POPULATION GENETICS AND

EVOLUTION
 POPULATION GENETICS

• IS A SUBFIELD OF GENETICS THAT DEALS WITH GENETIC DIFFERENCES AND POPULATIONS.

• THE STUDY OF GENETIC VARIATIONS WITHIN POPULATION
 EVOLUTION

• THE CHANGE OF CHARACTERISTICS OF SPECIES OVER SEVERAL GENERATIONS AND RELIES ON

THE PROCESS OF NATURAL SELECTION
• THESE CHARACTERISTICS ARE EXPRESSIONS OF GENES THAT ARE PASSED DOWN ON FROM
PARENT TO OFFSPRING DURING REPRODUCTION
 MUTATION

• IS A PERMANENT ALTERATION OF THE NUCLEOTIDE SEQUENCE OF THE GENOME OF AN

ORGANISM OR ALTERATIONS ON THE DNA SEQUENCE
• THIS RESULTS IN CHANGES IN THE PROTEINS THAT ARE MADE. THIS CAN BE A BAD OR A GOOD
THING.
• MUTATIONS CAN ALSO OCCUR AS THE RESULT OF EXPOSURE TO ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
SUCH AS SMOKING, SUNLIGHT AND RADIATION.
• MUTATIONS CAN ALSO BE INHERITED, PARTICULARLY IF THEY HAVE A POSITIVE EFFECT.
 GENE FLOW

• IS THE TRANSFER OF GENETIC VARIATION FROM ONE POPULATION TO ANOTHER

• IT IS ALSO CALLED MIGRATION OR GENE MIGRATION
WHAT CAUSES GENE FLOW?
 GENETIC DRIFT

• IS A MECHANISM OF EVOLUTION IN WHICH ALLELE FREQUENCIES OF A POPULATION

CHANGE OVER GENERATIONS DUE TO CHANCE
• GENETIC DRIFT OCCURS IN ALL POPULATIONS OF NON-INFINITE SIZE, BUT ITS EFFECTS ARE
STRONGEST IN SMALL POPULATIONS.
• GENETIC DRIFT MAY RESULT IN THE LOSS OF SOME AND THE FIXATION, OR RISE TO100%
PERCENT FREQUENCY OF OTHER ALLELES.
 ALLELE

• ALLELE IS AN ALTERNATIVE FORM OF A GENE THAT IS LOCATED AT A SPECIFIC POSITION ON A

SPECIFIC CHROMOSOME
• OUR CELLS HAVE TWO ALLELES FOR EACH GENE, ONE FROM EACH PARENT
 NATURAL SELECTION

• A NATURAL PROCESS THAT RESULTS IN THE SURVIVAL AND REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS OF

INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS BEST ADJUSTED TO THEIR ENVIRONMENT AND THAT LEADS TO THE
PERPETUATION OF GENETIC QUALITIES BEST SUITED TO THAT PARTICULAR ENVIRONMENT
• NATURAL SELECTION INCREASES OR DECREASES BIOLOGICAL TRAITS WITHIN A POPULATION,
THEREBY SELECTING FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH GREATER EVOLUTIONARY FITNESS.
TYPES OF NATURAL SELECTION
 ADAPTIVE SELECTION

• IF NATURAL SELECTION FAVORS AN AVERAGE PHENOTYPE BY SELECTING AGAINST EXTREME

VARIATION, THE POPULATION WILL UNDERGO STABILIZING SELECTION. FOR EXAMPLE, IN A
POPULATION OF MICE THAT LIVE IN THE WOODS, NATURAL SELECTION WILL TEND TO FAVOR
INDIVIDUALS THAT BEST BLEND IN WITH THE FOREST FLOOR AND ARE LESS LIKELY TO BE SPOTTED
BY PREDATORS. ASSUMING THE GROUND IS A FAIRLY CONSISTENT SHADE OF BROWN, THOSE MICE
WHOSE FUR IS MOST-CLOSELY MATCHED TO THAT COLOR WILL MOST PROBABLY SURVIVE AND
REPRODUCE, PASSING ON THEIR GENES FOR THEIR BROWN COAT. MICE THAT CARRY ALLELES THAT
MAKE THEM SLIGHTLY LIGHTER OR SLIGHTLY DARKER WILL STAND OUT AGAINST THE GROUND
AND WILL MORE PROBABLY DIE FROM PREDATION. AS A RESULT OF THIS STABILIZING SELECTION,
THE POPULATION’S GENETIC VARIANCE WILL DECREASE.
 DIRECTIONAL SELECTION

• WHEN THE ENVIRONMENT CHANGES, POPULATIONS WILL OFTEN UNDERGO DIRECTIONAL

SELECTION, WHICH SELECTS FOR PHENOTYPES AT ONE END OF THE SPECTRUM OF EXISTING
VARIATION
• EXAMPLE OF THIS TYPE OF SELECTION IS THE EVOLUTION OF THE PEPPERED MOTH PRIOR TO
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, THE MOTHS WERE PREDOMINATELY LIGHT IN COLOR, WHICH
ALLOWED THEM TO BLEND IN WITH THE LIGHT-COLORED TREES AND LICHENS IN THEIR
ENVIRONMENT. AS SOOT BEGAN SPEWING FROM FACTORIES, THE TREES DARKENED AND THE
LIGHT-COLORED MOTHS BECAME EASIER FOR PREDATORY BIRDS TO SPOT.
 DIVERSIFYING SELECTION

• THIS IS SEEN IN MANY POPULATIONS OF ANIMALS THAT HAVE MULTIPLE MALE MATING
STRATEGIES, SUCH AS LOBSTERS. LARGE, DOMINANT ALPHA MALES OBTAIN MATES BY BRUTE
FORCE, WHILE SMALL MALES CAN SNEAK IN FOR FURTIVE COPULATIONS WITH THE FEMALES
IN AN ALPHA MALE’S TERRITORY. IN THIS CASE, BOTH THE ALPHA MALES AND THE “SNEAKING”
MALES WILL BE SELECTED FOR, BUT MEDIUM-SIZED MALES, WHICH CANNOT OVERTAKE THE
ALPHA MALES AND ARE TOO BIG TO SNEAK COPULATIONS, ARE SELECTED AGAINST
• THE RESULT OF THIS TYPE OF SELECTION IS INCREASED GENETIC VARIANCE AS THE
POPULATION BECOMES MORE DIVERSE.
 FREQUENCY-DEPENDENT SELECTION

• THE TERM GIVEN TO AN EVOLUTIONARY PROCESS WHERE THE FITNESS OF A PHENOTYPE IS

DEPENDENT ON ITS FREQUENCY RELATIVE TO OTHER PHENOTYPES IN A GIVEN POPULATION
 SEXUAL SELECTION

• A TYPE OF NATURAL SELECTION, WHERE MEMBERS OF THE SEXES ACQUIRE DISTINCT FORMS
BECAUSE MEMBERS CHOOSE MATES WITH PARTICULAR FEATURES OR BECAUSE COMPETITION
FOR MATES WITH CERTAIN TRAITS SUCCEED
• THE SELECTION PRESSURE ON MALES AND FEMALES TO OBTAIN MATINGS, CAN RESULT IN
TRAITS DESIGNED TO MAXIMIZE SEXUAL SUCCESS
 INTRASEXUAL SELECTION

• ALSO KNOWN AS “MALE TO MALE COMPETITION

• MEMBERS OF THE LESS LIMITED SEX COMPETE AGGRESSIVELY AMONG THEMSELVES FOR
ACCESS TO THE LIMITING SEX.
 INTERSEXUAL SELECTION

• ALSO KNOWN AS “MATE CHOICE OR FEMALE CHOICE”

• IN WHICH MALES COMPETE WITH EACH OTHER TO BE CHOSEN BY FEMALES