Evolution, Biodiversity, and Ecosystem
Topic 1: Evolution
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Principles of Evolution
❖ Charles Darwin proposed that theory of natural selection to explain how evolution
works. He suggested that species evolve through small changes that gradually
accumulate over.
Evolution
- the process by which the characteristics of a species change over time
- this happens across multiple generations
● Macroevolution - refers to big changes over long periods, like the creation
of new species
● Microevolution - involves small, more immediate changes within a species,
like changes in a few changes
- for evolution to happen, there has to be genetic variation in a population
- this variation leads to differences in traits (like size, color, etc.,) among individuals
What is Natural Selection?
➔ Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection:
◆ Charles Darwin's theory states that evolution occurs through natural
selection.
◆ Organisms produce more offspring than can survive in their environment,
leading to competition for resources.
➔ Survival of the Fittest:
◆ The organisms that are better physically equipped to survive are more
likely to reach maturity and reproduce, passing on their beneficial traits.
◆ "Survival of the fittest" refers to the organisms best suited to their
environment, who reproduce most successfully.
➔ Adaptation to Changing Environments:
◆ If the environment changes, the traits that enhance survival in that
environment will gradually evolve.
➔ Genetic Drift:
◆ Genetic drift is another mechanism of evolution where some organisms,
by chance, produce more offspring than others. Their genes, not
necessarily the "fittest," get passed on.
➔ Variation and Survival:
◆ Individuals in a species show variation in physical characteristics due to
genetic differences.
◆ Those with traits best suited to their environment are more likely to
survive, find food, avoid predators, and resist disease.
➔ Reproduction and Gene Transmission:
◆ Organisms that are better adapted to their environment are more likely to
survive and reproduce, passing their genes to the next generation.
◆ Over time, this leads to the gradual evolution of the species.
➔ Gradual Evolution:
◆ Over generations, the species evolves as the most suited individuals
survive and reproduce, passing their advantageous traits to offspring.
Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection (1859):
● Darwin published his ideas in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural
Selection.
Four Main Principles of Natural Selection:
● I. Variation in Populations:
○ Every species shows variation in traits (e.g., color, height, weight).
○ Variation can be more pronounced in geographically isolated areas.
○ These areas may have species with distinct traits due to unique
environmental conditions.
● II. Inherited Traits:
○ Traits are passed from parents to offspring through inheritance.
○ Inherited traits that improve survival are more likely to be passed on.
○ Environmental factors may affect traits like weight, but these changes are
not inherited.
○ Only genetic traits, such as a larger skeleton, are passed to offspring.
● III. Offspring Compete:
○ Species produce more offspring than the environment can support.
○ This leads to competition for limited resources.
○ Only the surviving individuals reproduce and pass on their genes.
● IV. Survival of the Fittest:
○ Some individuals survive the competition for resources and reproduce.
○ The traits that helped them survive are passed to the next generation.
○ This process, called "natural selection," leads to the survival of individuals
with advantageous traits
"Survival of the fittest" refers to how certain traits that enhance survival are passed on
through generations due to environmental conditions
What are the pieces of evidence of Evolution?
Fossil Record:
● Fossils are preserved remains of organisms from the past, offering insights into
species that lived long ago.
● Fossils document extinct species and help reconstruct evolutionary histories,
contributing to the understanding of evolutionary timelines.
Variation:
● Variation refers to the differences within a species, such as traits like color, size,
and shape.
● For example, rice has many varieties, showing how variation within species
occurs.
Comparative Embryology (Developmental Similarities):
● Similar developmental stages in embryos of different species suggest they share
a common ancestor.
● Vertebrates, for instance, share features like pharyngeal pouches, dorsal nerve
cords, and tails during early development.
Comparative Anatomy (Homologous vs. Analogous Structures):
● Homologous structures: Similar features in different species due to common
ancestry (e.g., arm bones in bats, cats, humans, and whales).
● Analogous structures: Similar features that evolved independently in species due
to similar environmental pressures (e.g., wings of birds and bats).
Vestigial Structures:
● Remnants of organs that no longer have a function but indicate evolutionary
history (e.g., pelvic bones in snakes, the appendix in humans).
● These structures provide strong evidence of evolutionary changes over time.
Molecular Biology:
● Shared biological molecules like DNA, genetic codes, and gene expression
processes across species support the idea of a common ancestor.
● Nucleotide sequences of genes are used to determine evolutionary relationships
between species.
Mutation:
● Mutations, whether spontaneous or induced, introduce genetic variation, driving
species change over time.
● Mutations in plants and animals can be passed on to future generations,
contributing to evolutionary processes.
Biogeography:
● The geographic distribution of species explains evolutionary patterns, influenced
by the movement of tectonic plates and the breakup of supercontinents like
Pangaea.
● Species that evolved before Pangaea's breakup are widely distributed, while
those that evolved after it are found in smaller, isolated regions.
Topic 2: Biological Diversity
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Biodiversity
- biodiversity refers to the variety and abundance of life forms in a specific
ecosystem
- many countries around the world have diverse species of plants and animals
- the philippines has a rich biodiversity, with approximately 52,117 species
- about half of the species in the philippines are endemic, meaning they are only
found in the country
- the philippines is part of the coral triangle, a western pacific region with a high
concentration of coral species and marine life
- protecting natural resources is essential to sustain human life and the
environment for future generations
Understanding Earth’s Size, Life, and Natural Resources
● The Earth is 12,742 km wide and 40,041 km around. About 75% is covered in
water, and 25% is land.
● Many types of organisms (plants, animals, bacteria, etc.) live on Earth, each with
basic needs (food, water, shelter) to survive.
● With more people being born, there’s a worry about whether Earth will have
enough resources to support everyone in the future.
● This means the variety of all living things in a specific area (ecosystem). An
ecosystem includes animals, plants, and other organisms interacting with each
other and their surroundings.
● A species is a group of living things that can breed together. Each species is
important for biodiversity and provides resources like food, materials for clothing,
shelter, medicine, and even energy.
● Think about the plants, animals, and other organisms around you. Consider how
they meet our needs and how people use these natural resources.
How Living Things Support and Stabilize Nature
● Living things help nature balance by adapting and interacting with each other and
their nonliving environment.
● Example is after a volcanic eruption destroyed plants and animals grasses grew
back after a few years. This shows that some plants, like grasses, can adapt to
harsh conditions and gradually change the environment.
● Living things rely on each other for survival. For example, plants use sunlight to
make food through photosynthesis. This process is crucial because animals can’t
make food from sunlight and need to eat plants to gain energy.
● Plants are the primary food source for many living things. If plants disappeared, it
would harm other life forms, as they would lose their main energy source.
Species Diversity: Key to Ecosystem Stability and Adaptation
❖ This refers to the number of different species in an ecosystem, how many
individuals of each species are present, and how evenly they are spread out
across the area.
❖ It helps to measure the health of an ecosystem. A healthy ecosystem has many
species in balance, which helps maintain the system’s stability
❖ Species can show whether an area needs conservation efforts. More diverse
ecosystems are more stable
❖ Greater species diversity helps organisms adapt to changing environments.
When species have more genetic diversity (differences in their trait), they are
more likely to survive changes in the environment .
❖ Species with a lot of genetic differences (varied trait) have a better chance of
coping with changes compared to species with little diversity, which may strugg;e
to adapt.
What determines which genes or traits will persist in a population?
● both environmental changes and genetic changes affect which trait will continue
in a population.
Environmental Change:
➔ When the environment changes drastically, only individuals with traits that help
them survive the new conditions will live. Others may migrate or die.
➔ Examples of environmental changes: scarcity of water, rise in temperature, global
warming, food chain disruptions, deforestation, more CO2 in the air, and changes
in rainfall patterns.
Genetic Change:
➔ Gene mutations create new traits. These traits only stay in the population if they
help the individual survive and reproduce.
➔ Humans have been modifying genes for thousands of years (e.g., selective
breeding in plants and animals).
➔ Genetic modification can help with food security, nutrition, and fighting disease,
but it must be carefully regulated.
Directional Selection:
➔ Traits that make individuals more fit for the environment will help them survive
and reproduce more.
➔ Directional selection shifts the population toward one extreme of a trait (e.g.,
bigger or faster individuals) while the other extreme becomes less common.
Genetic Drift:
➔ This occurs mainly in small populations. In small groups, some genetic traits may
disappear by chance, while others become more common.
➔ Bottleneck Effect: A natural disaster or other event reduces the population size,
causing some traits to disappear and others to become more common.
➔ Founder Effect: A new population forms in a different location, and its traits may
be different from the original population due to isolation.
Relationship Between Adaptation, Survival, and Extinction
● Adaptation helps species survive in changing environments.
● If species cannot adapt to the new environment, they may migrate or go extinct.
● The process of adaptation determines whether a species will survive or face
extinction in the long term.
Adaptation:
● Adaptation is when an organism changes to fit its environment. It helps an
organism survive by allowing it to cope with environmental challenges over time.
● Example: Birds migrating from China to the Philippines, New Zealand, or
Australia during winter is a behavioral adaptation to survive in different
environments.
● Plants have adapted to land by producing lots of fruits and seeds in a season,
helping them spread widely.
Survival:
● Species that already have traits suited to new environmental conditions will
survive. For example, if an area dries up, plants or animals that can tolerate the
dry conditions will continue to live there.
Out-migration:
● Species that can't adapt may leave the area and move to a place where
conditions are better suited for them to survive.
Extinction:
● Species that cannot adapt or migrate may go extinct. This happens if the
environmental change is too severe or if the species is limited to that area and
cannot move.
Topic 3: Ecosystems Unity in Diversity
Population
- A population is a group of individuals from the same species living in a specific
area and interacting with each other.
- Example: The human population in Lipa City includes all the people living there.
- Population size refers to the total number of individuals in a population.
- Population density refers to the number of individuals living in a specific area
(e.g., how many people live per square kilometer).
Changes in Population Size (The Ups and Downs of Population Growth)
- Populations can increase or decrease over time. For example, more rainfall and
plant growth can increase a rat population, while drought can decrease it.
● Population Grow:
- A population grows when births are greater than deaths.
- Other factors like immigration (inflow of individuals) can also
contribute to population growth.
● Population Shrink:
- A population shrinks when deaths exceed births or when
individuals emigrate (leave the area).
- This can happen due to changes in the environment or
resources.
- A population grows when there are enough resources and no major issues.
- A population can shrink because of:
● Biotic limits: More predators, diseases, or loss of habitat.
● Abiotic limits: Lack of resources like food or space.
● If a population exceeds the resources available to support it, it may shrink.
What is Population Growth?
● Population growth refers to the increase in the number of individuals in a
population over time.
● Example: If a population of insects starts with 100 individuals and increases to
200, that’s population growth.
Population Size vs. Density:
● Population size is the total number of individuals in a population, like 100 insects
or more.
● Population density refers to how many individuals live in a specific area.
● Smaller populations are at greater risk of extinction, but sometimes population
density (how crowded the species is) is more important than size.
Population Growth in the Philippines (2020):
● The population growth rate in the Philippines in 2020 was 1.52%, but this is
expected to slow down by 2050.
● The population in 2020 was around 109.6 million, and it’s expected to reach 125
million by 2030.
What is Carrying Capacity?
● Carrying capacity is the maximum number of individuals an environment can
support without damaging the resources.
● Example: A forest can support 10 carabaos easily, but if there are 1,000
carabaos, they’ll eat all the food and the population will decrease due to lack of
resources.
Population Growth and Carrying Capacity:
● A population can grow quickly in the beginning (exponential growth), but
eventually, the growth slows down as resources become limited, leading to
logistic growth.
● When the population size reaches the environment’s carrying capacity (marked
by line K on a graph), it stabilizes and no longer grows rapidly.
Limiting Factors:
● These are factors (biotic and abiotic) that limit how many individuals can survive
in an ecosystem, such as:
○ Abiotic: Water, oxygen, space, temperature.
○ Biotic: Food, predators, disease.
● Limiting factors affect the carrying capacity by determining how much space and
resources are available.
Ecological Footprint:
● The ecological footprint is the opposite of carrying capacity. It refers to the
amount of resources needed by a population to survive, which can sometimes
exceed the environment's carrying capacity.
Changes in Carrying Capacity:
● The carrying capacity can change if the environment undergoes changes, like
natural disasters, climate change, or human activities.
● Human actions can either increase or decrease carrying capacity, such as
through deforestation, pollution, or conservation.
Impact of Exceeding Carrying Capacity:
● If a population exceeds its carrying capacity, resources may run out, causing the
population to decline or even collapse.
