Evolution
MODULE 9.0
Module Author:
Johnny A. Ching, Ph.D.
Airill L. Mercurio, Ph.D.
Biological Sciences Department
College of Science & Computer Studies
De La Salle University - Dasmariñas
MODULE LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Cognitive Objective: Understand the concept of evolution and natural selection
2. Affective Objective: Appreciate organism mechanisms to adapt to environment
3. Psychomotor Objective: To discuss process of evolution and speciation
INTRODUCTION
Human activities largely affect the environment causing climate change, pollution, land conversion and
reduce population sizes of species. Although certain steps were being taken to limit the damage humans
cause to biological communities, human actions also cause evolutionary change.
BEFORE DARWIN
Georges Cuvier (1769-1832)
• French vertebrate zoologist, comparative anatomist and paleontologist
• named as the Father of Comparative Anatomy and Paleontology
• proposed fixity of species and catastrophism
Fixity of Species
• no changes occurred in the structure of species due to adaptation
• unable to adapt will result to extinction of the species
Catasrophism
• belief that periods of catastrophic extinction occurred
• after the mass extinction, repopulation of surviving species took place, giving the appearance of
change through time
Jean Baptiste de Lamarck (1744-1829)
• French invertebrate zoologist and botanist
• proposed the theory of inheritance of acquired characteristics
Theory of Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics
• belief that characteristics acquired during the lifetime of an organism can be passed on to the
offspring
• classic example he used to explain this theory was the long neck of giraffe
• he believed that the long neck of giraffe developed over time because previous generations that
stretched their necks to reach food high in trees passed on their long necks to their offspring
• this theory was rejected because phenotypic changes acquired during an organism’s lifetime do not
results in genetic changes that can be passed on the next generations
• the explanation of evolution proposed by Charles Darwin in his book The Origin of Species by
Means of Natural Selection (1859)
DARWINISM
Charles Darwin (1809-1882)
• British naturalist
• born on February 12, 1809 at Shrewsbury, England
• finished BA degree in 1831
• joined a 5-year voyage of the HMS Beagle (1831) as naturalist to study the geology and biology
of the journey
• published several books such as Zoology of the Beagle (1840), The Structure and Distribution of
Coral Reefs (1842), Geological Observations on Volcanic Islands (1844), The Origin of Species by
Means of Natural Selection (1859), The Descent of Man (1871)
• proposed and formulated the process of evolution in his book The Origin of Species by Means of
Natural Selection
Concepts of Evolution
• The characteristics of living things change with time. Change in the characteristics of population
over the course of many generations.
• The change is directed by natural selection process. Changes are in the genetic makeup of the
population
Evidences of Evolution
1. Fossil - a record of the history of life that shows that organisms have changed over time
2. Biogeography - the study of the distribution of life forms shows that organisms evolve in one
locale and then spread to other regions
3. Comparative anatomy - related organisms share a unity of plan e.g. all vertebrate forelimbs
contain the same sets of bones despite dissimilar functions
4. Comparative embryology - related organisms develop similarly, all vertebrates at some time
have paired pharyngeal pouches bordering gill clefts, yet only fishes and amphibian larvae have
gills
5. Comparative biochemistry - almost all living things use the same basic biochemical molecules,
including DNA, ATP, and many identical or nearly identical enzymes
Organic evolution
• defined as change in genetics of a population over time (generations)
• a population refers to all individuals of the same species living in a defined area at the same
time
• can be studied at two different levels:
1. microevolution, which refers to small-scale genetic changes within populations
2. macroevolution, which refers to the large-scale results of genetic changes in populations,
including the formation of new species and the evolution of large scale trends seen across
species in what traits they have
Microevolution
• evolution within population; can occur through several mechanisms
• the first of these that was discovered, and the form which is best known, is natural selection by
Alfred Russel Wallace (1858) and by Charles Darwin (1859)
• natural selection is evolution that occurs because individuals with some traits survive and
reproduce better than do individuals with other traits
• as a result, those traits that result in high survival and reproduction are passed from generation
to generation, through reproduction, at a higher rate than are other traits
• these traits become increasingly more and more common in populations
• natural selection can also be said to occur because of difference in fitness within a population
• fitness refers to the degree to which individuals with certain traits are expected to survive and
reproduce
• adaptation refers either to the process of natural selection, or to a trait that has evolved through
natural selection
• according to Darwin, there are four properties of a population, that together, result in natural
selection
Darwin’s Four Postulates:
1. More young are produced each generation than can survive to reproduce; this is generally
observed in species; many of the offspring born to any generation die before reproduction
2. Individuals in a population vary in their characteristics; this is also generally observed in species;
individuals are not identical to one another.
3. The differences among individuals are based on genetic differences; the genetic basis for many
traits in natural populations and often have observed that the differences among indi viduals are
present because of genetic differences.
4. Individuals with some characteristics survive and reproduce better (have higher fitness) than do
individuals with other characteristics; this has now been observed in hundreds of populations
• if these four postulates are all true of a population, they result in natural selection;
• those individuals with higher fitness end up being the ones who survive each generation, and as a
result reproduce more
• since the traits are genetic, they get passed on to the next generation, and therefore become more
common than they were in the previous generation
Macroevolution
• evolution brought about by genetic changes within populations resulting to speciation
• speciation refers to the formation of new species; it occurs when one ancestral species evolves
into more than one (typically two) descendant species
• species are typically defined as groups of organisms that are so similar to each other that they
can reproduce and produce healthy fertile offspring
• the idea is that if organisms belong to the same species then they can reproduce, and their
offspring can also survive and reproduce
• if organisms belong to different species, they cannot reproduce with each other or, if they do,
their offspring die or are sterile
• since speciation occurs when one species evolves into more than one new species, it increases
the number of species that exist
GENETIC VARIATION
Genes
• are composed of DNA and they specify how to build (encode) proteins
• a given gene can have two or more forms (known as alleles) that result in the production of different
version of protein that it encodes
Phenotype
• visible manifestation of a character of organism eg. brown color of eyes, curly hair etc.
Genotype
• refers to the genetic makeup of an individuals with letters that represent the individual ’s two copies
of each gene (one inherited from the mother, the other from the father). If the two alleles are the same,
the individual is homozygous for that gene. If the alleles are different, the individual is heterozygous.
Gene flow
• occurs when alleles are transferred from one population to another via the movement of
individuals or gametes (eg. plant pollen)
• gene flow has two effects: a) by transferring alleles between population, it tends to make
populations more similar to one another genetically and b) can introduce new alleles to
population
Mutation
• change in the DNA of a gene that can result from copying errors during cell division , mechanical
damage when molecules and cell structures collide with DNA, exposure to certain chemicals or to high
energy forms of radiation
• the formation of new alleles by mutation is critical to evolution
Genetic Drift
• also called genetic sampling error or Sewall Wright effect, a change in the gene pool of a small
population that takes place strictly by chance. Genetic drift can result in geneti c traits being lost from a
population or becoming widespread in a population without respect to the survival or reproductive
value of the alleles
• genetic drift can increase genetic differences between populations because chance events may cause
an allele to reach fixation in one population, yet be lost from another population
NATURAL SELECTION
Nature and Definition
• the mechanism for evolution
• proposed by Alfred Wallace in 1858 and by Charles Darwin in 1859
• caused by environmental selection of organism most fit to reproduce, resulting in adaptation
Preconditions for Natural Selection
• The members of the population must have heritable variations.
• After each generation, in the population, more individuals are produced than can survive and
reproduce.
• Some individual possessed adaptive characteristics giving them greater chances of survival than
any other individuals.
Results of Natural Selection
• Advance body organization and improve species.
• Preserve and accumulate small-inherited modifications that are profitable for the species.
• The favored form increases in number and generally the less favored decreases and become
rare.
• Increased diversity of life.
Three types of Natural Selection
Directional Selection
• occurs when individuals with one extreme of heritable phenotypic trait ( e.g. large size) are favored
over other individuals ( small and medium sized individuals)
Stabilizing Selection
• individuals with an intermediate phenotype (eg. medium sized individuals) are favored in a
population
Disruptive Selection
• individuals with phenotype at either extreme are favored ( for example, small and large individuals
have an advantage over medium-sized individuals).
SPECIATION
• the formation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution
• Speciation involves the splitting of a single evolutionary lineage into two or more genetically
independent lineages.
Types of Speciation
• Allopatric Speciation
• caused by geographic isolation in which individuals are isolated in another place
• The most common mechanism for geographic isolation is an actual physical barrier that gets
between members of a population such as mountain building
• The isolated populations may then be subjected to slightly different conditions and therefore
selection pressures. Genetic drift and mutations may also contribute to differences in each
population.
• Peripatric Speciation
• it may be an extreme case of geographic isolation where only a few individuals are isolated, or it
could follow not only a geographic isolation but also some sort of disaster that kills off all but a
few of the isolated population
• With such a small gene pool, rare genes are passed down more often, which causes genetic drift.
The isolated individuals quickly become incompatible with their former species and become a
new species.
• Parapatric Speciation
• The suffix -patric still means "place" and when the prefix para-, or "beside", is attached, it implies
that this time the populations are not isolated by a physical barrier and are instead "beside" each other.
• mixing and mating does not happen in parapatric speciation. For some reason, individuals within the
population only mate with individuals in their immediate area
• Sympatric Speciation
• occurs when a single species develops into two distinct species as a result of reproductive isolation,
despite living in the same geographical area
• Species do not have to be geographically isolated for speciation to occur. As long as two groups are
reproductively isolated genotypic and phenotypic differences can accumulate until the groups are so
different they are considered separate species.
PHYLOGENY
Nature and Definition
• the evolutionary history of species, or history of speciation
• the pattern of evolutionary relationships through speciation, or the history of speciation, among
species or to the family tree of all life, indicating how all living things are related, typically diagrammed
as a phylogenetic tree
• the history of speciation tells us how these species are related to each other
- if they evolved to be separate species relatively recently, then they are close relatives
- if they evolved to be separate species long ago, then they are distant relatives
Constructing and Interpreting Phylogenetic Tree
• phylogenetic trees can be drawn in several different ways; the most common of which are the
forked-type and slanted formats
- consider for example the following phylogeny of some species belonging to some of the main
land-dwelling vertebrate groups:
Forked-type format
Slanted format
• the species listed at the top, the salamander, frog, mouse, bird, lizard, and snake, are all currently
existing species (extant)
- the tree tells us how they are related to one another
- none of these species is an ancestor to any other, since no modern species is an
ancestor to another modern species
• the tree tells us the pattern of evolution from these ancestral species, as follows:
◦ the line marked “A” at the base of the tree is the common ancestor to all the
modern species
◦ “A” speciated into two species, indicated by the lines labeled “B” and “C”;
species “B” is the ancestor to the salamander and the frog; species “C” is the
ancestor to the mouse, bird, lizard, and snake
◦ “B” speciated into two species, one of which evolved into the frog and the other
of which evolved into the salamander
◦ “C” speciated into two species; one evolved into the mouse; the other is species
“D”, the ancestor to the bird, lizard, and snake
◦ “D” speciated into two species; one evolved into the bird; the other is species
“E”, the ancestor to the lizard and snake, which then speciated into two species,
one of which evolved into the lizard and the other of which evolved into the
snake
◦ species A, B, C, D, and E are all species that existed in the past, but are not
considered to exist anymore since the species that are descended from them
have evolved to be different from those species
◦ the characteristics of these ancestral species may be determined through fossils
or from the characteristics of their descendants
• the horizontal order of species on the tree does not tell anything about how the modern species are
related
KEY TAKEAWAYS
• Evolution is a slow process of change by which organisms have acquired their distinguishing
characteristics.
• Natural selection as proposed by Darwin was the mechanism for evolution.
• Speciation is the process of formation of new and distinct species
• Phylogeny refers to the evolutionary relationships among species or to the family tree of all life,
indicating how all living things are related.
REFERENCES
On-site Books:
Ching JA. 2018. Fundamentals of General Biology.Dasmariñas City: Siam Rein Publishing House. 2018.
Cain ML, Bowman WD and Hacker SD. 2008. Ecology. Sinauer Associates. Inc.
Online References:
https://www.britannica.com/science/genetic-drift
https://www.britannica.com/science/speciation
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-biology2/chapter/types-of-speciation/
