Evolution of Kathryn's Knowledge of Evolution

One animal trait I have always found fascinating is that of the feet of the Blue-Footed Booby. Why are they like that? In what situations are blue feet a beneficial trait? It turns out that the current hypothesis actually has to do with the diet of the blue-footed booby. The pigments present in the diet of the boobies likely concentrate in their feet, causing that pigment to affect their foot color. Higher concentrations lead to more vibrant blue feet. If the color of their feet is a result of their diet, why have their feet not increased the amount of predation experienced by the boobies? Can predators not see their blue feet from miles away? It is questions like these that remind me why I am so interested in science and the scientific method.

When discussing evolution, there is usually a question of "when will it end?" or " why would anything still be evolving" or, better yet, "are humans evolving?" To answer these questions, we have to remember why anything ever evolves in the first place. Whether it be selection, nonrandom mating, or the weather, there is always a reason for evolution that is driven by some outside force. These outside forces are why organisms continue to evolve. We've had a heck of a time dealing with the evolution of COVID-19 over the past couple years! The reason organisms keep evolving is simple: to become better suited to their environments. It would not make sense for a bright pink moth to live in the dirt now would it? And to answer the question regarding the evolution of humanity, we have yet to see a true survival-driven evolutionary characteristic of humans in the modern era. Sure there may be redheads or blue-eyed people, but those mutations do not constitute e...

I have been learning so much about evolution and problem solving over these past few weeks. I have really enjoyed working my brain and making connections, asking questions, and solving problems that I don't normally get to see. My original thoughts on evolution haven't changed, per se, but they have grown. I understand more of the nitty gritty of evolution rather than just the general concept. I think I may still be struggling with some real-world applications of my knowledge, but some of what I have been working on has really helped drive that home. I am even more curious about how our general understanding of evolution as both a society and a scientific community will change in the future. I think more people are becoming comfortable with the idea that while we may not know everything about evolution we continue to learn more about it each and every day.

In nature, organisms reproduce within their populations constantly. This can be a good thing, resulting in higher fitness, better adaptations to their environments, or an overall net good benefit to the population. However, there can also be negative outcomes concerning reproduction within populations. Sometimes, the size of a population can result in inbreeding. This means organisms that are genetically very similar are reproducing with each other. Sometimes this is good and results in strong organisms that are well adapted to their environments, but in many cases inbreeding is unfavorable. Inbreeding can cause unfavorable alleles to reproduced in a population and decrease the fitness of that population. Inbreeding can also cause organisms in a population to only be adapted to an extremely specific environment. Both of these things are unfortunate for organisms and decrease the fitness of that population of organisms.

One of the most important mechanisms for evolution is mutations in gene sequences in DNA. An interesting question to ask is: do mutation rates evolve? The short answer is yes, mutation rates can and do evolve. This is due to the susceptibility of a gene to mutation. Previous mutations of a gene can cause that gene to be more likely to mutate, and thus the process continues down the line. In some cases this could be a good thing, and the result of an adaptation. In an ever-changing environment, a high rate of mutation could be favorable or beneficial. The inverse is also true. In a mostly stagnant environment, a low rate of mutation would be favorable. It is interesting to think that mutations themselves can evolve and cause evolution!

When humans consider fitness, we usually focus on strength, appearance, or stamina of a single person or type of person. In the world of evolution, fitness may be based on strength, appearance, or stamina, but it is not the same thing. Fitness in the natural world is the ability to remain alive and reproduce relative to other organisms. It may be a case where the fastest offspring gets the most food, the prettiest bird finds the most mates, or the organism best suited for the climate continues to live. One of the most interesting examples of relative fitness, in my opinion, is that of the kangaroo. Kangaroos are marsupials, which means part of the growth of a fetal kangaroo happens in the pouch on the outer side of the kangaroo rather than in the uterus. This means any potential kangaroos must crawl to a source of life within the mother kangaroo's pouch. Since kangaroos produce more fetal kangaroos than can fit in their pouches, a select number of fetal kangaroos make it to their m...

One of the most intriguing concepts concerning evolution is the ability of species to change and adapt to their environments over time. I know I love my little red poodle, and I also know that he would not exist without evolution or our understanding of it. My little dog is very different than his ancestors, and this demonstrates the idea that novel forms of organisms are derived from earlier forms of that organism, but are distinctly different even though the organisms share a common ancestor. This is also called macroevolution.  As seen above, the gray wolf is the ancestor and the pug is one of its descendants. We as humans selected for favorable traits (maybe not so favorable in the case of the pug) and bred dogs together until the unfavorable traits were uprooted and only the traits we wanted in the animals were present. Though this was not natural selection, it was still selection on the basis of desirable heritable traits. The people who made this graphic wanted to make it ab...