EVOLUTION

AND NATURAL SELECTION

EVOLUTION
People talking about evolution usually are
referring to either one of the following
ideas:
1. The general theory, which states that
organisms change over time.
2. The specific theory that evolution occurs by
the process of natural selection.
 Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin(1809
-1882) proposed the
theory of evolution in
the book “The origin
of Species” in 1859.
This was done 20yrs
after his 4 – 5yr
voyage on the HMS
Beagle.
Charles Darwin
What did Darwin do?
1. He provided evidence to support the
proposition that species change over time.
This was not a new idea but Darwin “put it
on a sound scientific basis.”
2. He put forward a plausible theory to explain
the mechanism by which species have
changed – natural selection.
Alfred Wallace
Alfred Russel Wallace, another scientist,
had the same ideas as Darwin. Even
though they jointly published a short
paper prior to the book, the evidence
Darwin provided gave the book much
more recognition.
EVOLUTION
In what ways does evolution reveal itself?

1. Geographical Distribution
2. Comparative anatomy
3. Molecular biology
4. Embryology
5. Taxonomy
6. Palaeontology
NATURAL SELECTION
Naturalselection, the mechanism by
which evolution occurs, can be
summarised by means of four hypotheses:
◦ Hypothesis 1 – individuals differ from one
another, the differences arising as a result of
chance variation.
◦ Hypothesis 2 – Offspring generally resemble
their parents.
NATURAL SELECTION

Hypothesis 3 – more offspring are born

than can survive to maturity and
reproduce.
Hypothesis 4 – There is a struggle for
existence; some individuals being better
adapted to their environment and are
therefore more successful than others.
Conclusions
Conclusion 1 - The better adapted
individuals that survive and reproduce
pass on their beneficial characteristics to
their offspring.
Conclusion 2 - In time, the individuals in
a species may give rise to a new
collection of individuals that are
sufficiently different to be classified as a
separate species.
NATURAL SELECTION
Aspects of the environment act as agents
of selection. Species overproduce so that
there are more offspring in the population
than the habitat can support.
There is competition between individuals;
some starve, are eaten by predators or die
of disease.
These factors control the population size.
NATURAL SELECTION
Individuals that survive the early period
of life would then compete for mates and
for nesting sites.
If they are successful, they pass on their
alleles to the next generation.
Alleles that are advantageous increase in
frequency in the population.
NATURAL SELECTION
Selection does not always lead to a
change but many times it maintains
populations over time.
There are three kinds of natural selection:
1. Stabilising selection
2. Directional selection
3. Disruptive selection
 Graph showing trait that is normally
distributed within a population

http://www.sparknotes.com
STABILISING SELECTION
This occurs when the environment doesn't
change. Changes in the environment
presents selective pressure.
In a stable environment there is “no
selective pressure” and therefore the
population will remain fairly constant.
STABILISING SELECTION
The horse shoe crab, Limulus
polyphemus, is found in the seas from
Canada to Mexico.
Fossils show that this species has
remained largely unchanged for 250
million years.
Stabilising selection has occurred because
the environment has not changed.
Graph showing the effect of stabilising selection on a population

http://www.sparknotes.com
DIRECTIONAL SELECTION
This occurs whenever the environment
changes in a particular way. There is
therefore selective pressure for species to
change in response to the environmental
change.

Populations do not decide to adapt, or

mutate, after an environmental change.  The
mutation is already present by chance.
"Environment" includes biotic as well as
abiotic, so organisms evolve in response to
each other. e.g. if predators run faster there is
selective pressure for prey to run faster, or if
one tree species grows taller, there is selective
pressure for other to grow tall.
Most environments do change (e.g. due to
migration of new species, or natural
catastrophes, or climate change, or to sea level
change, or continental drift, etc.), so
directional selection is common.
Graph showing the effect of directional selection on a population

http://www.sparknotes.com
DISRUPTIVE SELECTION
This occurs where an environment change
may produce selection pressures that
favour two extremes of a characteristic.
Graph showing the effect of stabilising selection on a population

http://www.sparknotes.com
SICKLE-CELL ANAEMIA
  People homozygous for this recessive allele
usually die before reproducing.  Their red
blood cells contain abnormal haemoglobin
which makes them become sickle-shaped and
stick in their capillaries.  
People heterozygous for the allele should be
at a disadvantage, because their red cells can
sickle during exercise – the allele should
therefore be selected against and rare
  
SICKLE-CELL ANAEMIA
However, its frequency is high in parts of
the world where malaria is common – in
some populations over 20% carry the
allele (as heterozygotes).  People
heterozygous for sickle-cell anaemia are
more resistant to malaria than people
homozygous for the normal allele
SICKLE-CELL ANAEMIA
Where malaria is found, people heterozygous
for sickle-cell have an advantage and are likely
to survive, reproduce and pass on the allele. 
 People without the allele also have an
advantage, because their red cells behave
normally.  
This produces populations with an equilibrium
for numbers of people heterozygous for sickle-
cell and non-carriers (balances polymorphism
INDUSTRIAL MELANISM
IN THE PEPPERED MOTH
Peppered Moth
Biston betularia
Wild type – White coloured wings
speckled with black.
Melanic form – Black
This moth flies by night and during the
day settles on trees where it is
camouflaged against lichens that grow on
bark in unpolluted parts of Britain.
Peppered Moth
When the melanic moths appeared they
were eaten by predatory birds because
they were obvious against the speckled
tree backgrounds.
They were eaten before they could
reproduce. A few melanics re-appeared
now and again by nutation, but the mutant
allele was not inherited. Why not?
http://www.kirksville.k12.mo.us/khs/teacher_web/alternative/naturalselection.html
In the middle of the 18th century the
industrial revolution created severe
pollution through the burning of coal.
Sulphur dioxide, contained in smoke,
killed the lichens and soot deposited on
the trees made the bark black.
This new environment favoured the
melanic moths. And the birds reduced the
wild type population.
http://www.bio.georgiasouthern.edu
 The melanic moths survived and left more
offspring than the wild type.
 At the beginning of the 20th century
melanic moths made up more than 90% of
the population in areas affected by the
industrial revolution.
 In rural areas, however, the population
remained unchanged.
THE END