Peyton Wilson's Evolution Blog

  - S = selection coefficient - Delta P = change in allele frequency or Delta P = S*(PQ) - P = frequency of allele - Q = frequency of 1-p

 The Hardy-Weinberg equation is an equation that can calculate the frequencies and variation of genes and alleles. It is useful because it allows us to see the genetic frequency of a population so we can compare evolving and non-evolving populations. Quarks Problem Dwarbs Problem Delta-32 Problem My Problem In a population of 600 people living on the Star Wars planet of Naboo, only 40 people have the Force. The allele for the Force is recessive. 1. What percentage of the population is heterozygous? 2. What is the frequency of the dominant allele?

  The first misconception I had was about mutation. I believed, for whatever reason, I’m not sure, that all mutations were bad things. This is obviously not the case because mutations can be negative, neutral, or even positive to the animal. The other misconception I had was with inheritance/genetics. I have I did not understand allele frequency or anything that allows the genes getting passed down to be anything but the same.   For my misconception about mutation, it was an “ah-ha” moment when I first learned that mutations could have positive, negative, and neutral effects on its animal. I guess where I still have some confusion is if mutations can switch through lifetimes from positive to negative mutations or positive to neutral mutations.   For my misconception about why not all genes are passed down, it was a gradual understanding of allele frequency and the randomness that is involved. I guess what I still don’t understand is more about why certain things get passe...

Altruism and Kin Selection are very similar and perhaps interchangeable in some situations. Altruism is defined as when an animal acts to lower its own chance of survival to increase the chances of survival for another animal. It is a selfless act for someone or something else.  Kin Selection is similarly defined as when an animal acts to lower its own chance of survival to increase the chances of survival for a closely related animal. In my opinion, kin selection absolutely is altruism. I see kin selection as one of the many forms of altruism the same as there are many other ways that altruism can be displayed. Kin selection is a selfless act that helps those it is related to at its own expense so I view it is a specific form of altruism that is exclusive to those it is related to.  My favorite example of this is a deer blowing. As any Oklahoma deer hunter would know, the sound of a deer blowing will almost always mean the deer has caught the hunter’s scent and the hunter n...

     An example of micro-scaled adaptation or rapid adaptation in recent years is the Soapberry bugs or butt bugs in Florida. The Soapberry bugs around 50 years ago had long beak projections that would have to unroll themselves due to their length and then insert into the seed pod of the native plant they fed on. This beak releases digestive juices that make consumption possible.      Around that 50 year-ago mark, a new plant that was closely related to the native plant fed on by Soapberry bugs was introduced to Florida. This new plant had a much smaller seed pod and became very prevalent very quickly. The rapid adaptation observed was the shrinking of the length of the Soapberry bugs beak. As a long beak was no longer required to reach the seeds in the seed pod, the Soapberry bugs began to be observed with shorter beaks.       Another rapid adaptation that was observed was the lack of ability to fly. Many of the Soapberry bugs used to b...

 Horizontal Gene Transfer HGT is the transferring of genetic material from one organism to another is ways OTHER than vertically or parent to offspring. This gene transfer method is typically used by prokaryotes more than eukaryotes and results in about 2% of the transfer of genome (Horizontal Gene Transfer, 2020).  Figure: This illustration depicts how HGT can occur across very different species. An example of horizontal gene transfer is in Staphylococcus Aureus. Beta Lactams and tetracycline are fed to animals and horizontal gene transfer takes place into the S. Aureus strain causing it to have a resistence to Methicillin. Horizontal gene transfer occurs through S. Aureus  through conjugation, transformation, and transduction. This strain is called methicillin-resistant strain CC398. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4536854/ https://bio.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Introductory_and_General_Biology/Book%3A_General_Biology_(Boundless)/20%3A_Phylogenies_and_the_...