanzania
Ex. the African cichlids that live there; researchers hypothesize that sexual
selectiondivergent female preference for red or blue matesled to reproductive
isolation
14.10
Hybrid zones: regions in which members of different species meet and mate, producing at
least some hybrid offspring
Possible outcomes of a hybrid zone:
1. Reinforcement: natural selection strengthens reproductive barriers, thus reducing
the formation of unfit hybrids; predict that barriers between species should be
stronger where the species overlap
2. Fusion: so much gene flow occurs that the speciation process reverses, causing the
two hybridizing species to fuse into one
3. Stability: hybrid zones can also be fairly stable and hybrids continue to reproduce;
each species maintains its own integrity