Biology 1001A Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Snow Goose, White Feathers, Genetic Variation
Document Summary
Microevolution is the change in the genetic makeup of a population from one generation to the next. Small populations that are the result of bottlenecks with low genetic diversity are more susceptible to disease and have limited ability to survive environmental changes. Phenotypic variation: difference in appearance or function i. e. snails in the same population can be different weight, have different length of shells, etc. Individuals differ in small ways i. e. humans vary in length of toes, the number of hairs, height, etc. Other characters (i. e. ones mendel studied; colour) are qualitative variation: exist in 2 or more discrete states and intermediate forms are absent i. e. snow geese have either blue of white feathers. Existence of discrete variants of a character is called polymorphism i. e. type of snail: snail shells are polymorphic in background colour, number of stripes, and colour of stripes i. e. humans have blood types a, b, ab, and o.
