Biology I for Non-Majors

Module 12: Theory of Evolution

Charles Darwin

• From 1831 to 1836, Darwin traveled around the world on H.M.S. Beagle, including stops in
South America, Australia, and the southern tip of Africa
• During stops on island chains, Darwin observed species of organisms on different islands
that were clearly similar, yet had distinct differences
• Darwin imagined that the island species might be species modified from one of the original mainland
species
• He realized that the varied beaks of each finch helped the birds acquire a specific type of food
• This lead to his idea of natural selection
• The more prolific reproduction of individuals with favorable traits that survive environmental change
because of those traits
• Also known as “survival of the fittest,”
Three Principles Lead to Natural Selection

• Most characteristics of organisms are inherited, or passed from parent to offspring

• Even though genes and genetics were unknown at the time, this was a common understanding
• More offspring are produced than are able to survive, so resources for survival and
reproduction are limited
• There is competition for those resources in each generation
• This principle came from reading an essay by the economist Thomas Malthus who discussed this
principle in relation to human populations
• Offspring vary among each other in regard to their characteristics and those variations are
inherited
• Offspring with inherited characteristics which allow them to best compete for limited resources will
survive and have more offspring than those individuals with variations that are less able to compete
Alfred Wallace

• Darwin was not alone in developing these ideas

• Alfred Russell Wallace was also a naturalist who
traveled to island chains and made similar observations
• Papers by Darwin and Wallace presenting the idea of
natural selection were read together in 1858 before the
Linnean Society in London
The Theory of Evolution

• Natural selection can only take place if there is variation, or differences, among individuals
in a population
• These differences must have some genetic basis
• Genetic diversity in a population comes from two main mechanisms: mutation and sexual
reproduction
• Mutation, a change in DNA, is the ultimate source of new alleles, or new genetic variation in any
population
• Sexual reproduction also leads to genetic diversity: when two parents reproduce, unique combinations of
alleles assemble to produce the unique genotypes and thus phenotypes in each of the offspring
Evolution Requires Adaptation
• A heritable trait that helps the survival and
reproduction of an organism in its present
environment is called an adaptation
• Whether or not a trait is favorable depends on
the environmental conditions at the time
• The same traits are not always adaptive
because environmental conditions can change
• Sometimes, evolution gives rise to groups
of organisms that become tremendously
different from each other
• When two species evolve in diverse
directions from a common point, it is called
divergent evolution
• Convergent evolution occurs where similar
traits evolve independently in species that
do not share a recent common ancestry
Physical Evidence for Evolution
• Fossils provide solid evidence that organisms
from the past are not the same as those found
today, and fossils show a progression of
evolution
• Anatomy shows the presence of structures in
organisms that share the same basic form as well
as the convergence of form in organisms that
share similar environments
• Embryology shows structures that are absent in
some groups often appear in their embryonic
forms and disappear by the time the adult or
juvenile form is reached
Biological Evidence for Evolution

• Biogeography
• The geographic distribution of organisms on the planet follows patterns that are best explained by
evolution in conjunction with the movement of tectonic plates over geological time
• Molecular biology
• Like anatomical structures, the structures of the molecules of life reflect descent with modification
• Evidence of a common ancestor for all of life is reflected in the universality of DNA as the genetic
material and in the near universality of the genetic code and the machinery of DNA replication and
expression
• DNA sequences have also shed light on some of the mechanisms of evolution
Misconceptions about Evolution

• Evolution is just a theory

• A scientific theory is understood to be a body of thoroughly tested and verified explanations for a set of
observations of the natural world
• A “theory” in common vernacular is a word meaning a guess or suggested explanation; this meaning is
more akin to the scientific concept of “hypothesis”
• Individual evolve
• Evolution is the change in genetic composition of a population over time, specifically over generations,
resulting from differential reproduction of individuals with certain alleles
Misconceptions about Evolution (continued)

• Organisms evolve on purpose

• A changed environment results in some individuals in the population, those with particular phenotypes,
benefiting and therefore producing proportionately more offspring than other phenotypes
• Species do not become “better” over time; they simply track their changing environment with
adaptations that maximize their reproduction in a particular environment at a particular time
• Evolution explains the origin of life
• This theory does not try to explain the origin of life
• It does not shed light on the beginnings of life including the origins of the first cells, which is how life is
defined
Genetics and Evolution

• Genetics was not understood when Darwin developed his ideas of natural selection
• Today, we can combine Darwin’s and Mendel’s ideas to arrive at a clearer understanding of what
evolution is and how it takes place
• Microevolution, or evolution on a small scale, is defined as a change in the frequency of
gene variants, alleles, in a population over generations
• Microevolution is sometimes contrasted with macroevolution, evolution that involves large
changes, such as formation of new groups or species, and happens over long time periods
• most biologists view microevolution and macroevolution as the same process happening on different
timescales
Alleles and Population Changes

• An allele is a version of a gene, a

heritable unit that controls a particular
feature of an organism
• Allele frequency refers to how
frequently a particular allele appears in a
population
• It’s also possible to
calculate genotype frequencies—the
fraction of individuals with a given  
Frequency   of  allele   Α =
Number   of   copies   of  allele   A   in   population
Total   number   of   A/𝛼   gene   copies   in   population  
genotype—and phenotype
frequencies—the fraction of
individuals with a given phenotype
Environment and Evolution

• Natural selection only acts on the population’s heritable traits: selecting for beneficial alleles
and thus increasing their frequency in the population, while selecting against deleterious
alleles and thereby decreasing their frequency—a process known as adaptive evolution
• Natural selection acts at the level of the individual; it selects for individuals with greater
contributions to the gene pool of the next generation, known as an organism’s evolutionary
(Darwinian) fitness
• it is not the absolute fitness of an individual that counts, but rather how it compares to the
other organisms in the population, which is called relative fitness
Types of Selection

• If natural selection favors an average phenotype, selecting against extreme variation, the
population will undergo stabilizing selection 
• When the environment changes, populations will often undergo directional selection, which
selects for phenotypes at one end of the spectrum of existing variation
• In diversifying selection, two or more distinct phenotypes can each have their advantages
and be selected for by natural selection, while the intermediate phenotypes are, on average,
less fit
• Frequency-dependent selection, favors phenotypes that are either common (positive
frequency-dependent selection) or rare (negative frequency-dependent selection)
• The selection pressures on males and females to obtain matings is known as sexual selection;
it can result in the development of secondary sexual characteristics that do not benefit the
individual’s likelihood of survival but help to maximize its reproductive success
Types of Selection
(continued)
Sexual Dimorphisms
Variation in a Population

• Heritability tells us how much phenotypic variation in a population is ultimately due to

genetic differences as opposed to acquired differences
• The diversity of alleles and genotypes within a population is called genetic variance
• Allele and genotypic frequencies can change due to
• Natural selection
• Genetic drift
• Bottleneck effect
• Founder effect
• Gene flow
Scientists Classify Organisms

• Biologists classify organisms to make sense of the incredible diversity of life on Earth
• Scientists use a tool called a phylogenetic tree to show the evolutionary pathways and
connections among organisms
• A phylogenetic tree is a diagram used to reflect evolutionary relationships among organisms or groups
of organisms
• Scientists consider phylogenetic trees to be a hypothesis of the evolutionary past since one cannot go
back to confirm the proposed relationships
Phylogenetic Trees

• A phylogenetic tree can be read like a map of evolutionary history

• Many phylogenetic trees have a single lineage at the base representing a common ancestor =
a rooted tree
• In a rooted tree, the branching indicates evolutionary relationships
• The point where a split occurs, called a branch point, represents where a single lineage evolved into a
distinct new one
• A lineage that evolved early from the root and remains unbranched is called basal taxon
• When two lineages stem from the same branch point, they are called sister taxa
• A branch with more than two lineages is called a polytomy
• Unrooted trees don’t show a common ancestor but do show relationships among species
Rooted and Unrooted Trees
Phylogenetic Trees are Limited

• It may be easy to assume that more closely related organisms look more alike, and while this
is often the case, it is not always true
• If two closely related lineages evolved under significantly varied surroundings or after the evolution of a
major new adaptation, it is possible for the two groups to appear more different than other groups that
are not as closely related
• Another aspect of phylogenetic trees is that, unless otherwise indicated, the branches do not
account for length of time, only the evolutionary order
• The length of a branch does not typically mean more time passed, nor does a short branch mean less
time passed
Taxonomy and Binomial Nomenclature

• Taxonomy is the science of classifying organisms to

construct internationally shared classification
systems with each organism placed into more and
more inclusive groupings
• The taxonomic classification system uses a
hierarchical model
• Recent genetic analysis and other advancements
have found that some earlier phylogenetic
classifications do not align with the evolutionary
past; therefore, changes and updates must be made
as new discoveries occur
Quick Review

• Why is Darwin considered the father of evolution?

• List the key ideas Darwin used as the basis for ‘descent with modification’.
• How did Darwin’s work transform into the theory of evolution?
• List types of evidence that support the theory of evolution: physical and biological.
• What are common misconceptions about evolution and why are they wrong?
• How are genetics and evolution connected?
• Describe how the environment and selective pressures contribute to evolution.
• What types of variation can be found in a population?
• Explain the two main types of phylogenetic trees.
• What are some limits of phylogenetic trees?
• Describe modern taxonomy and binomial nomenclatures.