Microevolution

Small scale evolutionary change represented by a generational shift in a

population's relative allelic frequencies.
Can be caused by:
1. genetic drift
2. gene flow
3. mutation
4. nonrandom mating
5. natural selection
• Only natural selection generally leads to an accumulation of favorable
adaptations in a populations
• The other four are nonadaptive and are usually called non-Darwinian changes.

1)Genetic drift:
Changes in the gene pool of a small population due to chance
Two situations which result in populations small enough for genetic drift to
be important:
1. Bottleneck Effect - reduce population size by natural disasters. The
small surviving population is unlikely to represent the genetic makeup of the
original population.
2. Founder effect - few individuals colonize a new habitat. The smaller
the founding population the less likely it will represent the genetic makeup of the
original parent population.

2)Gene flow:
The migration of fertile individuals, or the transfer of gametes, between
populations.

3)Mutations:
A new mutation which is transmitted in gametes immediately changes the gene
pool of a population by substituting one allele for another. Mutation is important
to evolution since it is the original source of genetic variation, which is the raw
material for natural selection.

4)Nonrandom mating:
Being selective in choice of mate. There are two kinds:
1 . Inbreeding : Individuals of a population usually mate with close neighbors
rather than distant members of the population.
2 . Assortative mating: Individuals mate with partners that are like themselves in
certain phenotypes.
5)Natural selection:
It is the differential success in reproduction.
• In any sexually reproducing population, variation among individuals exists and
some variants leave more offspring than others.
• Not every member of the population will produce viable, fertile offspring.
• Due to selection, alleles are passed on to the next generation in disproportionate
numbers relative to their frequencies in the present generation.
Natural selection is the only agent of microevolution which is adaptive,
since it accumulates and maintains favorable genotypes.
• Environmental change would result in selection favoring genotypes present in
the population which can survive the new conditions.
• Variability in the population makes it possible for natural selection to occur.