Georgia K

  This week, in the video we watched in evolution, water snakes in and around Lake Erie exhibit a striking polymorphism. Mainland snakes primarily exhibit a striped phenotype called phenotype D. This helps them camouflage themselves in the leaf littered forests streams. In the case of the water snakes living on the islands in Lake Erie, the exhibit more reduced striping called phenotype B and C. Some individuals exhibiting no stripes, by a plain gray color will be called phenotype A. This phenotype is considered to be adaptive on the islands, where snakes are primarily on large, gray colored slaps of rock. In the context of the one-island model of migration, we will observe phenotype distributions.     Migration is the movement of alleles between populations with geographic variation. Most evolutionary biologists refer migration as gene flow, and this mechanism varies widely. Each population may experience slightly different environments, combination of mutations, selecti...

  So far I have really enjoyed the class. I think applying our skills in different ways, such as importing data in R Studio creating our own blogs about different topics has helped me better understand the world of evolution. I have never used R Studio before this class, and trying to understand it at first was pretty tough for me. The TA’s and the professor have been super helpful in me understanding the program. I now know having the in-depth knowledge of R Studios programming could help myself through education, job positions, and lead me to different career paths. Some personal break-throughs would be applying the knowledge I’m learning, critically thinking it through, and then writing a paper about it. Blogging is a also a great way to build a community behind science and eventually writing about your own research. I think it is a great idea. Another personal break-through would be just by understanding evolution in general. Before this class, I had thought evolution rarely ev...

  I believe that mutation rate can evolve. Evolution depends on genetic differences among individuals and species, and there are many ways DNA can change. One of the reasons why DNA changes is from mutation rates. Mutations can vary between individuals and species from an inborn system that could possibly be passed down to the offspring if they are heritable. Mutations can even come from the outside environment, like natural chemicals, sun exposure, and much more. High mutation rates evolve and they create more variation in the gene pool. From the book, “The Princeton Guide to Evolution," it states, “without mutation, every locus will ultimately fix, the population will be devoid of genetic variation, and evolution will cease.”   Technological advances have given sciences a very large insight into the different variations of genomes. Variation of the genome is introduced through mutations and can affect phenotypic expression, natural selection, and fitness levels. Mutations c...