Republic of the Philippines

Schools Division of Bulacan

San Miguel National High School
Scuala St., San Juan, San Miguel, Bulacan

LEARNING
ACTIVITY SHEET
IN
General Biology 2
No. 6
Patterns of Descent with Modification

Name :____________________ Date: ___________________

Grade Level: _______________ Section: _________________
Quarter:___________________

1
I . OBJECTIVES
A. Content Standards:
The learner demonstrates understanding of Relevance, Mechanisms,
Evidence/Bases, and Theories of Evolution

B. Performance Standards:
The learner is able to make a diagram (e.g., pictogram, poster) showing the
evolution of domesticated crop.

C. MELCs:
 Show patterns of descent with modification from common ancestors to
produce the organismal diversity observed today.
( STEM_BIO11/12-IIIc-g-10 )

D. Specific Objectives:
In the previous lesson, you have learned how different genetic mechanisms
change the gene and genotype frequencies and ultimately cause change in
populations. At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

1. define species according to the biological species concept;

2. distinguish the various types of reproductive isolating mechanisms that can
lead to speciation;
3. discuss the different modes of speciation; and,
4. explain how evolution produce the tremendous amount of diversity among
organisms.

II. CONTENT: Patterns of Descent with Modification

III. PROCEDURES:
Pre-Test:
Direction: : Read each question carefully and choose the letter of the best
answer.

1. Which of the following statements about biological species is(are) correct?

I. Biological species is a group of individuals whose members interbreed with one
another
II. Biological species are the model used for grouping extinct forms of life.
III. Members of biological species produce viable, fertile offsprings

2
 A. I only
B. II only
C. I and III
D. II and III
2. The following isolating mechanisms prevent fertilization and formation of zygote
except
A. Temporal isolation
B. Hybrid breakdown
C. Gametic isolation
D. Ecological isolation

For numbers 3-5, use the following choices:

A. Allopatric speciation
B. Sympatric speciation
C. Parapatric speciation
3. Occurrence of abrupt genetic change cause reproductive isolation between groups
of individuals.
4. It occurs when populations are separated by a geographic barrier.
5. Abrupt change in the environment over a geographic border and strong disruptive
selection affects gene flow between neighboring populations.

L E S S O N:

Attempts to define the concept of species date back to the Greek philosophers
Plato and Aristotle, who viewed the world as we know it as a flawed shadow of the
eternal and immutable world of ideas. Indeed, the word “species” originates from the
Latin “kinds” which is a translation of the Greek word eidos (idea). Ernst Mayr played
a central role in the establishment of the general concept of species as metapopulation
lineages, and he is the author of one of the most popular of the numerous alternative
definitions of the species category. According to him, “Species are groups of
interbreeding natural populations that are reproductively isolated from other such
groups.” Another definition based on George Gaylord Simpson, “species is a lineage (an
ancestral-descendant sequence of populations) evolving separately from others and
with its own unitary evolutionary role and tendencies.” Similarly, according to Leigh
Van Valen, “a species is a lineage (or a closely related set of lineages) which occupies
an adaptive zone minimally different from that of any other lineage in its range and
which evolves separately from all lineages outside its range.”
Let us take a look at Mayr’s definition, “populations that are reproductively isolated
from other such groups” and let us try to understand what it means and the effect of
isolation.
3
 REPRODUCTIVE ISOLATING MECHANISMS

A. Pre-zygotic isolation mechanisms prevent fertilization and zygote formation.

1. Geographic or ecological or habitat isolation – potential mates occupy different

areas or habitats thus, they never come in contact. If two populations of flies exist in
the same geographical area, but one group lives in the soil and another lives on the
surface of the water, members of the two populations are very unlikely to meet and
reproduce.

2. Temporal or seasonal isolation – different groups may not be reproductively

mature at the same season, or month or year. Time is the barrier that prevents species
from interbreeding and producing sterile hybrids. Timing of the day when they are
sexually active, the best example will be that of the two fruit fly species. Drosophila
persimilis and Drosophila pseudoobscura. The D. persimilis species are generally active
in the early morning, D. pseduobscura is active in the afternoon.

3. Behavioral isolation – patterns of courtship are different. For example, male

fireflies of a variety of species signal to their female counterparts by flashing their lights
in specific patterns. Females will only respond to the signals flashed by their own
species, preventing them from mating with other closely related firefly species.

4. Mechanical isolation – differences in reproductive organs prevent successful

interbreeding. It is caused by structures or that keep species isolated from one
another. For example, in flowering plants, the shape of the flower will tend to match
up with a natural pollinator. Plants that do not have the correct shape for the
pollinator will not receive a pollen transfer.

5. Gametic isolation – incompatibilities between egg and sperm prevent

fertilization. There is a couple of possible reasons why the egg and sperm cannot unite
in cases of gametic isolation. First, sperm and eggs have specific proteins on their
surfaces that allow the sperm to recognize the egg (and vice versa) and these proteins
differ from species to species. So, if two different species mate, the sperm may be
unable to recognize the egg. Another example of gametic isolation happens when the
sperm is unable to survive or will be less mobile in the reproductive tract of a female
from a different species.

B. Post-zygotic isolation mechanisms allow fertilization but nonviable or weak or

sterile hybrids are formed.

1. Hybrid inviability – fertilized egg fails to develop past the early embryonic
stages. When the zygote does form, but does not do so completely and usually dies
early in its life cycle.
4
 2. Hybrid sterility – hybrids are sterile because gonads develop abnormally or
there is abnormal segregation of chromosomes during meiosis. When the zygote does
grow to become a hybrid or the offspring of two different species of organisms, but the
hybrid itself is unable to breed.

3. Hybrid breakdown - F1 hybrids are normal, vigorous and viable, but F2

contains many weak or sterile individuals. The hybrid is able to breed, but future
generations are not viable, sterile, or both.

Separate groups of organisms belonging to the same species may adapt in

different ways to better exploit diverse environments or resources. They also may evolve
varied characteristics for attracting mates. That is, different groups evolve in different
directions. Over time, these groups or populations may become so different that they
can no longer breed together--separate species are formed. One species does not "turn
into" another or several other species -- not in an instant, anyway. The evolutionary
process of speciation is how one population of a species changes over time to the point
where that population is distinct and can no longer interbreed with the "parent"
population. In order for one population to diverge enough from another to become a
new species, there needs to be something to keep the populations from mixing. Often,
a physical boundary divides the species into two (or more) populations and keeps them
from interbreeding. If separated for long enough and presented with sufficiently varied
environmental conditions, each population takes its own distinct evolutionary path.
Evolution does not stop once a species becomes a species. Every population of living
organisms is undergoing some sort of evolution, though the degree and speed of the
process varies greatly from one group to another. Populations that experience a major
change in environmental conditions, whether that change comes in the form of a new
predator or a new island to disperse to, evolve much more quickly than do populations
in a more stable set of conditions. This is because evolution is driven by natural
selection, and because when the environment changes, selective pressures change,
favoring one portion of the population more heavily than it was favored before the
change.
Speciation is how a new kind of plant or animal species is created. Speciation
occurs when a group within a species separates from other members of its species and
develops its own unique characteristics.

MODES OF SPECIATION
1. Allopatric speciation or geographic speciation (allo – other, patric – place;
‘other place’) - occurs when some members of a population become geographically
separated from the other members thereby preventing gene flow. Examples of
geographic barriers are bodies of water and mountain ranges.

2. Peripatric speciation. As in allopatric speciation, physical barriers make it

impossible for members of the groups to interbreed with one another. The main
difference between allopatric speciation and peripatric speciation is that in peripatric
5
speciation, one group is much smaller than the other. Unique characteristics of the
smaller groups are passed on to future generations of the group, making those traits
more common among that group and distinguishing it from the others.

3. Parapatric speciation (para – beside, patric – place; ‘beside each other’) –

occurs when the groups that evolved to be separate species are geographic neighbors.
Gene flow occurs but with great distances is reduced. There is also abrupt change in
the environment over a geographic border and strong disruptive selection must also
happen.

4. Sympatric speciation (sym – same, patric – place; ‘same place’) - occurs when
members of a population that initially occupy the same habitat within the same range
diverge into two or more different species. It involves abrupt genetic changes that
quickly lead to the reproductive isolation of a group of individuals. Example is change
in chromosome number (polyploidization).

6
Activity 1: Compare and contrast

Directions: Using the Venn Diagram, give similarities and difference of the types
of reproductive isolating mechanisms.

7
 Activity 2: Complete the table.
Directions: Explain and give example for each type of reproductive isolating
mechanisms.

Activity 3: Identification.
Directions: Give the type of isolating mechanism and tell whether it is pre-zygotic or
post-zygotic.

8
Activity 4

Direction: Explain your answer.

A common farming practice is to breed a female horse with a male donkey. The
result is a very robust animal – the mule. Most mules however are sterile, and therefore
cannot reproduce. Are horses and donkeys members of the same species? Justify your
answer.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

Valuing:

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most
intelligent, but the one most responsive to change”- Charles Darwin

Activity 5. Essay

Directions: In a minimum of 5 sentences, expound the quote from the “Father of

Evolution.”
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

Post - Test
Direction: Read each question carefully and choose the correct answer from the
choices below.
A. Temporal isolation
B. Mechanical isolation
C. Gametic isolation
D. Allopatric speciation
E. Parapatric isolation

1. It occurs when the groups that evolved to be separate species are geographic
neighbors.

9
2. The differences in reproductive organs prevent successful interbreeding
3. The different groups may not be reproductively mature at the same season, or
month or year.
4. It occurs when some members of a population become geographically separated
from the other members thereby preventing gene flow.
5. It is the incompatibilities between egg and sperm prevent fertilization.

References:
n/a, OpenStax. Cell Cycle with Checkpoints. May 18, 2016. Photograph. Wikimedia Commons.
WikimediaCommons.commons.wikimedia.org/wiki.File:Cell_Cycle_With_Cyclins_and_Checkp
oints.jpg.

n/a, Zephyris. Schematic Presentation of the Cell Cycle. January 25, 2020. Photograph.
WikimediaCommons.WikimediaCommons.commons.wikimedia.org/wiki.File:Cell_Cycle_2.svg
.

CNX OpenStax. Biology. May 27, 2016. Photograph. Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia
Commons. commons.wikimedia.org/wiki.File:Figure_10_03_01.jpg.

Reece, Jane B., Lisa A. Urry, Michael L Cain, Steven A. Wasserman, Peter V. Minorsky, and
Robert B. Jackson. “The Cell.” Essay. In Campbell Biology, 9th ed., 228–45. Boston, CA:
Benjamin Cummings / Pearson, 2011.

Visconti, Roberta, Rosa Della Monica, and Domenico Grieco. “Cell Cycle Checkpoint in Cancer:
a Therapeutically Targetable Double-Edged Sword.” Journal of Experimental &
Clinical Cancer Research 35, no. 1 (September 27, 2016): 153–53.
https://doi.org/10.1186/s13046-016-0433-9.

Zifan, Ali. A Diagram of Mitosis Stages. Photograph. Wikimedia Commons. Creative Commons
Attributions, June 26, 2016. Wikimedia Commons.
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki.File:Mitosis_Stages.svg.

Answer Key

10