Chapter 3

EVOLUTION, BIODIVERSITY AND POPULATION

Where Do Species Come From?
• The scientific theory of evolution explains how life on earth changes over time through changes in
the genes of populations.
• Populations evolve when genes mutate and give some individuals genetic traits that enhance their
abilities to survive and to produce offspring with these traits (natural selection).

Biological Evolution
- the process whereby earth’s life changes over time through changes in the genes of populations.

FACTORS AFFECTING BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION

Geological Processes Affect Natural Selection
Tectonic plates
- flows of molten rock within the earth’s interior break its surface into a series of gigantic solid plates

Climate Change and Catastrophes Affect Natural Selection

WHAT IS BIODIVERSITY?
Biodiversity or Biological diversity
- is a term that describes the variety of living beings on earth
- described as degree of variation of life
- Biological diversity encompasses microorganism, plants, animals and ecosystems such as coral
reefs, forests, rainforest, deserts etc.
Biodiversity
- is the variety of the earth’s species, the genes they contain, the ecosystems in which they live,
- the ecosystem processes such as energy flow and nutrient cycling that sustain all life.
Why is Biodiversity Important?
Biodiversity has a number of functions on the Earth. These are as follows:
Maintaining balance of the ecosystem:
- Recycling and storage of nutrients, combating pollution, and stabilizing climate, protecting water
resources, forming and protecting soil and maintaining eco balance.
Provision of biological resources:
- Provision of medicines and pharmaceuticals, food for the human population and animals, ornamental
plants, wood products, breeding stock and diversity of species, ecosystems and genes.
Social benefits:
- Recreation and tourism, cultural value and education and research.

The role of biodiversity in the following areas will help make clear the importance of biodiversity in
human life:
Biodiversity and food:
- 80% of human food supply comes from 20 kinds of plants. But humans use 40,000 species for food,
clothing and shelter.
- Biodiversity provides for variety of foods for the planet.
Biodiversity and human health:
- The shortage of drinking water is expected to create a major global crisis.
- Biodiversity also plays an important role in drug discovery and medicinal resources.
- Medicines from nature account for usage by 80% of the world’s population.
Biodiversity and industry:
- Biological sources provide many industrial materials. T
- these include fiber, oil, dyes, rubber, water, timber, paper and food.
Biodiversity and culture:
- Biodiversity enhances recreational activities like bird watching, fishing, trekking etc.
- It inspires musicians and artists.
Biodiversity has three essential elements
Ecosystem Diversity
- It relates to variety of habitats, biotic communities and ecological processes in the biosphere, and is
considered as complex level of diversity.
Genetic Diversity
- Refers to total genetic information contained in the genes of individuals of plants, animals and
microorganisms.
- Genetic diversity is comparatively less obvious level of diversity as it represents variations within
species
Species Diversity
- It is the most common level of diversity, and comprises the number of different species at a place.

SPECIES INTERACTION
• If two species interact directly within a shared environment, they share a positive association (they
co-exist).
• If interactions within an environment are mutually detrimental to both species, they share a negative
association (do not co-exist).

Species Interact in Five(5) Major Ways

• Competition
• Predation
• Parasitism
• Mutualism
• Commensalism

Positive Associations
1. Predator- Prey Relationships
Predation
- is a biological interaction whereby one organism (predator) hunts and feeds on another organism
(prey).
 • Because the predator relies on the prey as a food source, their population levels are inextricably
intertwined
• If the prey population drops (e.g. due to over-feeding), predator numbers will dwindle as intra-specific
competition increases
• If the prey population rises, predator numbers will increase as a result of the over-abundance of a
food source.

2. Symbiotic Relationships
• Symbiosis describes the close and persistent (long-term) interaction between two species.
• Symbiotic relationships can be obligate (required for survival) or facultative (advantageous without
being strictly necessary).
• Symbiotic relationships can be beneficial to either one or both organisms in the partnership:

Mutualism
– Both species benefit from the interaction (anemone protects clownfish, clownfish provides fecal matter for
food)
Commensalism
– One species benefit, the other is unaffected (barnacles are transported to plankton-rich waters by whales)
Parasitism
– One species benefits to the detriment of the other species (ticks and fleas feed on the blood of their canine
host)

Negative Associations
Competition
describes the interaction between two organisms whereby the fitness of one is lowered by the
presence of the other.
- can be intraspecific (between members of same species) or interspecific (between members
of different species).
Limited supplies of resources (e.g. food, water, territory) usually triggers one of two types of responses:
Competitive exclusion
– One species uses the resources more efficiently, driving the other species to local extinction.
Resource partitioning
– Both species alter their use of the environment to divide the resources between them.

POPULATION DYNAMICS
- is a study of how characteristics of populations change in response to changes in environmental
conditions.
- Examples of such conditions are temperature, presence of disease organisms or harmful chemicals,
resource availability, and arrival or disappearance of competing species.
Populations Have Certain Characteristics
- Populations differ in factors such as their distribution, numbers, age structure (proportions of
individuals in different age groups), and density (number of individuals in a certain space).

What Limits the Growth of Populations?

- No population can continue to grow indefinitely because of limitations on resources and because of
competition among species for those resources.
Most populations live together in clumps or patches.
- Three general patterns of population distribution or dispersion in a habitat are clumping, uniform
dispersion, and random dispersion.
Populations can grow, shrink or remain stable.
- Over time, the number of individuals in a population may increase, decrease, remain about the same,
or go up and down in cycles in response to changes in environmental conditions.
- Four variables—births, deaths, immigration, and emigration—govern changes in population size.
No population can grow indefinitely.
- Species vary in their biotic potential or capacity for population growth under ideal conditions.
- Generally, populations of species with large individuals, such as elephants and blue whales, have a
low biotic potential
- Those of small individuals, such as bacteria and insects, have a high biotic potential.
 - Those of small individuals, such as bacteria and insects, have a high biotic potential.
- intrinsic rate of increase (r) is the rate at which the population of a species would grow if it had
unlimited resources.
- Individuals in populations with a high intrinsic rate of growth typically reproduce early in life, have
short generation times (the time between successive generations), can reproduce many times, and
have many offspring each time they reproduce.

Environmental resistance
- is the combination of all factors that act to limit the growth of a population.
Together, biotic potential and environmental resistance determine the carrying capacity (K):
- the maximum population of a given species that a particular habitat can sustain indefinitely without
being degraded.

THE HUMAN POPULATION AND URBANIZATION

Reasons for this increase in growth rate include:
- Humans have expanded into almost all of the planet’s climate zones and habitats.
- The emergence of early and modern agriculture allowed us to grow more food for each unit of land
area farmed.
- Death rates dropped sharply because of improved sanitation and health care.

What factors influence the size of the human population?

Birth rate, or crude birth rate, is the number of live births per 1,000 people in a population in a given year.
Death rate, or crude death rate, is the number of deaths per 1,000 people in a population in a given year.
Population changes of an area = (births + immigration) - (deaths + emigration)
Immigration
- (arrival of individuals from outside the population)
Emigration
- (departure of individuals from the population)