BILD 3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Secondary Sex Characteristic, Adaptation, Stabilizing Selection

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26 Oct 2018
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BILD3 Reading Notes 10/19/18
Chapter 23: The Evolution of Populations
- 23.4: Natural selection is the only mechanism that consistently causes adaptive evolution
o Evolution by natural selection: both chance and sorting
Chance: create new genetic variations through mutations
Sorting: natural selection favors some alleles over others
o Outcome of natural selection in not random; it increases frequencies of alleles that
provide reproductive advantage, leading to adaptive evolution
o Natural selection: a closer look
Relative fitness: contribution an individual makes to the gene pool of the next
generation relative to the contributions of other individuals
Can be based on efficiency in collecting food, ability to conceal from predators
long enough to produce more offspring, direct combat, etc.
Acts on phenotype; acts on genotype indirectly, via how the genotype affects the
phenotype
Directional, disruptive, and stabilizing selection
Directional selection: conditions favor individuals exhibiting one extreme of a
phenotypes range, shifting population’s frequency curve for phenotypic
character in one direction or the other
o Common when environment changes or when members of population
migrate to new habitat
Disruptive selection: conditions favor individuals at both extremes of phenotypic
range
o Ex: population of black-bellied seedcracker finches have 2 distinct beak sizes.
Small for soft seeds and large for hard seeds. Intermediates relatively
inefficient at cracking both types of seeds, so have lower relative fitness
Stabilizing selection: acts against both extreme phenotypes and favors
intermediate variants
o Reduces variation
Selection favors individuals with heritable phenotypic traits that give higher
reproductive success
o The key role of natural selection in adaptive evolution
Natural selection increases frequency of favorable alleles, enhancing survival and
reproduction -> adaptive evolution
Adaptive evolution is continuous dynamic process, depends on changes in
environment
Genetic drift and gene flow may change frequency of alleles, but only natural
selection consistently leads to adaptive evolution
o Sexual selection
Sexual selection: individuals with certain inherited characteristics are more likely
than other individuals of the same sex to obtain mates
Can result in sexual dimorphism: difference in secondary sexual characteristics
between males and females of the same species
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