Variation and Inheritance

Akmadanti Elhanda F, S.Pd

3.1 Keys
• Other way to identify the organism, you can use a key
• A key is a set of question about the organism you want to identify,
• the answer to each question takes you to another question.
• you work through all the questions until you arrive at the name of organism

To use the key:

1. Choose one organism that
you want to identify
2. Starting at the top of the key,
answer the first question, yes
or no?
3. Follow the line to the next
question, and keep going
until you have the name of
organism
• Some keys are arranged differently
• The idea is same, but in this key you are given by 2 statements, a and
b
• You choose which statement that describes the organism
• Once you have made the choice, this lead you to another pair of
choices
Constructing Keys

Imagine you are going to write a key to identify

these four students

Step 1: think of a way that you can split the

students into two group.
Example: you could split them into female and
male, so your first question could be:

Is the student male?

Step 2: after that, think another way to split them

into two.
Example: you could use the colour of the hair
Home Work

Book 9, Science Workbook Exercise 3.1

pages 33-34
 3.2 Variation
• The differences between the individuals within a species are called variation

Questions:

1. The Latin name of the species of snail

shown in the photograph is Gepaea
nemoralis
a. Why do the scientists give species Latin
names?
b. Snails are eaten by birds. Snails with plain
yellow or cream shells are generally found
in dry grass, while snails with stripes are
What causes variation? often found in woodland. Suggest why.

• Genes  genes determine many different thing about organism (female or male, eyes
colour)
• Environment  anything around organism can affects them.
• Example: person who uses their hand and arms to do heavy work  may have very large
wrist, someone who didn’t get enough to eat  may have very small wrist
3.3 Inheritance
• Everyone knows that offspring tend to be like their parents, but why are they not ever
exactly the same?
• Inheritance is the passing of features from parents to their offspring
 Genes
• Genes determine the characteristics of the organism.
• They provide a set of instruction for building organism belonging to a particular species
• All of organism have genes
• Geners are passed on (transferred) to offspring from parents. Half of your genes came
from father and half from your mother.

Genes and Environment

• Your environment also has a big effect
• Example: child might inherit the genes to grow tall from parents, but if he does not get
enough to eat and exercise while he is small child, then he may not grow tall
• Some of your characteristics are to do with your behaviour, not what you look like

• Gorilla cannot speak words, she does not have genes to build a brain and vocal chords that
can produce speech
• Human have these genes, but they speak in different ways because of different environment
3.4 More about Inherintace

Genes and Chromosome

• Each genes has instruction for making the

characteristics of organism (pigment (colour) of
hair,colour of eyes, shape of nose, etc)

Question
1. In which part of a cell is DNA found?
2. Explain the difference between a gene and a
chromosome!
Passing on Genes
3.5 Selective Breeding
Breeding Sheep

You want to improve the length of the wool

that your sheep produce. This is what you
would do:
• Choose the rams (male) and ewes
(female) that have the longest wool
• Breed them together
• When the offspring have grown up,
choose the ones with the longest wool.
Allow them to breed together
• You would keep doing this for many
generations
3.5 Selective Breeding
3.6 Natural Selection
3.6 Natural Selection
Selective Breeding
To begin with, there is population of
organism that show variation. The
variation is partly caused by their genes variation is partly caused by their genes
People choose individuals that have
characteristics that they want
Only the individuals with the
characteristics that people want are
allowed to breed
These individuals pass on their genes,
and therefore their characteristics, to
their offspring
Natural Selection
To begin with, there is population of
organism that show variation. The
Indivuduals that have caracteristics that
provide the best adaptations to their
habitat are more likely to survive
Only individuals with the best
adaptations survive long enough to
breed
These individuals pass on their genes,
and therefore their characteristics, to
their offspring
3.6 Natural Selection
3.6 Natural Selection
Example of Natural Selection in Action
 Bacteria and antibiotics
3.7 Charles Darwin
• Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury, England in 1809
• Although he trained to be doctor, he always had a great
interest in the natural world around him
• In 1831, Charles Darwin began a five-year voyage as the
naturalist on board the ship The Beagle
• He visited many countries in South America, as well as the
Galapagos islands in the Pacific Ocean
• Darwin was particularly interested in the species of birds
in Galapagos
• Each finch was adapted for a slightly different lifestyle.
Example: some had thick, strong beaks for eating large seeds,
while other had thinner beaks, better for eating small seeds or
insects
3.7 Charles Darwin
these were the main points in his theory:
• The organisms in a species are not all exactly the
same as each other. They show variation
• Many organism will not survive until adulthood. They
may killed by predators, die of disease, or not able
to get enough to eat
• The individuals that have variations that make them
best adapted to their habitat are the ones that have
the best chance of surviving
• The best adapted organism are therefore the ones
that are most likely to breed and have offspring
• The offspring will inherit some of the features of
their parents
• If this continue, generation after generation, then
there could be a change in the species over time.
Eventually, it could change so much that it would be
a different species.