 Evolution

o Change in allele frequencies over time

 Within a population of interbreeding organisms
o Change in genetic information or patterns within a species from one generation to the
next that can lead to new species
 Genetics
o Genes
 Found on chromosomes
 Define traits (eye color)
o Alleles
 Different forms of the same gene.
 Determine how a trait is expressed.
o Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes
o Fruit flies have 4
o Humans have between 20K-25K genes
o Genotype
 Refers to the particular alleles that an individual carries
o Phenotype
 Refers to an individual’s observable traits (eye color)
 Six things:
o Evolution
 Organisms change over time
 Change is genetically based
 Time
 Generations (given a particular species e.g. flu virus, human)
 All species evolve
 Rates vary
 Microevolution

o Gradualism
 Takes time to affect a large enough change to change a species
 Many generations to produce a substantial evolutionary change
 Speciation
 Doesn’t imply an even rate of change
o Rapid
o More slowly
o Speciation
 Splitting of a lineage into two or more new species
o Common ancestry
 Tracing ancestry backward in time to shared/common ancestor
o Natural selection
o Non-selective mechanisms of evolution