Evolution - OkState 2020

  One of the rapid evolutions we learned about was the crop pests becoming resistant to insecticides over a 50 year time period.  At the start of the use of insecticides in 1940, there were no crop pests that were resistant to it. Meaning that it killed almost all the pests that it was sprayed for. One would think that if there were no crop pests resistant to it at the start that it would be a great solution and continue to work.  That did not turn out to be the case. In 1950 there were some crop pest species that were resistant to the insecticides. This means while a majority of the crop pest species were still killed by the insecticides, some survived.  These survivors were then able to pass on the genes that allowed them to be resistant to the insecticide to their offspring.  This same process would continue to happen every time the crop pest species reproduced. Meaning over the next 40 years the crop pest species would have a larger and larger population tha...

  In these lectures, we discussed the different variations of the phylogenetic theme. The variation that was most intriguing to me was hybrid speciation. Hybrid speciation occurs when two different species in a phylogenetic tree mate and produce an offspring that is an entirely different species. This species didn't evolve along the lineage but was created through reproduction.                                                                                 +                               = An example of hybrid speciation that I found rather interesting was that of the grolar bear/pizzy. This species is the offspring of a grizzly bear mating with a polar bear. I thought this particular offspring was interest...

  Phylogenetic Trees Hi class! Today we are going to be learning about phylogenetic trees.   A phylogenetic tree is a graphic tool that links together living creatures and can show the relatedness of these organisms. It depicts the history of the evolution of a group of species from a common ancestor. This tool is called a tree because of the linkage of the linage (how the organism relates to common ancestors) is called branching, and because the organism at the end of a branch is considered a leaf. Essentially this tool is giving you a visual map of the evolution of groups of species.   These phylogenetic trees can be broken into two separate groups. One group is called a monophyletic. These groups would be considered more closely related to each other because it contains all descendant species from a single common ancestor. This graphic depicts a lineage of Eevees (disclaimer: Pokemon evolution is not the same as actual evolution, I am simply using my ...

  Before taking this course, I did not know that evolution occurred at both a macro and a micro-scale. However, the dependent relationship between the two was understandable. This made sense to me because microevolution isn’t happening in just one thing, it collectively occurring to everything always. Then all the changes that occur here get carried forward to other generations, and eventually turn into our past/history which is what created. As time passes the changes that have already occurred shape or constrain what evolutionary changes can be made in the future or the direction that evolution will take in species. https://youtu.be/M8V_glRW1hA Before the video began, I assumed that the Earth’s history would be broken into yard sections, and I was very surprised when the video started that it was broken into inches across the football field. It also amazed me how long it took for oxygen to be present on Earth since it is something that we take for granted now, and I assumed I pro...