You are on page 1of 17

THE MICROEVOLUTION TOUR .

The Hardy-Weinberg Law


It was discovered independently by Godfrey Hardy and Wilhelm Weinberg in 1908.. It states that the frequencies of genes in an ideal population remain constant and their proportions stay the same unless certain evolutionary forces affect the population.. These evolutionary forces include: Mutation; Gene flow; Genetic drift; Nonrandom mating or Sexuial Selection;and Natural Selection which will be discussed shortly after this..

Agents of Evolution
Click on any of the following topics for

discussion.

Mutation Gene Flow Genetic Drift Nonrandom Mating or Sexual Selection

Mutation

It refers to the alteration in the chemical component of the gene. This alteration is inheritable since it occurs in the gene level

These are the origin of all new genes and the utmost source of genetic variation and so it permits alteration of the gene pool.

The most common source of mutation is Radiation.

Back to Main

Gene Flow

It refers to the movement of alleles from one population to the other. This movement causes alteration of the allele frequencies present in a gene pool.

Back to Main

AB C D E

Immigration is the movement from a gene pool. This is the removal of certain alleles from the gene pool.

B C D

Back to Main

Emigration is the movement toward a gene pool. It is the addition of new alleles to the population.

A B C DE F

Back to Main

Genetic Drift..

Or Random Drift

It refers to change in allele frequencies by random chance. The effect of chance events are generally negligible. On the other hand, with a small population, the effect may have a considerable impact. Special Cases of Genetic Drift: Bottleneck Founder Effect

Back to Main

Bottleneck refers to a drastic reduction in size of a large population due to a catastrophe or other unfavorable conditions (famine, disease, tsunami, meteor collision, etc.). In a bottleneck event, some alleles may be completely wiped out from a population. Here, the genotypes of the survivors will, be the source of the subsequent generations. For example, the northern Elephant seal, hunted almost to extinction, have a very uniform gene pool because of the 20 surviving seals in 1890; just one male fathered all the offspring.

B C D E

Back to Main

In the Founder effect, a small number of individual s migrate to an area isolated from the original population. The gene pool of the new population may vary significantly from the original population since all the alleles will be coming from the migrants which initiated the new population.

Back to Main

Here, some alleles may be temporarily removed from the gene pool but these may be reintroduced through migration.

AB CD E F

Nonrandom Mating or Sexual Selection In nature, the individuals in general, are particular of their mates. This increases the occurrence of alleles with favorable characteristics. Types include: Assortative Mating individuals of a specific phenotype may seek mates of a similar phenotype. Ex. Humans tend to marry someone with whom they share to some extent such traits as stature, age, or even hair color, etc. Inbreeding this is a special case of assortative mating which can alter the gene pool. Continued inbreeding inclines to homozygosity. Potentially harmful recessive alleles (ex. Huntingtons disease) will exert their harmful effect on the offspring who inherit one from both parents. In other words, continued inbreeding increases the chance of producing offsprings with defective genes. Back to Main

Natural Selection
A type of selection wherein nature chooses which population subgroup is the most fit..

Patterns of Natural Selection 1. Stabilizing 2. Directional 3. Disruptive

Back to Main

Stabilizing Selection
Individuals with intermediate phenotypes will be the most likely to survive, Ex. Neonates which have an average birthweight will be the most likely to suvive.

POPULATION

Back to Main

2
PENOTYPE

Directional Selection individuals with the most favorable phenotypes are the most common. Directional selection is usually observed in a population subjected to new environmental condition.
Ex. The population of Melanic form of Biston betularia increased over the peppered form due to the industrial revolution. POPULATION

Back to Main

2
PENOTYPE

Disruptive Selection extreme phenotypes are favored over intermediate phenotypes Ex. Suppose there are snails with brown, spotted brown-white,and white variants. If the snails were brought to rocky areas, brown variants will most likely to survive because it has the most favorable phenotype for camouflage. Same with white sand, white snails will subsist. Neither of both conditions the spotted nails will survive. Back to Main

POPULATION

2
PENOTYPE

You might also like