Chapter 17: Teaching Guide: Selection and Evolution

Chapter 17: Teaching guide
Selection and evolution
Resources available
Topic name Syllabus Number of Coursebook Teacher CD resources
outcomes lessons material
(suggested)
17.1(a), (b), • Pages 398–401

Variation 2 • SAQs 17.1, 17.2 Practical 17.2
(c), (d)
• EOCQ 1
Overproduction 17.2(a) 2 • Pages 401–402 Practical 17.1
Natural • Pages 402–404

17.2(b) 2 • SAQs 17.3, 17.4 Activity 17.1
selection
• EOCQs 2, 4–6
• Pages 404–409
Selection and 17.2(b), (c), • Worked example Activity 17.2
2 17.1
drift (d) Homework 17.1
• SAQ 5
• EOCQs 9, 10
17.3(a), (b), • Pages 404–409
Evolution 2 • SAQs 17.9
(c), (d), (e)
• EOCQs 3, 11
Artificial • Pages 409–412
17.2(e), (f) 2 • SAQs 17.6–17.8
selection
• EOCQs 6–8
Topic 1 Variation
Students should appreciate that some of the variation that exists within a species is genetic in origin,
and some is the result of environmental factors; and that it is genetic variation that is important in
natural selection. Students are expected to be able to describe the differences between continuous and
discontinuous variation, to explain the genetic bases of these variations and to explain how the
environment may affect the phenotype of animals and plants. Students should be aware that the
environment has considerable influence on the expression of features that show continuous variation.
Suggested activities
Possible starters
• Review the terms genotype and phenotype.
• Remind students how meiosis and random fusion of gametes at fertilisation lead to genetic
variation (Chapter 16).
Cambridge International AS and A Level Biology © Cambridge University Press 2014 1

Main lesson content
• Describe the differences between continuous and discontinuous variation.
• Explain the genetic basis of continuous and discontinuous variation. Use examples from Chapter
16 to illustrate discontinuous variation and height and mass to illustrate continuous variation.
• Use Practical 17.2 to measure variation in a plant population.
• Use Chapter P2 in the Coursebook to explain how to use the t-test to analyse data on variation.
• Explain why only genetic variation is important in selection.
Common misunderstandings and misconceptions
• Students may think that environmental variation can be selected for.
Supporting struggling students
• Students may need help to distinguish qualitative and quantitative differences in phenotypic traits.
Challenging high achievers
• Encourage students to show that the additive effect of three genes, each with two alleles, all
contributing equally to, say, height, produces phenotypes that fall onto a normal distribution curve.
Homework suggestions
• Compare genetic variation in an asexually reproducing population with that in a sexually
reproducing one.
• Prepare for work on evolution by reading the Linnean Society poster on evolution. Educational
resources of the Linnean Society are available on their website at
www.linnean.org/Education+Resources
• SAQs 17.1, 17.2
• EOCQ 1
Other recommended resources
Jones, M. and Jones, G. (1997) Advanced Biology. Cambridge University Press.
Penny J. (2013) Maths Skills for Biology A Level. Nelson Thornes
Cadogan A and Ingram M. (2002) Maths for Advanced Biology. Nelson Thornes
www.nature.com/scitable/glossary
The Scitable website has an extensive glossary which is useful for all the topics in this chapter.
Darwin C. The Voyage of the Beagle
This voyage stimulated Darwin’s thoughts about evolution.
Desmond, A. and Moore, J. (1991) Darwin. Michael Joseph
Keynes, R. (2001) Creation. John Murray
Raby, P. (2001) Alfred Russel Wallace: a Life. Chatto and Windus.
Books about Darwin and Wallace. Keynes is a great-grandson of Charles Darwin.
Topic 2 Overproduction
Students are expected to know that populations have the capacity to produce large numbers of
offspring and that various aspects of the environment act as agents of selection and determine which
individuals survive and which do not. That organisms produce more offspring than are needed to
replace the parents, that natural populations tend to remain stable in size over long periods and that
there is variation among the individuals of a given species are the three crucial observations made by
both Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace that underpinned their theory of evolution by natural
selection.

Possible starters
• Point out that populations of organisms have the potential to produce large numbers of offspring,
yet their numbers remain fairly constant, year after year.
• Remind students of the concept of limiting factors (Chapter 13) and ask how they apply to
population growth
Main lesson content
• Explain how a population in ideal conditions shows exponential growth.
• Practical 17.1 investigates population growth in a culture of Chlorella and uses haemocytometers
to take results. If haemocytometers are not available, there are other ways to count numbers of
unicellular organisms, such as Chlorella. For example, the number of cells in fields of view can be
counted. Eyepiece graticules can be used to measure the area of a field of view, so that results can
be expressed per unit area in samples taken from a culture. Other methods include assessing the
turbidity of a suspension, either by eye or by using a colorimeter.
• Discuss with students how to plan an investigation into the effects of a limiting factor on
population growth of Chlorella or other suitable unicellular organism. The plan can be written up
for homework.
• When considering population growth, students often confuse biotic and abiotic limiting factors and
density-dependent and density-independent factors.
• Reluctant mathematicians may need help with the concept of exponential growth or help with
drawing and interpreting graphs.
• Ask students to analyse and interpret data on population growth of organisms in pure culture (e.g.
bacteria or Chlorella) and in their natural environment (e.g. the J-shaped growth curves of small
crustaceans such as Daphnia).
• Research the influence on Darwin’s thinking of the Reverend Thomas Malthus’s essay ‘On the
principle of population’ which Darwin ‘happened to read for amusement’. These might be good
places to start:
www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/malthus.html
evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/history_07
• Calculate the potential numbers of bacteria produced from one bacterium in pure culture over time
without any limiting factors.
• Plan an investigation into the effects of a limiting factor on population growth of Chlorella or
other suitable unicellular organism.
• Research the spread of rabbits in Australia and the effects of myxomatosis.
This voyage stimulated Darwin’s thoughts about evolution
www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/an-introduction-to-population-growth-84225544
An excellent article on population growth with links to other articles on the Scitable website

Larsen, E. (2001) Evolution’s Workshop. Basic Books; Reprint edition (28 Mar 2002)
Lane, N. (2009) Life Ascending. Profile Books
Jones, S. (1999) Almost like a Whale. Black Swan; New Ed edition (1 Sep 2000)
Dawkins, R. (1976) The Selfish Gene. Oxford Paperbacks; 2nd Revised edition edition (19 Oct 1989)
Dawkins, R. (1986) The Blind Watchmaker. Penguin Books; New edition (6 April 2006)
Bell, M. et al. (eds) (2010) Evolution since Darwin. Sinauer Associates
Books about about natural selection and evolution.
Topic 3 Natural selection

As a result of their observations (Topic 2), both Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace were able
to deduce that there is a competition for survival between organisms and that the individuals best
adapted will be the ones to survive. These individuals have been selected by the natural conditions
prevalent at the time. Students are expected to be able to explain that natural selection occurs as
populations have the capacity to produce many offspring that compete for the available resources and
that only the best adapted individuals survive to breed and pass on their alleles to the next generation.
Possible starters
• Introduce the idea that the individuals best adapted to the prevailing conditions succeed in the
‘struggle for existence’.
Main lesson content
• Introduce the following crucial points:
– natural selection is the mechanism by which evolution occurs
– individuals in a population vary in their genotypes and phenotypes
– phenotypes that are better adapted to the prevailing conditions survive longer than less well-
adapted individuals and so (provided that the phenotype is genetically determined) are more likely
to pass their alleles to the next generation
– the frequency of such alleles in the population increases.
• Use Activity 17.1 to simulate natural selection.
• Students often think that the selection of antibiotic-resistant bacteria is an example of artificial
selection, not natural selection. They need to understand the distinction between artificial selection
(where humans are the agent of selection) and natural selection (a consequence of environmental
change which may be due to human influence). Natural selection pressures due to human influence
include pollution (e.g. peppered moth) and the use of antibiotics (e.g. antibiotic resistance).
• Students may struggle to use the term allele, and not gene, when describing natural selection.
• Help them to understand that natural selection increases the chance of advantageous adaptive
alleles being passed to the next generation and decreases the chance of non-adaptive alleles being
passed to the next generation.
• Research another example of natural selection (e.g. the shell colour of the land snail, Cepaea nemoralis).

• Revise the evolution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria from the AS course (Chapter 10).
• Research the travels of Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace and their contributions to
evolutionary theory.
• The work of Bates, a contemporary of Darwin and Wallace, is of importance in evolution. A
worksheet (with answers for teachers) giving some background and questions relating to evolution
is available on-line from the educational resources of the Linnean Society.
• EOCQs 2, 4–6
• SAQs 17.3, 17.4
This voyage stimulated Darwin’s thoughts about evolution.
www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/an-introduction-to-population-growth-84225544
An excellent article on population growth with links to other articles on the Scitable website.
Larsen, E. (2001) Evolution’s Workshop. Basic Books; Reprint edition (28 Mar 2002)
Lane, N. (2009) Life Ascending. Profile Books
Jones, S. (1999) Almost like a Whale. Black Swan; New Ed edition (1 Sep 2000)
Dawkins, R. (1976) The Selfish Gene. Oxford Paperbacks; 2nd Revised edition edition (19 Oct 1989)
Dawkins, R. (1986) The Blind Watchmaker. Penguin Books; New edition (6 April 2006)
Bell, M. et al. (eds) (2010) Evolution since Darwin. Sinauer Associates
Books about about natural selection and evolution.
www.sciberbrain.org
www.sciberbrain.org/advanced-level
The Biochemical Society has a special website for education. There is an advanced-level animated
presentation on evolution and a lower-level presentation (standard level) for a gentler introduction.
www.hhmi.org/biointeractive
BioInteractive is a free resource at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. It has animations, short films
and apps.
www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/origin-species
This series of three films on evolution has a total running time 65 min. The films are downloadable
and available on DVD. The overall title is The Origin of Species. There three fils are:
• The Making of a Theory: The epic voyages and revolutionary insights of Charles Darwin and
Alfred Russel Wallace
• The Beak of the Finch: An examination of 40 years of research into the Galapagos finches
providing clues as to how 13 distinct finch species arose from a single ancestral population
• Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree: Examples of adaptive radiation, reproductive isolation and the
formation of new species among the Caribbean islands.
www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/animated-life-ar-wallace
This amusing animated cartoon video tells the story of Alfred Russel Wallace. It tracks his life and
legacy and is an opportunity to correct his frequent omission from history.

Topic 4 Selection and drift
Students are expected to be able to explain, with examples, how environmental factors may act as
stabilising, disruptive or directional forces of natural selection. They are also expected to be able to
explain how selection, the founder effect and genetic drift may alter allele frequencies in populations.
Both founder effect and genetic drift may present problems to students. Point out how unlikely it is
that the founder individuals of a small colonising population will fully represent the parent
population’s range of alleles. Also point out that if only a few individuals in a population reproduce,
than allele frequencies will change purely by chance.
Possible starters
• Use before-and-after graphs to distinguish between stabilising, disruptive and directional selection.
Main lesson content
• Introduce the idea of heterozygote advantage as a stabilising selection. A paperclip (or bead)
model can be used to give practical experience of heterozygote advantage. Adapt Activity 16.1 as
follows. Use two colours of paperclips, one to represent the allele HbA and the other to represent
the allele HbS. If an HbA and an HbS are drawn out from the two beakers, count this twice. If two
HbS alleles are drawn out, don’t count this at all.
• Compare distribution maps of malaria and the allele for sickle cell anaemia and describe the
selective pressures governing the global distribution of sickle cell anaemia (Chapters 6 and 16).
• Explain how the founder effect and genetic drift may affect allele frequencies in populations.
• Introduce the Hardy–Weinberg principle
• Use the worked example 17.1 to show a calculation of allele, genotype and phenotype frequencies
in a population.
• Explain situations where the Hardy–Weinberg principle does not apply.
• Use Activity 17.2 to illustrate applications of the Hardy–Weinberg principle.
• Students often think that natural selection is always directional.
• Students may need help to understand both the founder effect and genetic drift.
• Reluctant mathematicians will need help with Hardy–Weinberg calculations, particularly in
establishing that p2 + 2pq + q2 = 1
• These students may also need discouraging from working in percentages.
• They may find it difficult to identify homozygous recessive individuals to establish q2.
• Explain that a checkerboard used to calculate genotype frequencies in the next generation is not
the same as a Punnett square used to derive the genotypes expected in a monohybrid cross.
• Research the protective effect of the HbS allele against malaria.
• These students could work through the LabBench tutorial on Population genetics and evolution at
www.phschool.com/science/biology_place/labbench/lab8/intro.html
• Draw up a table of examples of stabilising, disruptive and directional selection.
• Calculate the proportion of homozygous dominant individuals and of heterozygotes in a
population in which the proportion of homozygous recessives is 16%.
• SAQ 17.5
• EOCQs 9,10
• Homework 17.1 Selection and evolution

anthro.palomar.edu/synthetic/
A series of tutorials and quizzes on aspects of evolution including the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium.
www.wwnorton.com/college/biology/discoverbio3/core/content/ch17/animations.asp
Two animations that show how the frequency of genotypes changes as allele frequencies change.
Topic 5 Evolution
Students are expected to know that isolating mechanisms can lead to the accumulation of different
genetic information in populations, potentially leading to the evolution of new species and that over
prolonged periods of time, some species have remained virtually unchanged, others have changed
significantly and many have become extinct. Students should be able to explain how speciation may
occur and to explain the role of prezygotic and postzygotic isolating mechanisms in this evolution of
new species. They should also be able to discuss the molecular evidence for evolution provided by
similarities of mitochondrial DNA or of proteins.
Possible starters
• State the general theory of evolution that organisms have changed over time.
• Remind students that some species become extinct (Chapter 18).
Main lesson content
• Ask students what they understand by the term species.
• Discuss why it is often difficult to apply the biospecies concept.
• Outline the different concepts of the species including morphological species and biospecies.
• Explain what is meant by the term reproductive isolation and describe prezygotic and postzygotic
isolating mechanisms.
• Use an example of reproductive isolation to explain allopatric speciation.
• Use an example to explain sympatric speciation.
• With reference to mitochondrial DNA and protein sequences, show how similarities between
organisms provides evidence for their relationship.
• Students may have difficulty understanding polyploidy, especially when chromosome sets are from
different species (e.g. in the evolution of cord grass, Spartina anglica, often used as an example).
• Revisit meiosis and use model chromosomes (Chapter 16, Topic 1) to help understand the role of
polyploidy in sympatric speciation.
• Research the different definitions of a species and explain why it is difficult to define a species.
• Research examples of the use of mtDNA or proteins such as cytochrome in determining
relationships between species.
• Research Darwin’s finches and the four Galapagos mocking bird species as examples of speciation.
• Explain how islands may provide the circumstances for speciation to occur.
• Research why species become extinct.
• SAQ 17.9
• EOCQs 3, 10

www.wellcometreeoflife.org/video
The Tree of Life is an interactive resource developed by the Wellcome Trust, with texts and images
exploring the evolutionary links between living things. The accompanying video was shown as part of
Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life broadcast by the BBC in February 2009. Narrated by Sir David
Attenborough, it can be downloaded or a DVD can be purchased from the BBC Shop.
www.johnkyrk.com/evolution.html
John Kyrk has an animated timeline of the history of Earth on his website.
Topic 6 Artificial selection

Students are expected to know that humans use selective breeding (artificial selection) to improve
features in ornamental plants, crop plants, domesticated animals and livestock. They should be able to
describe how the milk yield of dairy cattle has been improved and to outline how disease-resistant
varieties of wheat and rice have been bred, how crop yield has been increased by breeding dwarf
varieties and how vigorous, uniform varieties of maize are produced.
Possible starters
• Ask students what they understand by the term artificial selection.
Main lesson content
• Describe how selective breeding (artificial selection) has been used to improve the milk yield of
dairy cattle.
• Outline the following examples of crop improvement by selective breeding:
– introduction of disease resistance into wheat and rice
– incorporation of mutant alleles for gibberellin synthesis into dwarf varieties,
giving an increased yield
– inbreeding and hybridisation to produce vigorous, uniform varieties of maize.
• Point out that selective breeding is done for the benefit of humans – the changes may not be of
benefit to the organisms concerned.
• Students often think that environmental variation can be selectively bred.
• Examples of selection unintentionally resulting from human activity, such as industrial melanism,
are not artificial selection.
• The examples of crop improvement given above are the result of selective breeding, not genetic
engineering. Some students confuse the two processes.
• Students may be puzzled by selective breeding through a related species rather than a wild variety
of the crop. Briefly revisit the species concept and point out that not all species are ‘good’ species.
• Ask students to compare artificial selection of a trait showing discontinuous variation (e.g. colour)
with one showing continuous variation (e.g. mass).
• Students could research the effects of selective breeding for milk production on the health and
welfare of dairy cattle. A good place to start is Compassion in World Farming’s publication: The
Impact of Selection for High Milk Yield on the Health and Welfare of Dairy Cattle available at:
www.ciwf.org.uk/includes/documents/cm_docs/2010/i/impact_of_selection_on_health_and_welfare_of_dairy_
cattle_2008.pdf

• Research the artificial selection of a crop plant or domesticated animal that is common locally.
• Draw up a table of the similarities and differences between natural selection and artificial
selection.
• SAQs 17.6–17.8
• EOCQs 6–8
Gregory, J. (2000) Applications of Genetics. Cambridge University Press.
www.jic.ac.uk
Website of John Innes Centre
www.bspb.co.uk
British Society of Plant Breeders (BSPB)
babcock.wisc.edu/node/182
Chapter 15: Principles of Selection from Dairy Essentials published by the Babcock Institute for
International Dairy Research and Development. This is a good introduction to selective breeding in
dairy cattle. Knowledge of heritability is not required.
www.dairy.edu.au/discoverdairy
A useful resource from Dairy Australia for those who know nothing about the dairy industry.

Chapter 17: Teaching Guide: Selection and Evolution

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Chapter 17: Teaching Guide: Selection and Evolution

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Chapter 17: Teaching guide

Selection and evolution

17.1(a), (b), • Pages 398–401

Natural • Pages 402–404

Cambridge International AS and A Level Biology © Cambridge University Press 2014 1

Penny J. (2013) Maths Skills for Biology A Level. Nelson Thornes

Cambridge International AS and A Level Biology © Cambridge University Press 2014 2

Cambridge International AS and A Level Biology © Cambridge University Press 2014 3

Topic 3 Natural selection

Cambridge International AS and A Level Biology © Cambridge University Press 2014 4

Cambridge International AS and A Level Biology © Cambridge University Press 2014 5

Cambridge International AS and A Level Biology © Cambridge University Press 2014 6

Cambridge International AS and A Level Biology © Cambridge University Press 2014 7

Topic 6 Artificial selection

Cambridge International AS and A Level Biology © Cambridge University Press 2014 8

Jones, M. and Jones, G. (1997) Advanced Biology. Cambridge University Press.

Cambridge International AS and A Level Biology © Cambridge University Press 2014 9

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