Natural Selection and

Variation

Objectives
Define Variation
Define Natural Selection
Explain the importance of heritable
variation to selection.
Environmental factors as forces for
natural selection

Variation
Variationis all the differences which
exist between members of thesame
species.
Variation of characteristics in a
population is due to both genetic and
environmental factors
For each characteristic, the
population shows either continuous
or discontinuous variation.

Continuous Variation
Continuous variation has a broad range
of measurements, with many
intermediates, from one extreme to the
other.
Characteristics that show continuous
variation exists on a continuum.
E.g. Height; hand span, shoe size; milk
yield, leaf length, skin colour.
Continuous variation is the combined effect
of many genes (polygenic inheritance)

Continuous Variation
The graph showing a characteristic of
continuous variation is a bell-shaped
curve known as a normal
distribution

Discontinuous Variation
This is where individuals fall into a number of
distinct classes or categories, and is based
on features that cannot be measured across a
complete range.
An individual either have the characteristic or
don't.
A bar graph is used to represent a
discontinuous variation.
Controlled by alleles of a single gene or a small
number of genes. The environment has little
effect on this type of variation.
E.g: blood type, eye colour, tongue rolling,

Types of Variation

Heritable Variation.
Heritable variation makes possible for
Weeding out negative mutations,
passing on positive and neutral ones.
Without heritable variation, species
would quickly fall victim to parasites
who take advantage of identical
genetic material in a population and
evolution would not occur.

Natural Selection
Organisms that are best adapted to
an environment survive and have
greater reproductive success than
others.
Process in which individuals that have
certain inherited traits tend to survive
and reproduce at higher rates than other
individuals because of those traits.

The Environment: A force for natural

selection
The key factor for determining survival is
adaptation to the environment.
Environments are not constant, they
change with time. The individuals with
traits that are able to adapt to these
changes have a higher chance of surviving
and reproducing.

Selective Survival of Peppered

Moths
Peppered Moth: This species consist of light gray
and dark colouration.
Before the Industrial Revolution, there were far more
light gray moths than dark moths.
With the Industrial revolution, and an increase of
industrial pollution of soot, the number of dark moths
far outnumbered the light gray moths.
Why? Before the industrial pollution, moths could
easily camouflage in the clean environment, whereas
birds could easily catch the dark moths on clean trees.
Increase in industrial pollution, the dark moths
could now camouflage easily against the soot polluted
background, while the light moths stood out.

Peppered Moth

Which moth will the bird catch?

Rise of Antibiotic Resistant

Bacteria

Antibiotics are natural products of bacteria and fungi

that is harmful to other bacteria and fungi.
Antibiotic Resistance: the ability of a microorganism
to withstand the effects of specific antibiotics
How: After the discover y of antibiotics (penicillin),
millions of lives were saved. However, the overuse of
antibiotics have led to evolution of strains of bacteria
that were resistant to penicillin and other antibiotics.
Bacteria become resistant in two ways:
Random mutations. Resistant strains expressed enzymes
which could inhibit antibiotics or made impregnable cell walls
Horizontal transfer of resistant gene in plasmid to other
bacterium

Darwinian Hypothesis for

Evolution
Based on 3 primary observations,
Darwin proposed that natural
selection is the mechanism by which
new species arise from preexisting species (evolution).
Evolution is descent with
modification. The development of a
differentiated new species from preexisting ancestral organisms.

Terms to Understand
Environment: the biotic and abiotic
surroundings of organisms
Species: a group of individuals who can
interbreed to produce viable fertile offspring.
Species name: written in italics, two part
scientific name . E.g. Homo sapiens (humans)
Population: members of the same species that
live in the same area
Instraspecific: between members of same
species
Interspecific: between members of different
species

Descent with Modification

Cactus-eater. Geospiza
scandens

Insect-eater Certhidea
olivacea)
Seed-eater. (Geospiza
magnirostris)v
Although they are of different
species, they evolved from a
common ancestor species based
on their feeding pattern

Darwins Observations and

Deductions
1. Individuals within a population
produce more offspring that are
needed to replace themselves.
2. The numbers of a population
eventually remain constant
. Deduction A: There exists unequal
survival and reproductive success.
There is a struggle for existence.

Darwins Observations and

Deductions
3. Variation exists in the population.
Members of a population often vary in
their inherited traits
Deduction B: Individuals showing variations
which are best adapted to the environment,
have a reproductive advantage, producing
more offspring than less well adapted
members.
This leads to the accumulation of favourable
traits in the population over generations

Darwins Observations
Explained
Observations 1 & 2: Although all living
organisms have reproductive capacity for
continuation of the species, population
size are limited by environmental factors
such as:
Food Availability
Space
Light

Deduction A: The struggle for existence

is created by intraspecific and
interspecific competition.

Darwins Observations
Explained

Deduction B: The key factor for determining

survival is adaptation to the environment.
Variation, whether physical physiological or
behavioural, which best adapts an organism
to an environment provides selective
advantage.
Favourable variations will be inherited by the
next generation while unfavourable variations
will be selected out.
Thus natural selection increases the vigour
within a species.

NOBODY!
!

There is no agent involved in natural

selection.
Natural selection is a process of

INDIVIDUALS THAT HAVE TRAITS THAT ARE BEST ADAPTED FOR

THE CURRENT ENVIRONMENT
ARE THE ONES THAT SURVIVE TO
elimination
BREED AND PASS ON THEIR GENES TO THE NEXT GENERATION.

Organisms not possessing the beneficial

traits either die or dont have as many
offspring.

Natural Selection is Survival

of the fittest

Selection Pressure
Selection: a process by which those
organisms which appear physically,
physiologically and behaviourally better
adapted to the environment survive and
reproduce.
Population size and environmental factors
produce a selection pressure on which traits
(alleles) or phenotypes will pass on to the
next generation
Three modes of selection are: Disruptive,
Stabilising and Directional

What acts as a selection

pressure on a population?
Competition for food
Competition for a mate
Changes in the environment
Predators
Parasites

Directional selection
Directional Selection: occurs when conditions
favour individuals exhibiting one extreme of a
phenotypic range, thereby shifting a
populations frequency curve for the phenotypic
character in one direction or the other.
common when a populations environment
changes or when members of a population
migrate to a new (and different) habitat.

Directional Selection
Neck of Giraffe
Antibiotic resistance of
bacteria
Moth color (melanin)
Camouflage/Mimics
Many sexually selected
traits

Disruptive Selection
Occurs when conditions favour
individuals at both extremes of a
phenotypic range over individuals
with intermediate phenotypes.
Causes species to diverge

Disruptive Selection
Causes divergence within
the species
Occurs when two different
types of resources in one
area
Results in specialization
for each branched group
May lead to formation of
new species
E.g. Darwins Finches

Stabilizing Selection
Acts against both
extreme phenotypes
and favours
intermediate variants.
This mode of selection
reduces variation and
tends to
maintain the status quo
for a particular
phenotypic character
Occurs when conditions
are optimal/ not severe
and competition is
minimal