Change in organisms over time

EVOLUTION
*Central unifying theme of biology*

Basic Theory of Biological Evolution

Earths present-day species developed from earlier, distinctly different species

How?
Gradual changes in organisms through time

What is change?
Individual = those that occur during the lifetime of an organism- if not in gametes, not passed on

Evolutionary = changes in the genetics of an organism that cause changes in structure, function or behavior

Mainly through Mutations!

Galapagos Islands

Darwins Finches

Galapagos tortoises

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Blue footed Booby

Kimodo dragon

What led to these islands having unique species?

Darwins Observations
Geological forces are very slow, uniform processes Not all offspring can survive because resources run out (based on Thomas Malthus economic theory)

Darwins Observations (more)

Must be competition between food, water, space and other limited resources
Winners must be the ones that survive and reproduce Observing domestic animals, selecting parents with the most desirable characteristics raise more desirable characteristics

By: Kaptain Kobold

 Charles Darwin called his

theory:

Natural Selection

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Alfred Wallace
Other side of the world Not recognized as a major contributor until many years later Terminology is Darwins

http://images.google.com/hosted/life/f?q=source:life+Alfred+Wallace&imgurl=c6868780016eb6cd

Elements of Natural Selection

There is variation within populations Some variations are favorable More young are produced in each generation that can survive Those that survive and reproduce are those with an adaptive value or variation Over enormous spans of time, small changes accumulate and populations change

Ultimately Natural Selection leads to:

Changing proportions of individuals with a certain trait amongst a population

Common misconceptions:

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So what can evolve?

Structures
analogous vs homologous vestigial

Functions
Behaviors

Natural Selection
Selects individuals that are best adapted for survival and reproduction in environment Must meet 4 conditions
1. 2. 3. 4. Reproduction Inheritable traits Variation of individuals Variation in fitness of organisms

Natural selection
Results in 1. Stabilizing selection
2. Directional selection

3. Disruptive selection

http://www.sparknotes.com/biology/evolution/naturalselection/section1.html

Sexual selection
Change in frequency of a trait based on mate attraction
Video clip

Genetic drift
Change in allelic frequencies in a population
Ex: sickle cell anemia

Founder effect
Small population that separates from rest Amish six fingers

Bottleneck effect
Low numbers, then rebounds (inbreeding) Cheetahs

Gene flow
Genes enter populations from random movement of individuals from one population to another.

Nonrandom mating
Can increase allelic frequency by mating within smaller population

Mutation
Introduction of new alleles into a population; can be passed to offspring

Reproductive Isolation
Can be physical barrier Can be temporal barrier (different mating times) Can be different behaviors (mating songs, etc)

Speciation
Must have: Population divergance Reproductive isolation Can be: Allopatric - physical barrier
Mountains, rivers, oceans, lava flow, islands

Sympatric - no physical barrier

More common in plants