Diversity and Evolution

(g) Explain how natural selection may bring about evolution

Natural selection is the process where organisms with certain inherited

characteristics are more likely to survive in an environment and reproduce
than other organisms with other characteristics.
Environmental factors will exert a selection pressure on the individuals of the
population.
Since there is genetic variation within the population, there will also be
phenotypic variation among the population.
Organism with traits enable them to be better adapted to the environment
will be selected.
These organisms will be able to survive, reproduce and pass their alleles
coding for these advantages to the offspring
Due to higher reproductive successes, allele frequencies of these traits will
increase in the population.
Over time, this increases frequency of individuals with favorable adaptations
in the population.
Allele frequency in the gene pool changing over time, causing evolution to
occur
(e) Explain why variation is important in selection

Selection is a process where due to selection pressure, individuals with one

phenotype leaves relatively more offspring than individuals with another
phenotype
Differential reproductive success- The individuals contribution of that
genotype to the next generation relative to the contribution of other
genotypes
Fitness- the more surviving offspring an individual has, the greater the
number of copies of genes of the individual is present in the future
generations and the greater the individuals reproductive success
Variation in a population is what natural selection acts on.
The phenotypes that are best suited to the existing environmental conditions
will be selected for, leading to differential reproductive success of certain
phenotypes
Selective advantage relates to one specific environment and one specific
time only.
If a population of individuals is genetically identical, selection would have no
effect as the phenotypes are essentially the same and selection pressure acts
equally on all individuals.
(I) How genetic variation is preserved in a natural population

Diploidy
o Recessive alleles are not expressed in heterozygotes so recessive
alleles will not come under selection pressure.
 o When heterozygote containing recessive allele is able to survive and
reproduce, recessive allele is passed down to the offspring and is
preserved in the population
o Homozygote recessive individual will express phenotype of the
recessive trait and will be under selection by environment.
Heterozygote advantage
o Heterozygous individuals at a particular locus have greater ability to
survive and greater reproductive success than any homozygous types
o While this allele is harmful in the homozygote, heterozygote advantage
causes it to be preserved in a population.
Frequency-dependent selection
o Fitness of the phenotype is dependent on its frequency relative to
other phenotypes in a given population
o Survival and reproduction of individuals of one phenotype decline if
that phenotypic form becomes too common in population.
Neutral variation
o Much of the DNA in eukaryotes is non-coding DNA
o Variations in non-coding DNA are neutral as they do not affect the
phenotype of an organism and do not affect the reproductive success
of individuals
o These neutral variations will not come under selection pressure and
hence may be preserved
o Frequency is affected by genetic drift

f) Explain with examples, how environmental factors act as forces of natural

selection.

Industrial melanism in peppered moths (have to know)

Heterozygote superiority of sickle-cell carriers (have to know)
Finches of Galapagos islands (memorise)

m) Neutral theory of molecular evolution

Evolutionary change at the molecular level resulting from the genetic drift
which randomly fixes neutral mutations
Mutations are neutral as they are not expressed and do not come under
selection pressure
They can be due to:
Mutation in non-coding region
Degeneracy of genetic code
Mutations affecting non-essential amino acid residues
Mutations resulting in another amino acid of similar chemical properties
Rate at which neutral mutations become fixed in the population will be
constant
h) Why population is the smallest unit that can evolve

Define Micro-evolution: Microevolution is change in the allele frequency in the

gene pool of a population over time
 Allele frequency is the proportion of one allele relative to all alleles at one
gene locus in the population
Gene pool of a population is complete set of alleles that would be found in
the population
Natural selection acts on individuals in the population, affecting survival and
reproductive success
Individuals which is selected for has a greater chance of surviving and
breeding with other members of the population by passing its genes to the
next generation.
Allele frequency changes over many generations and population is said to
have evolved.
Add in points
The differences between artificial selection and natural selection

Features Natural selection Artificial selection

Selection pressure Environment
Selection of parents Parents are not
consciously chosen
Speed of selection Slow
Intensity of selection May not be intensive
unless change in
environment is sudden
Reproductive fitness of Increases if environment
selected individuals is constant
Variation in population Generally does not
decrease
Identity of selected Unknown
individuals
Man
Parents are deliberately
chosen for their
selectable phenotypes
Fast
Usually intensive as
selection pressure is man
Decreases due to
inbreeding depression
Decreases as gene coding
for undesirable traits are
removed from gene pool
Known

Genetic drift:

Variation in allele frequencies within populations that occurs by chance

events than by natural selection
Chance events can result in fixation of allele or elimination of allele from the
gene pool
Founder effect
o New colony is started by a few members of the original population
o Only a few members of the original population are present in the new
colony. It leads to a non-random sample of the genes in the original
population
Bottleneck effect
o Occurs when a population is drastically reduced in size by sudden
changes in the environment such as natural disasters or human
interference
 o Certain alleles may be over-represented among survivors, other alleles
may be absent or under-represented
o Reduces a populations genetic variation

SPECIES CONCEPT
1. BIOLOGICAL SPECIES CONCEPT
a. The organisms which are able to interbreed with one another to
produce viable fertile offspring in a natural environment are considered
as same species.
b. Species is reproductively isolated from other populations
c. Limits: Cannot be used for grouping of fossils as they are extinct,
asexual organisms, inability to know if geographically isolated
populations can potentially interbreed
2. Ecological species concept
a. Description of organisms life history, habitat and food chain and how it
responds to abundance of resources and competitors.
b. Differences between species in form and behavior are often related to
differences in the ecological resources in the species exploit
c. Can be used on asexual organisms
3. Morphological species concept
a. Species based on physical resemblances and differences
b. Organisms in the same species may look very different depending on
their gender or stage of life cycle
c. Organisms that are not related may have similar structures due to
convergent evolution
d. Differences in species at the genetic level may not show up in the
phenotype
4. Phylogenetic species concept
a. Species based on genetic history and evolutionary relationships with
references to their homologous structures and nucleotide and protein
sequences
b. Related species have high degree of similarities in terms of
homologous structures, protein and DNA sequences.
Isolation
1. Geographical isolation: separation of 2 populations by a physical barrier such
as mountains, oceans or rivers
2. Physiological isolation: Interbreeding between individuals is prevented by
physiological causes. It includes temporal isolation, mechanical isolation,
gamete incompatibility and hybrid infertility
3. Behavioral isolation: mating rituals are different and so no mating takes place
Allopatric speciation

It is speciation that occurs in separate geographical areas due to presence of

geographical barrier
Geographical isolationDifferent selective forcesevolve other reproductive
isolation mechanism
 Can produce prezygotic or postzygotic reproductive isolation mechanism.

Sympatric speciation

Speciation that occupies the same geographical location

Initiated not by geographical barrier but by disruptive selection or sexual
selection, leading to preferential mating patterns
Leads to reproductive isolation mechanisms, developing strict gene flow
between subpopulations
Enough genetic changes over time accumulate within the two subpopulations
such as mating between individuals form these two subpopulations results in
infertile hybrid.
Phylogeny

History of evolution of a species or group of organisms

Method of classification classify organisms based on their evolutionary
relationships
Genes passed from ancestors to descendants during the process of evolution
and so evolutionary relationships between organisms can be constructed
based on fossile records, homologous structures, molecular data.
Phenetics

Based on observable characteristics

Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species

Feature Phylogeny Classification

Basis of grouping Grouping based on
similarities in
characteristics and does
not consider evolutionary
relationships
Organisms with many
similarities in observable
characteristics are
grouped together
Grouping does not
consider descent with
modification
Format of organisation Organisation is in the
form of phylogenetic tree
Phylogenetic tree is a
branching diagram which
shows
descent/divergence of
different species from a
common ancestor
Natural/manmade Phylogeny reflects natural
organization relationship among
organisms