Micro-Evolution is the change or evolution within a species. Micro-evolution has been going on since the start of time but scientist haven't been able to find out why or what is really going on during this process. In the last century, scientist were able to come up with 5 mechanisms that they think contribute to micro-evolution.
The first one is known as Natural Selection. Natural Selection gives the best suited organisms the greatest chance to survive and pass on their genes to the future generation, which then ends up changing the gene pool. Another mechanism that can mix and mash an species' gene pool are Mutations. Mutations are a change in the sequence of DNA in an organism. The effects of one can be good, bad or neutral meaning no effect. The third mechanism is called Genetic Drift which causes a change in the gene pool by random chance of events. For example, a garden full of red flowers may contain all red and one white. In the next generation there may be double or triple the amount of white flowers than there were last generation all by random chance. Gene Flow is the fourth mechanism for micro-evolution. Gene flow is the transfer of genes from one population to another. This can introduce new variations into a population. For example, when a yellow toad enters a population of all green toads, new genes from the yellow toad will enter the population when mating occurs. The last mechanism for micro-evolution is Non-Random Mating (NRM). NRM occurs when organisms rarely mate randomly. The three examples of this are: Harems, Assortative Mating and Sexual Selection. Harems is when one male has many females, while assortative mating is when an organisms chooses a mate that it likes. Sexual selection bases its purpose on colour, size, display, territory and/or song.
During the Industrial Revolution a species of moths called the Peppered Moths once existed and lived on the lightly colored trucks of trees. Once more and more coal was being used the clean forests started to darken and pollute. The smoke is the air caused a genetic mutation which changed 98% of the moths colour from light to dark, giving that certain species an advantage in darker forests even to this day. This is an example of how micro-evolution has and continues to occur in our everyday lives. Scientist today are the main people involved in micro-evolution. An example of this would be Dr. Kettlewell who was an entomologist and played a huge role in the peppered moths experiment.
The first one is known as Natural Selection. Natural Selection gives the best suited organisms the greatest chance to survive and pass on their genes to the future generation, which then ends up changing the gene pool. Another mechanism that can mix and mash an species' gene pool are Mutations. Mutations are a change in the sequence of DNA in an organism. The effects of one can be good, bad or neutral meaning no effect. The third mechanism is called Genetic Drift which causes a change in the gene pool by random chance of events. For example, a garden full of red flowers may contain all red and one white. In the next generation there may be double or triple the amount of white flowers than there were last generation all by random chance. Gene Flow is the fourth mechanism for micro-evolution. Gene flow is the transfer of genes from one population to another. This can introduce new variations into a population. For example, when a yellow toad enters a population of all green toads, new genes from the yellow toad will enter the population when mating occurs. The last mechanism for micro-evolution is Non-Random Mating (NRM). NRM occurs when organisms rarely mate randomly. The three examples of this are: Harems, Assortative Mating and Sexual Selection. Harems is when one male has many females, while assortative mating is when an organisms chooses a mate that it likes. Sexual selection bases its purpose on colour, size, display, territory and/or song.
During the Industrial Revolution a species of moths called the Peppered Moths once existed and lived on the lightly colored trucks of trees. Once more and more coal was being used the clean forests started to darken and pollute. The smoke is the air caused a genetic mutation which changed 98% of the moths colour from light to dark, giving that certain species an advantage in darker forests even to this day. This is an example of how micro-evolution has and continues to occur in our everyday lives. Scientist today are the main people involved in micro-evolution. An example of this would be Dr. Kettlewell who was an entomologist and played a huge role in the peppered moths experiment.