Evolution & Natural Selection

• 3 key observations about life:

◦ organisms are well suited (adapted) for life in their environments
◦ many shared characteristics (unity) of life
◦ rich diversity of life

• evolution in perspectives: pattern & process

◦ pattern - revealed by data (observations) in science
◦ process - mechanisms that cause change

• scala naturae = scale of nature

◦ Aristotle: life-forms could be arranged on a scale of increasing complexity
◦ Linnaeus: binomial nomenclature of species

• paleontology - the study of fossils

◦ found in sedimentary rocks
◦ layers = strata
• Lamarck's hypothesis of Evolution - how life changes over time
◦ use and disuse
‣ parts of the body that are used extensively become larger and stronger, while those that
are not used deteriorate
◦ inheritance of acquired characteristics
X
• Charles Darwin: evolution - descendent with modi cation by natural selection
◦ => adaptations
‣ inherited characteristics of organisms that enhance their survival and reproduction in
speci c environments
◦ arti cial selection / selective breeding
‣ humans have modi ed other species over many generations by selecting and breeding
individuals that possess desired traits
◦ natural selection
‣ a process in which individuals that have certain inherited traits tend to survive and
reproduce at higher rates than do other individuals because of those traits
‣ 'survival of the ttest' - survival advantage
‣ observations:
• Members of a population often vary in their inherited traits
• All species can produce more o spring than their environment can support, and
many of these o spring fail to survive and reproduce = over-reproduction
‣ factors:
• predators, lack of food, or adverse physical conditions
‣ key features
• individuals that have certain heritable traits survive and reproduce at a higher rate
than do other individuals because of those traits
◦ individual do not evolve - the population evolves over time
• over time, natural selection can increase the frequency of adaptations that are
favourable in a given environment
◦ only the ones that di er - if all identical in the trait evolution does not occur
• If an environment changes, or if individuals move to a new environment, natural
selection may result in adaptation to these new conditions, sometimes giving rise to
new species
◦ environmental factors vary in geographic location and time
• evidence supporting evolution
◦ observations
‣ natural selection in response to introduced
species
• beak length - depth of seeds within the fruit
‣ drug-resistance bacteria
• methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA)

◦ homology
‣ anatomical - homologous structures: similar structure, di erent function

‣ vestigial structures: remnants of features that served a function in the organism’s

ancestors
• skeletons of some snakes retain vestiges of the pelvis and leg bones of their
ancestors
• blind shes have eye remnants buried under their scales
 ‣ molecular
• universal genetic code
• cellular structure - ribosome for protein
synthesis

• 'pseudogenes' - nonfunctional, but in

common ancestor
‣ convergent evolution - analogous structures
• independent evolution of similar features
in di erent lineages

◦ fossil record
‣ pattern of evolution
‣ origins of new groups of organisms

◦ biogeography
‣ study of the geographic distributions of
species
• ~250 million years ago
• single continent - Pangaea
• continental drift
• Evolution of populations

◦ microevolution
‣ change in allele frequencies in a population over generations
◦ genetic variation
‣ di erences among individuals in the composition of their genes or other DNA sequences
‣ => change in phenotype
‣ sources of genetic variation
• mutation -> new alleles
◦ neutral variation - point mutations in non-coding regions
◦ redundancy of the genetic code
◦ mutations in somatic cells but not germ cells -> not inherited
◦ mutations enabling a survival advantage
• altering gene number or position
◦ duplication in meiosis
◦ errors in DNA replication
◦ transposable elements
‣ stretches of DNA that can move from one location to another within the
genome - transposition
• eukaryotic
◦ transposon vs. retrotransposon
 • rapid reproduction in prokaryotes and viruses
◦ more mutation events - not frequency
◦ RNA viruses - no proofreading mechanism
• sexual reproduction - meiosis
◦ crossing over
◦ independent assortment
◦ random fertilisation
◦ Hardy-Weinberg
‣ population
• a group of individuals of the same species
• that live in the same area
• and interbreed, producing fertile o spring (- same species)
‣ gene pool
• all copies of every type of allele at every locus in all members of the population
• only one allele exists for a particular locus in a population = homozygous only = xed
• two or more alleles for a particular locus in a population = homo- or heterozygous
• allele frequency = proportion of individual with the allele in the population
‣ Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
• a population that is not evolving
◦ -> allele and genotype frequencies will remain constant from generation to
generation
◦ = in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium
• conditions

• application
◦ consider phenylketonuria (PKU), a metabolic disorder that results from
homozygosity for a recessive allele
◦ one out of every 10,000 babies born in the United States
◦ assumptions:
‣ no new PKU mutations are being introduced into the population
‣ people neither choose their mates on the basis of whether or not they carry
this gene nor generally mate with close relatives
‣ ignore any e ects of di erential survival and reproductive success among
PKU genotypes
‣ no e ects of genetic drift
‣ no gene ow from other populations into the population
◦ calculate the frequency of carriers

q^2 = 1/10000 -> q = 0.01

p + q = 1 -> p = 0.99
2x0.01x0.99 = 0.0198
◦ factors altering allele frequency in a population
‣ natural selection
• traits that enhance survival or reproduction tend to increase in frequency over time
• relative tness
◦ the contribution an individual makes to the gene pool of the next generation
relative to the contributions of other individuals
• role of natural selection in adaptive evolution
◦ sexual selection
‣ individuals with certain inherited characteristics are more likely than other
individuals of the same sex to obtain mates
‣ -> sexual dimorphism (di erent in secondary sexual characteristics)
‣ intrasexual selection
• individuals of one sex compete directly for mates of the opposite sex
‣ intersexual selection
• individuals of one sex (usually the females) are choosy in selecting
their mates from the other sex
• balancing selection
◦ preserve variation -> maintaining two or more phenotypic forms in a population
◦ frequency-dependent selection
‣ tness of a phenotype depends on how common it is in the population
◦ heterozygote advantage
‣ de ned in terms of genotype, not phenotype
‣ heterozygotes for the sickle-cell allele are protected against the most
severe e ects of malaria
• types of natural selection
‣ genetic drift
• by chance - random
• especially in small populations
• loss of genetic variation within populations
• harmful alleles to be xed

• founder e ect
◦ a few individuals isolated from a larger population establish a new population
whose gene pool di ers from the source population
◦ genetic drift could play a role
◦ relatively high frequency of certain inherited disorders among isolated human
populations
• bottleneck e ect
◦ A sudden change in the environment -> drastic reduction in the size of a
population
‣ gene ow
• transfer of alleles into or out of a population due to the movement of fertile
individuals or their gametes
• -> adaptability
◦ Why Natural Selection Cannot Fashion Perfect Organisms
‣ selection can act only on existing variations
• advantageous allele do not arise on demand
‣ evolution is limited by historical constraints
• not taking the best from all pre-existed
‣ adaptations are often compromises
• trade-o s
‣ chance, natural selection, and the environment interact