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Selection and Evolution

The document discusses the causes and types of genetic variation, including continuous and discontinuous variation, and the role of natural selection in shaping allele frequencies. It also covers genetic drift, artificial selection, and the processes of speciation, including allopatric and sympatric speciation. Key concepts such as gene pool, inbreeding, and hybrid vigor are also explained.

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17 views3 pages

Selection and Evolution

The document discusses the causes and types of genetic variation, including continuous and discontinuous variation, and the role of natural selection in shaping allele frequencies. It also covers genetic drift, artificial selection, and the processes of speciation, including allopatric and sympatric speciation. Key concepts such as gene pool, inbreeding, and hybrid vigor are also explained.

Uploaded by

manya.pandey
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Variation

Causes of variation:
●​ Crossing over in prophase 1 of meiosis
●​ Independent assortment in Metaphase 1
●​ Random fertilisation
●​ Mutations
●​ Random mating

Genetic variation: differences in DNA base sequences in different individuals of a species


Phenotypic variation: Differences in outward characteristics and appearance in different
individuals of a species.

Continuous variation:
●​ Variation in which the differences between individuals are anywhere within a range with
two extremes
●​ Usually phenotype is connected to polygenes
●​ Multiple genes have an additive effect, and changing a single allele causes little change
in phenotype.
●​ This variation is controlled by genes as well as environmental factors

Discontinuous variation:
●​ Controlled by only alleles. Change in allele completely changes a phenotypic trait.
●​ Defined as variation in which the differences between individuals can be categorised
into discrete categories with no intermediates.
●​ environmental factors have no effect.

Natural Selection

●​ When a population's size increases drastically, environmental factors called selection


pressures keep it in check. These can be biotic (living ex: predators) or abiotic
(non-living ex: pH or light intensity)
●​ Selection pressures : Environmental factors that affect an organism’s chance of
survival, that usually favours organisms with particular genotypes to survive over others.
●​ Natural selection: The process by which organisms with particular alleles are more
likely to survive and reproduce than organisms with other alleles, resulting in an increase
in frequency of that allele over time.

Modes of natural selection:

1)​ Stabilising selection: Natural selection that keeps allele frequency relatively constant
over time
2)​ Disruptive selection: Natural selection that favours individuals with two different alleles
and keeps a high frequency of them. Intermediate alleles are not selected.
3)​ Directional selection: Natural selection that occurs when a selection pressure changes,
causing allele frequencies to gradually shift over time.

Genetic Drift: Genetic drift is the gradual change in allele frequencies in a small population due
to chance and not natural selection.

Gene pool: The complete range of genes in all organisms in a population

Genetic drift is caused by two things: ( population size decreases in both)

1)​ Founder Effect: When a small group from a population separates from the original
population to start a new population somewhere else.

2)​ Bottleneck Effect: where the population size decreases dramatically due to a natural
disaster.

Artificial Selection

Definition: Process by which humans select animals with desired traits to survive and
reproduce.

Inbreeding: breeding of close relatives which usually results in an increased chance of the
offspring having homozygous recessive alleles

Inbreeding depression: A loss of the ability to survive and grow well as a result of inbreeding
of close relatives with similar genotypes, which caused the increased homozygosity.

Outbreeding: Breeding between organisms that are not closely related

Hybrid vigour : An increase in ability to survive and grow well as a result of outbreeding and
therefore increased heterozygosity.

Evolution
Genetic isolation: When two groups of organisms can no longer breed with each other and
there is no exchange of genes between them.
Species: A group of organisms that are morphologically, physiologically and biochemically
similar, that can interbreed, and are reproductively isolated from other organisms.
Speciation: Production of a new species due to various factors

●​ Genetic isolation of two groups of a population causes speciation

Speciation Types (how can groups become genetically isolated?)

1)​ Allopatric speciation : formation of two species from an original one as a result of
geographical isolation (gene flow between locations prevented)
●​ Geographical isolation: separation by a geographical barrier
●​ Geographical isolation of two groups of a species causes inbreeding within the
isolated groups. This + different selection pressures + different mutations for the
two groups causes them to evolve differently (genetic drift occurs) and turn into
different species.
●​ Species that are less able to disperse are more likely to speciate allopatrically

2)​ Sympatric Speciation : The development of new species from an original one without
the need of a geographical barrier, but due to reproductive isolation
●​ Occurs when species occupying the same location become reproductively
isolated from each other
●​ Sympatric speciation can occur as a result of ecological separation of species or
behavioural separation
●​ Ecological separation: Separation of two populations because they live in
different environmental conditions (Ex: pH, Temperature) which causes them to
be reproductively isolated
●​ Behavioural separation : The separation of two populations due to a difference
in their behaviours which prevents them from breeding together.

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