Emily's Take on Evolution

 Hello everybody, I need one more post and I am out of provided prompts so I decided to use this blog as a way to promote vaccination (even though no one really reads this ha). I highly highly highly encourage getting vaccinated against COVID-19 if you are healthy enough and old enough to do so. You don't have to agree with me, but from what I have seen, the people that are being hospitalized and getting really sick from this virus are the ones who are not vaccinated. I know this is new and very scary, but don't let the media fool you into thinking this is something political or something it isn't. We are talking pure science. Vaccines have saved countless lives throughout history, and it is no different for this one virus. We have proved time and time again the effectiveness of getting vaccinated. Don't let the unknown stop you from using logic. I am really passionate about this topic because I have had so many instances where my friends' family, my coworkers, my a...

 The Bubonic Plague (a.k.a. the Black Death): The Bubonic plague caused a tragic global epidemic that impacted much of Asia and Europe in the mid 1300s. This disease killed millions of people over a span of five years. It was thought to be spread through the trading ships traveling and docking at different ports. People had very little knowledge of pathogens and how they are spread at this point. We now know this disease is spread by Yersinia pestis bacteria. It travels through the air and via infection by pests like fleas and rats (bite). Previously, before we had some semblance of city organization/urbanization, people stayed with their own and there was no concentrated area of people. This limited spread of disease and contact between infected individuals. However, around mid 1300s, throughout the world people were eager to travel and colonize new places. The movement of people from one place to drastically different areas sped up the rate this disease was able to spread. The li...

 I think the speed of speciation is not a set in stone. I think it depends on many factors such as resource availability, geographical location, relationship to other organisms and populations, predation, genetic similarities and differences, etc. I do think the speed of speciation varies between different modes of speciation. Speciation is typically a gradual process but I believe this could be sped up by instances of strong selection in subgroups of a species. If one group is located in a certain area and then a natural disaster occurs isolating them from the rest of the population, the way they adapt and evolve is going to be different based on their specific gene pool and environment. Allopatric speciation involves physical geographical barriers whereas sympatric speciation does not. This impacts the degree of pre-mating isolation and can therefore impact how species diverge. Additionally, polyploidization for instance leads to instant isolation from the ancestral species so th...

 In most species we see males being colorful and displaying mating acts to court the females. In that case females are most often a drab dull color. However, in  Microphis deocata the exact opposite situation occurs. The female in these pipefish extend their colorful bellies when they are in breeding condition and make an accordion like movement to attract/choose a male mate. The male is actually the more drab individual. I believe the reason something like this evolves is related to the fact that male Rainbow Belly Pipefish, just like seahorses, are the ones that carry the eggs until they hatch. The male is responsible for a role that in most other species is almost always carried out by the female. The female deposits her eggs in an area on the male's underside where they will stay until they hatch. From the research I've done I found out that  Microphis deocata are actually related to seahorses. Both species belong to the  Syngnathidae family. I think it makes sen...

Option 2: This is a huge question to begin to consider. I'm definitely not sure of the answer but I will give it my best shot. An example where phenotypic plasticity could slow down evolutionary change could be the hares that are white in the winter and brown in the warmer months. These animals' ability to change their phenotype kind of cheats the system of selection in a way. Instead of either adapting to blend in or sticking out and therefore not surviving attacks from predators, they just shift back and forth between what is favorable without any hereditary aspect. Here, they don't have to evolve so the trait is stagnant. The ability to change might be passed on but the fur being brown or white is not adaptive.  An example where phenotypic plasticity could actually potentiate evolutionary change is developmental plasticity. Different offspring could be exposed to different cues at different times, therefore changes the course/speed of their development. This variation in...

 Although selection is a major mechanism by which evolution functions, it is not even close to the only one. Selection, genetic drift, migration, mutation, non-random mating, and more play a role in creating the composition of populations. Selection may favor specific traits in organisms and then allow those to be passed on, but at any point in time the environment could shift causing those same traits to be unfavorable. And then selection will kick in once again and the allelic frequencies of that population will shift to better fit with the current circumstances. Short-term, selection might reduce genetic variation, but if you look at the big picture it really doesn't. Certain places might stay somewhat constant, but the world as a whole is constantly shifting and changing. One slight change could have major ramifications for selection and therefore the population as a whole. This isn't a one and done kind of thing.  Additionally, as I stated before, selection is only one pi...