Chapter 3 Genetics and Evolution The Principles of Natural Selection Heredity Sources of Variability The Origin of Species Natural

tural Selection of Behavioral Traits The Principles of Natural Selection Natural selection is the main process that increases the frequency of adaptive traits through time. Variation Heritability Differential Reproductive Success

Observed Examples of Natural Selection Types of natural selection Directional selection Normalizing selection Balancing selection

Heredity Gregor Mendels Experiments

Mendels units of heredity were referred to as Genes.

Figure 3-2 (p. 39) When Mendel crossed a plant having two genes for yellow peas (YY) with a plant having two genes for green peas (yy), each offspring pea was yellow but carried one gene for yellow and one gene for green (Yy). The peas were yellow because the gene for yellow is dominant over the recessive gene for green. Crossing the first generation yielded three yellow pea plants for each green pea plant. Genes: The Conveyors of Inherited Traits Mitosis and Meiosis DNA Messenger RNA

Protein Synthesis

Figure 3-3 (p. 40) Meiosis (sex cells) Figure 3-4 (p. 41) DNA Chromosomes are built of DNA (A), which consists of two spiral sugar-phosphate strands (B) linked by the nitrogenous bases adenine, guanine, thymine, and cytosine (C). When the DNA molecule reproduces, the bases separate and the spiral strands unwind (D). Because adenine can only bond to thymine, and cytosine can only bond to guanine, each original strand serves as a mold along which a new complementary chain is formed. Figure 3-5 (p. 42) Translation and Protein Synthesis The mRNA copy of the cellular DNA is read by a ribosome that attaches the amino acid with the corresponding transfer RNA (tRNA) to a growing chain of amino acids (called a polypeptide chain because the amino acids are linked together by peptide bonds). A chain more than 100 amino acids long is called a protein. Sources of Variability There are two genetic sources of new variation: Genetic Recombination Mutation Figure 3.6 (p. 43) Crossing-Over Source: From Boaz/Almquist, Biological Anthropology (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall) Sources of Variability Two processes through which variations are shuffled through populations: Genetic Drift Gene Flow

Sources of Variability Recent studies have suggested that hybridization, or the creation of a viable offspring from two different species, may be more possible than once thought. The Origin of Species Speciation versus Creation

Speciation is the development of a new species. Creation scientists argue that the origin of species cannot be accounted for through natural selection.

Natural Selection of Behavioral Traits Natural selection can also operate on the behavioral characteristics of populations. Sociobiology Behavioral Ecology Evolutionary Psychology