17 Variation and selection

Types of Variation

 Variation is defined as differences between individuals of the same species

 Phenotypic variation is the difference in features between individuals of the same
species
 Some of these differences are caused by differences in genes, which is genetic
variation

 Phenotypic variation can be divided into two types depending on how you are able
to group the measurements:
o Continuous Variation is when there are very many small degrees of
difference for a particular characteristic between individuals and they are
arranged in order and can usually be measured on a scale
o Examples include height, mass, finger length etc. where there can be many
‘inbetween’ groups
o
o Discontinuous Variation is when there are distinct differences for a
characteristic
o For example, people are either blood group A, B, AB or O; are either male or
female; can either roll their tongue or not - there are no ‘inbetweens’
 When graphs of these data are plotted, continuous variation gives smooth bell
curves (a result of all the small degrees of difference), whereas discontinuous gives
a ‘step – like’ shape
Height is an example of continuous variation which gives rise to a
smooth bell-shaped curve when plotted as a graph
 Blo
od group is an example of discontinuous variation which gives rise to a
step-shaped graph

Phenotypic Variation
 Phenotypic variation can be caused in two main ways:
o It can be genetic - controlled entirely by genes
o Or it can be environmental - caused entirely by the environment in which the
organism lives
Genetic Variation
 Examples of genetic variation in humans include:
o blood group
o eye colour
o gender
o ability to roll tongue
o whether ear lobes are free or fixed

Whether earlobes are attached (lobeless) or free (lobed) is an example of

genetic variation
Environmental Variation
 Characteristics of all species can be affected by environmental factors such as
climate, diet, accidents, culture and lifestyle
 In this instance ‘environmental’ simply means ‘outside of the organism’ and so can
include factors like climate, diet, culture, lifestyle and accidents during lifetime
 Examples include:
o An accident may lead to scarring on the body
o Eating too much and not leading an active lifestyle will cause weight gain
o Being raised in a certain country will cause you to speak a
certain language with a certain accent
o A plant in the shade of a big tree will grow taller to reach more light

Genetic and Environmental Causes

 Discontinuous variation is usually caused by genetic variation alone
 Continuous features often vary because of a combination of genetic and
environmental causes, for example:
o tall parents will pass genes to their children for height
o their children have the genetic potential to also be tall
o however if their diet is poor then they will not grow very well
o therefore their environment also has an impact on their height
 Another way of looking at this is that although genes decide what characteristics we
inherit, the surrounding environment will affect how these inherited characteristics
develop

18.2.1 Mutations
Causes & Effects of Mutations

 Mutations are random genetic changes

 Most mutations have no effect on the phenotype as the protein that a mutated gene
produces may work just as well as the protein from the non - mutated gene
 Rarely, mutations lead to the development of new alleles and so new phenotypes
and if they do, most have a small effect on the organism
  Occasionally, the new allele gives the individual a survival advantage over other
members of the species
 For example:
o A bird develops a mutation leading to a change in feather colours
o This makes it more attractive to birds of the opposite sex
o Which causes the bird to breed more frequently and have more chances of
passing on the mutated phenotype to the next generation
 Mutations can also lead to harmful changes that can have dramatic effects on the
body - for example, sickle cell anaemia in humans
 Mutations happen spontaneously and continuously but their frequency can be
increased by exposure to the following:
o Gamma rays, x - rays and ultraviolet rays - all types of ionising radiation
which can damage bonds and cause changes in base sequences
o Certain types of chemicals - for example chemicals such as tar in tobacco
 Increased rates of mutation can cause cells to become cancerous, which is why the
above are linked to increased incidence of different types of cancer

18.4.1 Natural Selection & Evolution

Natural Selection

 In any environment, the individuals that have the best adaptive features are the ones
most likely to survive and reproduce
 This results in natural selection:
 Individuals in a species show a range of variation caused by differences in genes
 When organisms reproduce, they produce more offspring than the environment is
able to support
 This leads to competition for food and other resources which results in a ‘struggle
for survival’
 Individuals with characteristics most suited to the environment have a higher
chance of survival and more chances to reproduce
 Therefore the alleles resulting in these characteristics are passed to their offspring
at a higher rate than those with characteristics less suited to survival
 This means that in the next generation, there will be a greater number of
individuals with the better adapted variations in characteristics
  This theory of natural selection was put forward by Charles Darwin and became
known as ‘survival of the fittest’

An example of natural selection

Natural selection illustrated by snail shell colour

 Within the population of snails there is variation in shell colour

 Normal varieties of shell colours in this snail species is black or grey (as evidenced
by the first picture)
 Chance mutations lead to a small number of snails / one snail having a white shell
 This ‘small number’ is shown in the second diagram where there are less white
shelled snails than black or grey shelled snails
 The white shelled snail(s) survive longer
 This is the ‘survival of the fittest’, a term used to explain why some organisms
succeed in the competitive struggle for survival against other members of their
population
 The reason the white shelled snail(s) survive longer is because they are better
camouflaged
 This means that they are less likely to be seen by predators and eaten
 As they survive longer they get more opportunities to reproduce
 And so the allele for white shells is passed onto offspring more frequently than the
alleles for black or grey shells
 Over generations, this is repeated until the majority of snails in the population
have white shells
 A
nother good example of natural selection is the evolution of the peppered moths
Evolution

 If the environment does not change, selection does not change

 This will favour individuals with the same characteristics as their parents
 If the environment changes, or a chance mutation produces a new allele, selection
might now favour individuals with different characteristics or with the new allele
 So the individuals that survive and reproduce will have a different set of alleles that
they pass on to their offspring
 Over time, this will bring about a change in the characteristics of the species - it
will produce evolution
 Evolution is defined as the change in adaptive features of a population over time
as a result of natural selection
 Natural selection results in a process of adaptation, which means that, over
generations, those features that are better adapted to the environment become
more common
 This means populations of organisms become better suited to their environment
 A good example of this is the development of antibiotic resistance by bacteria

18.4.2 Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic Resistance in Bacteria

 An antibiotic is a chemical that can kill or inhibit the growth and reproduction of
bacteria
 They are extremely useful to humans as some bacteria are pathogenic and can
cause life-threatening disease
 Bacteria reproduce, on average, every 20 minutes and therefore evolution occurs
in a much shorter time span
 Like all other organisms, within a population there will be variation caused by
mutation
 A chance mutation might cause some bacteria to become resistant to an antibiotic
(eg penicillin)
 When the population is treated with this antibiotic, the resistant bacteria do not die
 This means they can continue to reproduce with less competition from non-
resistant bacteria, which are now dead
 Therefore the genes for antibiotic resistance are passed on with a much greater
frequency to the next generation
 Over time the whole population of bacteria becomes antibiotic-
resistant because the bacteria are best suited to their environment
 This is an example of natural selection that humans have helped to develop due
to overuse of antibiotics in situations where they were not really necessary, for
example:
o for treatment of non-serious infections
o routine treatment to animals in agriculture
o failure to finish prescribed course of antibiotics
 D
evelopment of antibiotic resistance in bacteria

 Increases in the population of antibiotic-resistant bacteria cause infections and

diseases which are harder to control as it is difficult to find antibiotics that certain
strains of bacteria are not resistant to
  An example of this is MRSA, a very dangerous bacterial strain that is resistant to
most antibiotics
 If someone gets infected with MRSA they cannot be treated easily
 Adding to these difficulties, the number of new antibiotics discovered has slowed
 significantly

18.5.1 Artificial Selection

Artificial Selection

 Selective breeding means to select individuals with desirable characteristics

and breed them together
 The process doesn’t stop there though because it’s likely that not all of the offspring
will show the characteristics you want so offspring that do show the desired
characteristics are selected and bred together
 This process has to be repeated for many successive generations before you
can definitely say you have a ‘new breed’ which will reliably show those selected
characteristics in all offspring

Natural vs Artificial Selection

18.5.2 Selective Breeding in Plants

Selectively Breeding Plants

 Plants are selectively bred by humans for development of many characteristics,
including:
o disease resistance in food crops
o increased crop yield
o hardiness to weather conditions (e.g. drought tolerance)
o better tasting fruits
o large or unusual flowers
 An example of a plant that has been selectively bred in multiple ways is wild
brassica, which has given rise to cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts,
kale and kohlrabi:
An example of selective breeding in plants
Selective Breeding

 has been carried out by humans for thousands of years

 It takes place in the same way as selective breeding of plants
 Individuals with the characteristics you want are bred together (often several
different parents all with the desired characteristics are chosen so siblings do not
have to be bred together in the next generation)
 Offspring that show the desired characteristics are selected and bred together
 This process is repeated for many successive generations before you can
definitely say you have a ‘new breed’ which will reliably show those selected
characteristics in all offspring
 Animals are commonly selectively bred for various characteristics, including:
o cows, goats and sheep that produce lots of milk or meat
o chickens that lay large eggs
o domestic dogs that have a gentle nature
o sheep with good quality wool
o horses with fine features and a very fast pace
 An example of an animal that has been selectively bred by humans in many ways to
produce breeds with many different characteristics is the domestic dog, all breeds
of which are descended from wolves

Selective breeding has produced many different breeds of domestic dog