Taryn Moore

Reflection
Before taking this class I had never really thought about
evolution. I knew that we had come from primates but I didnt know
the process that happened in between. This class brought me to a full
understanding about our ancestors and how modern humans came
about.
Evolution is a hot topic, especially for people who do not believe
in it. After learning about how primates evolved it opened my eyes to
how natural selection really works. I had learned in high school about
Charles Darwin and about the finches but it never really clicked that
Darwins theory on natural selection applies to every species.
Once I grasped the concept on how a species reproductive
success relied on environmental forces, I started to understand how
evolution really works. In order for a species to not go extinct they
must be able to reproduce. If a species has a characteristic that is
neither favorable nor helpful to their reproductive success then that
species would not be able to reproduce, causing their lineage to go
extinct.
When primates were forced to change their way of living because
of environment forces so did their characteristics. An example that
further helped explain evolution was the idea of adaptive radiation.
Primates went from an arboreal niche, to a diurnal niche, to then being
able to live in both. Although it takes many years for characteristics to
change, it is something that must happen in order for them to not go
extinct. When primates were in their arboreal niche they had
characteristics like grasping hands and feet and had an increased
reliance on vision. It would have made it extremely difficult for them to
live in the trees if they did not have these characteristics because of
the uncertainty of the trees. When they started to go diurnal they still
relied heavily on vision but not so much on their sense of smell. Since
they relied so heavily on their vision they did not need to have a strong
sense of smell. Fast-forward and they are now living in both ecological
niches. The sole reason they had to adapt to new ecological niches is
because of the competition. If they werent strictly in their diurnal
niche and were living in an arboreal niche, like most of the other
mammals at the time, then it would have made them easy prey, which
could have ultimately caused them to go extinct. Since they were able
to adapt to different selective pressures they were able to keep
spreading their genes.
As I learned more about the factors the
influence natural selection I started to get a full understanding of
evolution. In class we talked about microevolution and macroevolution.
Microevolution forces involve mutation, gene flow, genetic drift, nonrandom mating, and natural selection. These forces are able to make
small changes in the frequency of alleles in a population. Mutation

would allow changes in the genetic code. If a population starts to

develop a mutation, such as methemoglobinemia, which we talked
about when we learned how to do punnet squares, it will cause a new
variation in that population which could alter halt their reproductive
success. Gene flow is the movement of genes between populations.
This allows the populations to stay genetically the same. Genetic drift
is the change in allele frequencies due to a change. If a population
were to crash and a small number survive then whatever the amount
of survivors there are means thats all the genes left of this population.
Non-random mating is very self-explanatory. You dont see a squirrel
trying to mate with an elephant, this would allow for genes to be all
over the place. An example with humans would be interbreeding. If
someone were to mate with a biological relative and have an offspring,
that offspring would be more likely to have genetic problems, which
could halt their reproductive success later on in life. Natural selection is
the process in which species adapt. Without natural selection species
would not be able adapt to new environments causing them to go
extinct. Once I understood how these forces worked I began to
understand how important genes really are. Without them there would
be no evolution.
Macroevolution patterns consist of speciation, extinction,
convergence, parallel evolution, adaptive radiation, and mosaic
evolution. This allows change after many generations, which creates
new species. Speciation is the very most basic process in
macroevolution. This allows for a species to evolve an earlier species.
Extinction is the complete wipeout of a species. Convergence allows
species to have characteristics that have the same function. Parallel
evolution allows species to evolve along the same track. Adaptive
radiation helps with the multiplication of species. Mosaic evolution
allows different anatomical systems to evolve at different times. The
absolute best example that I learned was the evolution of hominins.
Hominins were able to come about because there was a change after
many generations in chimps. They were able to get the same
characteristics, adapt to different ecological niches, and eventually
evolved into different species at different times. First hominins were
able to walk on 2 feet around 7mya. Then they were able to get
smaller teeth around 3.2mya, and eventually started getting bigger
brains around 2mya.
When we did the in class activity where we looked at multiple
skulls and had to decipher which skull went with which hominin
species, I was able to get a much better understanding of
macroevolution. The farram magnum in the bottom of the skull
provided evidence of bipedalism. Its a hold in the brain from the spinal
cord allowing them to walk bipedally. The adaptation to smaller teeth
becoming favorable was evident in the robust australopiths. The robust
australopits had very large teeth with a high chewing functional

complex, which allowed them to chew tough fibrous food. This species
ultimately went extinct due to large teeth not being a favorable
characterstic, halting their reproductive success. Bigger brains were a
favorable characteristic, which was evident in the gracile australopiths
which ultimately evolved into the first homo species. As the brain
started to get bigger their reproductive success was able to continue.
They began to make stone tools, build fires, build shelters, and hunt
big game to keep their calorie intake stable. Bigger brains allowed
them to adapt to their surroundings and ultimately keep their lineage
going.
Evolution was never really anything that had crossed my mind.
However after learning about the importance of microevolution and
macroevolution I am able to get a better understanding on how
important these factors are to our future generations. I never really
thought about how much evolution relies on reproductive success.
After this class I am able to understand how environmental factors can
easily halt our reproductive success and ultimately lead to our
extinction.