"As many more individuals of each species are born than can possibly survive; and as, consequently, there is a frequently recurring struggle for existence, it follows that any being, if it varies however slightly in any manner profitable to itself, under the complex and sometimes varying conditions of life, will have a better chance of surviving, and thus be naturally selected. From the strong principles of inheritance, any selected variety will tend to propagate its new and modified form."
- C. Darwin. 1859.
This concise statement of evolution provides an explanation for the vast diversity (several millions of species) of organisms inhabiting various environments today. It also explains the countless millions of now extinct species which existed in the past.
There are two main approaches to the study of evolution:
- The study of phylogenetic trees.
- The study of the basic mechanism of evolution.
The second of these two approaches involves, in part, the subject of population genetics and is the approach we will be considering in this lab.
- In genetic terms, what is a population?
- What factors contribute to genetic variation in a population?
- What is a gene pool?