Question 24

How are heredity and natural selection involved in the process of evolution? [Chapter 23]

Population Genetics (read 446-449)

1. The modern evolutionary synthesis integrated Darwinian selection and Mendelian inheritance.

2. A population’s gene pool is defined by its allelic frequencies.

3. The Hardy-Weinberg theorem describes a non-evolving population.

Causes of Microevolution (read pages 450-452)

1. Microevolution is a generation to generation change in a population’s allele frequencies.

2. The two main causes of microevolution are genetic drift and natural selection.

Genetic Variation, the Substrate for Natural Selection (read pages 453-457)

1. Genetic variation occurs within and between populations.

2. Mutation and sexual recombination generate genetic variation.

3. Diploidy and balanced polymorphism preserve variation.

A Closer Look at Natural Selection as the Mechanism of Adaptive Evolution

(read pages 457-461).

1. Evolutionary fitness is the relative contribution and individual makes to the gene pool of the next generation.

2. The effect of selection on a varying characteristic can be directional, diversifying, or stabilizing.

3. Natural selection maintains sexual reproduction.

4. Sexual selection may lead to pronounced secondary sexual differences between the sexes.

5. Natural selection cannot fashion perfect organisms.

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