Ok so what is the mechanism of

evolution?
Everyone in the picture is human. However, within this large group there is a lot of
variation. There are differences in the characteristics of different individuals.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
 Natural Selection Acts on Variation
 Some variations increase or decrease an organism’s chance
of survival in an environment.
 Variations are controlled by alleles.
 Allelic frequencies in a gene pool will change due to natural
selection of variations.
 What causes variation??

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

 Mutations
 The root cause of all variation of living things you see in the
world...
from the huge differences between a tree and a human
to the minute differences between siblings

 …is mutation.
 What is a mutation?
 A change in the DNA of an organism
 Mutations:
o can create new alleles of a gene
o can be harmful, beneficial, or have no effect.
o Neutral mutation: does not result in any selective advantage
or disadvantage
o Harmful mutation: reduces the reproductive success of an
individual -> do not accumulate over time
o Beneficial mutation: increases the reproductive success of
an individual -> they accumulate over time in the population
 Mutations entering the gene
pool...
 When a mutation occurs in a somatic (body) cell, it
disappears from the population when that individual dies
 When a mutation occurs in a gamete, it may be passed on to
offspring and affect future generations
 Bacterial Resistance to Antibiotics
Newsworthy Evolution
 How did this happen?
• Identified in the 1920’s by
Alexander Fleming, Mass
production was not possible
until the 1940’s
• Overuse and misuse of
Antibiotics
• Antibiotics in livestock feed

• In some countries antibiotics

are sold over the counter
Bacterial Competence for Evolution:
Putting the pieces together

Genetic variation and Selection

For a trait to undergo evolutionary

change it must vary heritably
among the population, and the
population must vary in their
reproductive success
 How they can do it
Transformation: Picking up DNA from their
Environment
Conjugation: Genetic transfer between bacterial cells via a
pilus
Transduction: Genetic exchange using bacteriophage
intermediate
 Mechanisms of Resistance
o Drug inactivation or
modification
o Alteration of a target site
o Reduced drug accumulation
How antibiotic use generates resistance

A sufficiently high does of antibiotics will

kill all bacteria, and to low of a dose will
kill none
An intermediate dose will kill some bacteria

If there is genetic variation, some bacteria may be

more susceptible to the antibiotic than others, genes
for resistance will be selected for

The new bacterial population exhibits antibiotic

resistance
Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance in
S. aureus
Evolution can be very FAST and
very s l o w
The Fossil
Bacterial Record
Evolution
• Antibiotic Resistance
• Lenski’s Experiments
 Domestication and
Artificial Selection

 Darwin used examples of

artificial selection to explain
natural selection.
 Humans apply artificial
selection to generate plants and
animals with desirable traits.
 Many breeds of dogs were
developed from a single
ancestor (the wolf).
 Wild mustard is the ancestor of
broccoli, brussels sprouts,
cabbage, and cauliflower.
Canis lupus familiaris

BioEd Online
 Artificial Selection
 Selective breeding for:
 Crops
 Animals

Meet the Super Cow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nmkj5gq1cQU
 Belgium Blues
 Originated in Belgium
 ‘Double Muscling’
 Monster cows?

\Retrieved from: http://www.bio.miami.edu/~cmallery/150/neuro/belgian.blue.jpg

 No Fox that Disney ever saw
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jFGNQScRNY
Sexual Selection
 Sexual Selection
 Competition for mates drives sexual selection
 There are two forms of sexual selection:
 intrasexual selection
Sperm competition
Male-male combat
 Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQI5KUfM2xc
 intersexual selection
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqsMTZQ-pmE
 Sexual selection can produce sexually
dimorphic traits.
Hey baby,
I am so efficient at
using nutrients that I
have excess for
elaborate tale
displays,
So you know your
children will be able
to cope better in
times of food
scarcity.
Patterns in Evolution
 Patterns in Evolution
Adaptive Radiation
Divergent Evolution
Convergent Evolution
Coevolution
 Adaptive Radiation
A process that occurs when a single species
evolves into a number of distinct but closely
related species.
Example: Darwin’s Finches
Heterogeneous Environments:
The different environments on the islands
would have selected for different beak
morphologies.
These Galapagos finches all evolved
from a common ancestor
 Divergent Evolution
Divergent Evolution:
When a species within a population evolve
into two or more different species to fulfill
ecological roles. This increases biodiversity.
 Divergent Evolution
Ancestral porcupines
rodent
chipmunks
Red
Twigs and
Squirrels
Tree bark
Ecological
Roles:
Seeds on Seeds at
trees ground level
 Divergent Evolution

 organisms no longer superficially resemble each other,

because they have adapted to different ecological
conditions
 Homology
 similar characteristics that are seen
between organisms, because of shared
ancestry

 (they have a

common ancestor)
 Developmental homology
 Embyros look very similar in the early stages.
 This is the evidence that organisms evolved from a common
ancestor

 Try sorting the embryos.

 Can you guess which are humans

 Sort into Fish, Salamander, Tortoise, Chick, Hog, Calf, Rabbit, Human
 Convergent Evolution
Convergent Evolution:

When different species evolve similar adaptations under

similar conditions.
 Convergent Evolution

 These organisms
superficially resemble
each other because they
have adapted to similar
ecological conditions but
they have different
evolutionary histories
 Bat Wing and Bird wing are
homologous but those
wings are analogous to the
insect wing.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

 Analogy

 Organisms that contain structures or

mechanisms that perform an identical or similar
function, but have evolved separately from each
other.
They do NOT have a common ancestor
 Pill millipede
(glomeris Marginata)

Pill woodlouse
(Armadillidium vulgare)
 Coevolution
 When two species evolutionary paths are directly
related/reliant on each other
 Coevolution can be beneficial for both parties or can be an
‘evolutionary arms race’ between two species
Example: The brazil nut trees have evolved extremely hard
protective shells and conversely the agouti have evolved very
strong jaws and teeth – they are the only animals capable of
breaking open the brazil nut shell.
 Coevolution
 When two species evolutionary paths are directly
related/reliant on each other
 Coevolution can be beneficial for both parties or can be an
‘evolutionary arms race’ between two species
Example:
 Vestigial Stuctures
 A structure in an organism that has lost all or most of its
original function in the course of evolution
 The following are some vestigial structures found in humans.
For each hypothesize what its function may have been.
 Wisdom teeth * body hair
 Appendix * little toe
 Muscles for moving the ear * tailbone
How are vestigial structures an example of
evidence of evolution?
What does this image tell you?
 HOMEWORK
 Begin work on Evolution Question set 1