Blog Post Module 2

1. I picked Darwin's idea of descent with modification: species change through time (microevolution).

2. From reading an article from the National Center for Biotechnology Information, I gathered evidence for Darwin’s idea of species changing throughout time. Based off the reading, I learned more about how mutations within species happen by chance and not all adaptations allow for a species to have a better chance for survival. The survival of a species is not random, instead it heavily depends on their inherited traits. Similar to what we are being taught in class, not all mutations or adaptations are necessarily “better” for species survival rate. Genetic variations occur when organisms produce more offspring than that of which can possibly survive, therefore, only the offspring that can adjust to the environment they are born in, will survive. The ones that are able to survive are the ones that are more likely to pass on the new traits to their offspring, which ultimately creates more heritable changes within their species. The article brought in examples such as gene variants improving the ability for an organism to escape predators more effectively or by allowing the organism to utilize available nutrients in a more effective way. The article provides evidence for this information with Darwin's study on the finches in Galapagos Islands. The research group found evidence of how the weather and environmental conditions lead to finches evolving to have different sized beaks. The survival rate for those with larger and stronger beaks were much higher compared to the finches that inherited smaller sized beaks. Throughout time, the finches were producing new populations of birds that carried the trait of a stronger and larger beak which ultimately proves Darwin's prediction of species changing through time. The article also provides more details showcasing how the fossil record has proven to show the systematic changes occurring through time. Researchers have studied fossil organisms found in rock sequences to prove how throughout time, they have experienced many evolutionary transitions. As you can see in the picture below, the newer fossils are found in the top layers and the older fossils are found in the lower layers. This picture reveals the succession of organisms throughout time. 

3. Link to website: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK230201/

Comments

  1. Madison NSeptember 13, 2021 at 12:40 PM

    Good findings, Lauren! Looks like you found evidence for both microevolution and macroevolution! So I pose to you the question, what's the difference? Where do we draw the line between micro- and macro-evolution?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lauren LeikerSeptember 13, 2021 at 3:38 PM

      Hi Madison! I would say the difference between microevolution and macroevolution would be how microevolution solely applies towards a single population over shorter periods of time (ex: the range of genes an organism can inherit), however, macroevolution focuses on a much larger scale that occurs over a longer period of time (ex: the formation of a new species). I feel that the biggest line we can draw to differentiate the two would be the question of what is time frame that we would be looking to find evolutionary changes? Are we looking for a gradual change within a species or something within one population that occurs in a smaller time frame?

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog Post Module 3

Image
    When I first think of the term fitness, my head goes straight to people working out at the gym, really pumping some iron, or going on a really long run. However, from attending this week’s lecture, it completely changed my thought process as I received more insight on the evolutionary/biology perspective on fitness. Fitness in biology is not how strong and powerful one is, but instead, it is actually the process of how phenotypes can be passed onto the next generation through the gene pool. Fitness can be measured in a natural population by measuring an organism’s reproductive success, so basically just by keeping track of how many offspring an organism is able to reproduce. Therefore, an organism would be considered biologically fit if it were to produce a greater number of offspring. One example I have in mind is the bullfrog species. In order to quantify fitness, I would have to look at different mutations across the species, their environment, predators also ...
Read more

Introduction

     My name is Lauren Leiker and I am from Lenexa, Kansas. I am a junior here at K-State majoring in Human Health Biology on the Pre-Med track. Ever since I was a kid, I have always dreamed of working in the medical field. My father's health has also played a huge role in the reason why I want to work in the medical field. My father was diagnosed with a very rare condition called Dermatomyositis about 10 years ago. This is an autoimmune condition in which his immune system mistakenly attacks his muscles and organs. This one disease has progressed and in addition, has triggered various additional autoimmune diseases, like Raynaud's disease. He currently struggles with heart and lung disease as well as kidney failure. My drive to work in the medical field primarily started when my dad's health first began to deteriorate, and I soon came to the conclusion that I wanted to become a doctor to help not only my father but also other people struggling with their health for vario...
Read more

Blog Post: Module 11

      For this blog post, I decided to write about Rachel Carlton Abrams Ted Talk that is over (R)evolutionary Medicine. She first starts her talk explaining a simple prescription that we can help us in our daily lives. That simple prescription revolves around getting into alignment with our evolutionary nature. She states how there is a split between the life and environment that we have evolved to thrive in and the life and environment that majority of us are living in. She begins to worry me with the statement how that for the first time in our country, our children are expected to have shorter life spans due to the exposure to diseases of civilization. You would think with the amount of technology and resources we have nowadays, children would be expected to live longer and healthier lives than their parents. She explains how children will suffer from high blood pressure, obesity, diabetes, and high cholesterol.       So in order to solve this issu...
Read more