EVOLUTION

Think/Discuss:

 

Debriefing about the zoo trip was done in class. I have also include some of the Think and Discuss answers in Think/Discuss section of module 7. 

 

 

 

 

Do:

The field notes part was crossed out.

 

 

 

 

Watch/Make Notes:

Types of Evolution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyfrKliDg88

 

• When something Converges, they are coming to the same place

• It is when they look the same because they have similar function but not because they have a common ancestor

• Species that live in similar environments but in different parts of the world will develop the same adaptations  *Analogous*

• A whale is a mammal not a fish but whales experience the same selective pressures as fish and dolphins

• This forced the whale to develop a similar body structure as the fish

• Divergent evolution is when individuals of species are separated and are experiencing unique selective pressures

• This forces the individuals to evolve and develop different features *homologous structures*

• Geographically separated resulting in a barrier to mixing of genes

• Adaptive Radiation is when a common ancestor evolved to many different species

• If an environment has a lot of niches that aren't being used, an organism may evolve and fill the "missing links" and take over the niches

Bozeman Science Coevolution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDVbt2qQRqs

• Two species head down an evolutionary pathway together

• Insects and flowers is an example and it follows a symbiotic relationship

• For examples, insects and flowers both benefit from each other because insects take the nectar from the flowers and the flowers  get pollinated by the insects

• Coevolution isn't convergent evolution because 

 

Compare and contrast convergent, divergent, and co-evolution.

 

Convergent evolution is when distantly related species evolve similar traits. They can be two species without a common ancestor that live on opposite sides of the world however the environment they live in are similar. For example the Sahara desert and Black Rock Desert. Those two species developed similar traits in response to the environment they live in. An example of convergent evolution is the development of wings in insects, birds, and mammals (bats). The wings serve the same function (to fly) however the animals are not closely related. They are in completely different animals groups.

 

Divergent evolution is when a single group becomes so different and it leads to the formation of new species. If a group finds itself in an environment with a ton of resources that are not being used, they can evolve and take advantage of those resources. A clear example of this is divergent evolution of Darwin's finches. A group of finches found itself in an environment with an abundance of resources and animals not taking advantage of some ecological niches. The group of original finches were able to evolve and take advantage of the resources. The finches evolved to several different forms.

 

Co-evolution is when one species evolves because of the evolution of another species. This is because the two species have a symbiotic relationship with each other. For example, a certain species of orchid flowers rely heavily on a species of moth to pollinate, and the moth depends heavily on the orchids nectar for food. When the orchids evolved, they gained extremely long tubes and that made it difficult for the moth to extract the pollen. The moths than evolved extremely long tongues allowing them to extract the nectar much easier. 

 

 

 

 

 

Reflect/Journal:

 

In this chapter, I learned about one of the things I was really interested in which was Darwin's Finches. I was exposed to Darwin's finches in the documentary  (which full disclosure I fell asleep halfway in) but now I learned that they experienced Divergent Evolution as well as Adaptive Radiation. This section as a whole was actually pretty enjoyable. It involved a lot of concepts but the concepts were a lot easier to understand than the other concepts in Chapter 8. The different types of evolution discussed in 8.3 was honestly amazing. It made image the world as a puzzle and while I walk outside I try to look at the different plants and apply my knowledge of the types of evolution to those plants. It just changed the way I look at the world because I am constantly trying to piece together everything I learned so far in this chapter to real life. It sounds like I am crazy but this section really did change the way I look at the world. This section basically gave words to the different things I learned in the previous sections, the words being (coevolution, divergent evolution, and convergent evolution). I also feel like this section was a lot easier to understand than the other sections. The coolest thing in this section is the moth, when I learned that a moth's tongue evolved to 30cm, which is a lot bigger than the moth itself I was baffled. The videos were good but I felt that the Bozeman science video was too long. The other video summed up two concepts in 6 minutes but the Bozeman science video discuss the concept for about 2 minutes and the rest of the time was examples. I felt that he could have discussed the concept for a bit longer.