Patterns of Evolution

Honors Biology- Mr. Wilmot

MACROEVOLUTION/MICR
OEVOLUTION

●
Macroevolution- One group of animals
evolves into another….due to large scale
changes that take place over long periods
of time.
●
Microevolution- Small scale changes
within a species to produce new varieties
or species in a relatively short amount of
time.
MACROEVOLUTION/MICR
OEVOLUTION

●
Both involve changes in allele frequencies in
gene pools
●
Both work through the same basic processes
●
The difference is largely one of approach and
scale
●
Each offers different insights into the
evolution process
MACROEVOLUTION/MICR
OEVOLUTION
MACROEVOLUTION/MICR
OEVOLUTION
●
Dog Variability When bred
for certain traits, dogs become
different and distinctive. This is
a common example of
microevolution—changes in
size, shape, and color—or
minor genetic alterations.  It is
not macroevolution: an upward,
beneficial increase in
complexity. 
MACROEVOLUTION/MICR
OEVOLUTION

●
Macroevolution has never been observed
in any breeding experiment.
●
 PATTERNS OF
MACROEVOLUTION
These are models of evolution:
A. Mass Extinctions

B. Adaptive Radiation
C. Convergent Evolution
D. Coevolution

E. Gradualism
F. Punctuated Equilibrium
 MASS EXTINCTIONS
●
Event in which many types of living things
became extinct at the same time. 
●
Huge numbers of species disappeared.
●
Whole ecosystems were wiped out.

●
Resulted in burst of evolution of new species in
new habitat
●
Disrupted energy flow throughout the biosphere
and caused food webs to collapse
MASS EXTINCTIONS

●
Possible causes
●Asteroids hitting earth
●Volcanic eruptions

●Continental drift

●Sea levels changing

ADAPTIVE RADIATION
(DIVERGENT
EVOLUTION)
●
The evolution of an ancestral species, which
was adapted to a particular way of life, into
many diverse species, each adapted to a
different habitat
●
Many new species diversify from a common
ancestor .
●
The branching out of a population through
variation.
●
The new species live in different ways than
the original species did.
ADAPTIVE RADIATION
ADAPTIVE RADIATION
 ADAPTIVE RADIATION

Diversity
in anoles
is most striking
in the Caribbean
islands
ADAPTIVE RADIATION

●
Hawaiian
honeycreepers
●
Variation in
color and bill
shape is related
to their habitat
and diet
CONVERGENT
EVOLUTION
●
Opposite of divergent evolution (adaptive radiation)
●
Unrelated organisms independently evolve similarities
when adapting to similar environments, or ecological
niches
●
Analogous structures are a result of this process
●
Example: penguin limb/whale flipper/fish fin
●
The wings of insects, birds, pterosaurs, and bats all
serve the same function and are similar in structure,
but each evolved independently
CONVERGENT
EVOLUTION
CONVERGENT
EVOLUTION
ENT

EVOLUTIO
N
CONVERGENT
EVOLUTION

ocotillo (left) from the American Southwest, and in the allauidia (right)
from Madagascar
CONVERGENT
EVOLUTION

Hummingbird Hawkmoth
 CONVERGENT
EVOLUTION

Similar body
shapes and
structures have
evolved in the
North
American
cacti...and in
the euphorbias
in Southern
Africa
 COEVOLUTION
●
The mutual evolutionary influence between two species
●
When two species evolve in response to changes in
each other
●
They are closely connected to one another by ecological
interactions (have a symbiotic relationship) including:
●Predator/prey

●Parasite/host

●Plant/pollinator
●
Each party exerts selective pressures on the other,
thereby affecting each others' evolution
COEVOLUTION
COEVOLUTION

A fly and an orchid--can influence

each other's evolution
COEVOLUTION

Bumblebees and the flowers the they pollinate

have co-evolved so that both have become
dependent on each other for survival.
COEVOLUTION

Coevolution between the

yucca moth and the yucca
plant. (right) A female
yucca moth pushing pollen into the stigma
tube of the yucca flower
while visiting the flower
to deposit her eggs.
Yucca moth larvae (left)
feeding on seeds in
the yucca fruit.
COEVOLUTION

Clown Fish and Sea anemone

COEVOLUTION

Praying Mantis simulates plant to protect itself

from predators and eats pests that are attracted to
and feed on the plant, so it protects the plant.
COEVOLUTION

Shrimp cleaning
Titan triggerfish
in Pacific Ocean
GRADUALISM

●
The evolution of new species by gradual
accumulation of small genetic changes over
long periods of time
●
Emphasizing slow and steady change in an
organism
●
Occurs at a slow but constant rate
●
Over a short period of time it is hard to
notice
GRADUALISM
 GRADUALISM
Current living zebras (top), extinct quaggas (bottom)
GRADUALISM
GRADUALISM
PUNCTUATED
EQUILIBRIUM
●
Stable periods of no change (genetic
equilibrium) interrupted by rapid changes
involving many different lines of descent
●
Opposite of gradualism
●
It is rare, rapid events of branching speciation
●
Characterized by long periods of virtual
standstill ("equilibrium"), "punctuated" by
episodes of very fast development of new
forms
PUNCTUATED
EQUILIBRIUM

●
Horseshoe crabs have change little since
their first appearance in the fossil record.
●
They are in a state of equilibrium
PUNCTUATED
EQUILIBRIUM
PUNCTUATED
EQUILIBRIUM
PUNCTUATED
EQUILIBRIUM
GRADUALISM OR
PUNCTUATED
EQUILIBRIUM
 Patterns of Macroevolution
Species Flow Chart
that are

Unrelated Related

form in under under in in

Intense
Inter- Similar environmental Small Different
relationships environments pressure populations environments

can undergo can undergo can undergo can undergo can undergo

Coevolution Convergent Punctuated Adaptive

evolution Extinction equilibrium radiation