Peyton Wilson's Evolution Blog

Sperm Competition - Sperm competition is a type of male-male competition where the male ejaculates large enough sized sperm that make any other male unable to fertilize the female's egg for a duration of time. This type of competition is seen in Dunnocks ( Prunella modularis ) for example. Combat Competition - Combat competition is a type of male-male competition where two or more males will fight one another to win over a female. This type of competition is seen in many animals such as humans, antlered animals, large cats, apes, kangaroos, and many more. These two types of male-male competition are similar in the small fact that they are techniques in which males can prevent other males from mating with the female they desired but they are different in how they do it. Combat competition is a direct, face-to-face confrontation for a mate while sperm competition is something a male does and then leaves so it is competing against any male that attempts to mate with the female it ha...

 Something that has been bringing me a lot of joy recently is the show Yellowstone. It's a western show that is a mix of Longmire (definitely recommend) and Succession (never got super into it). It's about a very wealthy ranching family in Montana that tries everything that can, usually bending or even breaking the law, to defend the family ranch against predatorial power-hungry individuals who seek to take the land.

 Something I found intriguing and wondered more about is Sexual Dimorphism. I understand, and as was stated in the podcast, that sexual dimorphism is the amount of variation between the male and female of the same species such as the variation of a male deer (buck) having a set of antlers while the female deer (doe) does not have a set of antlers. I also understand that sexual dimorphism is a result of sexual selection choosing for these traits but I am curious why traits that decrease fitness in terms of safety (like that in a peacock) were sexually chosen for. Sexual selection is all based on choosing a mate that is or appears to be, the fittest so why would female peacocks continually select for a trait that would consequently decrease the fitness of their offspring? The sexy son's hypothesis is what I found the most interesting because it is such a crazy idea that yet somehow makes so much sense no matter how weird it sounds. The sexy son's hypothesis is the idea that femal...

 Will species who are unable to successfully reproduce ever try to reproduce or mate? How has the criteria for classifying species changed over time and will it continue to change with more information becoming available or is it a pretty good system right now that might only take small tweaks with time? Do people specialize in the work of categorizing species like in other words would a particular scientist classify themselves as being a scientist that categorizes species and subspecies?

- Genetic Drift is random and is things like the Bottleneck and Founder's Effect while Natural Selection is not an example of Genetic Drift because it is not random. Examples of Genetic Drift in the form of Bottlenecks and Founders Effect above and example of Natural Selection below

 Phenotypic Plasticity is the ability of an organism to express a particular phenotype differently based on what is most needed in a certain environment without any change in the genome. In "The Genetic Basis of Adaptation following Plastic Changes in Coloration in a Novel Environment", they follow a species of lizards where some of the lizards lived in lava rock and had a darker color while some of the lizards lived in the sand and had a lighter color. This is from phenotypic plasticity allowing for better camouflage. This process is relatively fast and allows for better camouflage in different environments because of melanin production regulators.