Microevolution is the change in gene frequency in a population, while macroevolution is the

extinction or rise of a new species. Microevolution generally leads to macroevolution through

natural selection, which is a process proposed by Charles Darwin.

In contrast to Darwin’s theory on evolution, Lamarck’s theory was called the Theory of
Inheritance of Acquired Characteristics and it proposed that offspring took on the physical and
behavioral characteristics of their parents. For example, if you cut off the tails of parent mice,
Lamarck believed that the children mice would have no tail either. This theory is incorrect
because traits and physical characteristics are all based on genetic differences.

Polymorphism is defined as an alternative form for a gene, for example height. Phenotypic
polymorphism occurs when there is more then one visible characteristic in the phenotype, for
example, white flowers and red flowers. Genotypic polymorphism occurs when there are
differences in the genetic code.

Natural selection works only on the phenotypic level because there are 64 codons and 20 amino
acids, making it likely that there will be repeating.

Heterozygosity is the probability that a randomly selected gene in a random sample will be
heterozygous. Invertebrates have the highest percentage, while vertebrates have the lowest.

The Hardy-Weinberg Principle states that the genotype frequency will remain unchanged and no
evolution will take place when the following are true
− Large population size
− No mutations
− Random mating
− No gene flow
− No natural selection

The HWP can be used to solve population genetics problems based on a mathematical formula in
which:
p= frequency of the homozygous dominant allele (A)
q= frequency of the homozygous recessive allele (a)
2pq= percentage of heterozygous dominant allele (Aa)
P2= percentage of homozygous dominant genotype (AA)
q2= percentage of homozygous recessive genotype (aa)

p+q=1 and p2+2pq+q2=0

There are five factors or processes termed as agents of evolutionary change, these are
− Mutation- this is the most prominent cause of evolutionary change. In humans, mutation
rates are quite low, around 1 in 10,000. However, when mutations do occur, they occur in
pseudogenes, which are genes that were once active but were turned off for some reason
− Gene flow- when genes go from one population to another, this may be caused by a
population going to another area or for example, bees spreading pollen from a red plant
to a white plant
 − Non-random mating; increase the heterozygous condition
− Genetic Drift- causes the loss of alleles, indirectly proportional to the size of the
population. There are two main types, the founder effect, which happened with Darwin’s
finches, and the bottleneck effect, when there is a natural disaster and only some
characteristics survive
− Natural Selection

The only one that can cause an adaptive change is natural selection, under the circumstances that
there is an open niche.

The fittest phenotype is simply the one that produces, on average, the greatest number of
offspring. It includes how long it survives, how often it mates and how many offspring it
produces per mating.

The earliest horses were in the genus Hyracotherium. From that species, horses grew in size,
their toes reduced, and their teeth and gums became better adapted to chewing grass low on the
bottom.

Industrial melanism refers to the phenomenon in which darker individuals come to predominate
over lighter ones. Black individuals have a dominant allele, one that was present but very rare in
populations before 1850. From that time on, dark individuals increased in frequency in moth
populations near industrialized centers. Biologists soon noticed that in industrialized areas where
the dark moths were common, the tree trunks were darkened almost black by the soot of
pollution.

The major lines of support for macroevolution include homologous structures, structures that
have the same origin but different function and structures; embryos of many organisms look
similar before they are differentiated; vestigial structures, those structures which have no
function are seen as coming from an ancestor; and imperfect structures, like eyes that point to the
back…

The fossil record is one of the major lines of support for evolution. It shows how organisms
changed through time, however there are limitations. In order for something to be fossilized it
had to die at the right time, and this rarely happens.

Convergent evolution describes the speciation in which two different organisms in two different
locations evolve to fit the same ecological niche. Divergent evolution describes the speciation in
which two similar organisms in two similar locations evolve to fit different niches.

According to the Biologic Species Concept, a species is defined as a group of organisms which
interbreed and are reproductively isolated, meaning that they produce viable offspring. There are
certain problems with this theory however, it does not cover allotropic species, species that live
in different geographic locations and organisms that reproduce asexually.
In contrast to the BSG, the Phylogenetic Species Concept defines a species as a population with
one or more shared traits. Though it solves the problems faced by the BSG, it has its own
problems; for example, a species may have different phenotypic characteristics, and therefore
will be considered two different species, like the milk snake. This could lead to a species being
not monophyletic.

Sympatric speciation occurs when there are similar species within the same environment.
Allopatric speciation occurs when there are similar species in different locations.

Isolating mechanisms are mechanisms which prevent different species from interbreeding.
Prezygotic mechanisms include
− Geographic- different geographical places
− Ecological- same geographical location, different habitats
− Temporal- reproduction occurs in different times of the year
− Behavioral- call maybe different; pheromones
− Mechanical- size matters 
− Prevention of gamete formation
Postzygotic mechanism is infertility of the offspring.

Polyploidy occurs when there are more then two alleles for a trait. In humans this causes
mutations and diseases, like Trisomy 21. However, in plants this can cause a new species with a
different number of haploid and diploid genes. This usually occurs because of nondisjunction in
meiosis.

There are two different theories for the time interval in which evolution occurs. The first is
punctuated equilibrium, in which there is little change for a long time, and then there is sudden
evolution. The second is gradualism, in which there is constant change. Both of these theories are
correct because organisms, just like proteins, evolve at different rates.

For example, mice have a shorter digestion period, and so their evolution would occur faster
since they are more likely to get mutated genes.

Adaptive radiation is a term which is used to describe a fast evolution of a species. The probable
cause for this is that a group of organisms arrive at one location where there is a large number of
niches available. Two examples are the Hawaiian Drosophila and the Galapagos finches.

There have been five mass extinctions that have been found in the fossil record and it is
theorized that a sixth one is occurring now.

Organisms are classified based on taxonomy; Kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus,
species. Cladistics is the branch of study in which organisms are grouped together based on
similar characteristics. There are three main types of so called clades
− Monophyletic- which shows the common ancestor and all their decedents
− Paraphyletic- which includes only the most common ancestor
 − Polyphyletic- which includes individual organisms

The three domains of life are the Archaea-bacteria, Bacteria, and Eukaryotes; the domains are
monophyletic. The six kingdoms are Archea, Bacteria, Fungi, Protists, Plants, Animal; the
kingdoms are not monophyletic.

Horizontal Gene Transfer is the transfer of genes from one species to another, while Lateral or
Vertical Gene Transfer is the transfer of genes from parent to offspring. HGT complicates
phylogenetic analysis because it makes it hard to understand from which organism a certain trait
evolved.

The human genome contains 3 billion base pairs and 20,000-25,000 genes, which is less then the
100,000 predicted. This is due to the fact that we have many genes which code for the same
things, they are not repeated. This relates to genome size, genome complexity and the number of
genes. It was believed that the more complex an organism is, the more genes it would have and
the larger its genome. However this is incorrect as there is no correlation between these things.

Homoplasty refers to similar characteristics between species that were not passed through a
common ancestor. For example, frogs, apes and humans have no tails, however that does not
mean

Paralogous and orthologous genes are subdivisions of homologous genes. Homologous genes are
those genes that have shared a common evolutionary ancestor. Orthologs arise because of
speciation events, while Paralogs arise because of gene duplication events.