The Origin And Significance Of Diversity Within A Named Taxonomic Group Of Your Choice

these mutations may be advantages or disadvantages based off of what results and the environmental needs the organism has (Norton).

6. Biological diversity is considered to be a crucial survival issue by Professor Edward O. Wilson of Harvard

Whether it is through competition, symbiotic relationships, pollinator dynamics or the millions of other interactions that occur in nature, species have evolved together and thus live in certain niches or behave in certain ways in order to survive. When I was younger I always thought of these observations as just the way things had to be in order for nature to work, but now I realize these relationships are key to understanding how the natural world has evolved due to environmental conditions. Furthermore, the understanding of the mechanisms behind these natural phenomena are important in developing solutions to the current mass extinctions and decline of species. The biodiversity I observed as a child in the mountains and the biodiversity that I am studying now in college is one of the subjects I find to be most intriguing and important about evolutionary biology. The ways in which species evolve through natural selection and thus differentiate how they behave, look, or live is what contributes to the natural beauty and interconnected interactions of nature that first made me love animals and the outdoors. The mechanisms of evolutionary biology keep me inspired to learn about the natural world in order to determine how I can help preserve it. This has led to my aspirations of going to graduate school in wildlife biology and pursuing a career in research to solve current issues in wildlife

Diversity is a term that can have many different meanings depending on context. According to the American Psychological Association from 2013, Hispanics only account for 5% of active psychologists. Being Colombian – American, I fit into this category and fall into the systematic measure of diversity. As I check off the Hispanic/Latina box pertaining to diversity, I realize there is one box I can’t check off, one aspect of my life that adds to my diversity.

Rogers fails to address the actual definition of a species, which has not yet been plausible; the species concept is debated and overlapping. Rogers clearly states that he does not want to address this issue, only the issue of change within already defined species (p. 6). The definition of a species is context dependent, yet many scientists still attempt to define it in black and white. This debate, although extensive, is an interesting subject in which to gain a new perspective; there is no scientific doubt that species change, but the actual timing of speciation is an ongoing inquiry. The opinion of Alan Rogers would have made a reputable contribution to this debate.

Evolution’s ultimate fuel to generate natural genetic variation is spontaneous mutation. However, within finite populations, genetic drift and natural selection constantly remove this new genetic variation. This continuous clashing of genetic drift/natural selection and spontaneous mutation have important consequences on how species evolve within and between populations. Thus, to better understand how genetic variation is generated and maintained, it is of critical importance to precisely understand the rates, properties, and effects of spontaneous mutation have on natural selection in shaping the spectrum of genetic variation observed within and between populations.

Mutation is the changing of the structure of a gene, resulting in a different form which may be spread to following generations, caused by the adjustment of single base units in DNA. The different types of mutations contend of missense, nonsense, substitution, frameshift, deletion,

There are two ways that that an organism can develop beneficial mutations, sexual reproduction and whenever there are mistakes during DNA replication. There is an enzyme call DNA polymerase that is in charge of proofreading the template strand. It reads the newly added base to make sure it is paired up correctly. However sometimes these mistakes are not corrected and lead to mutation. The benefits of mutation are that it brings genetic diversity. Mutations cause a change in DNA that lead to new genetic variation (Alleles) in a population. With these mutations that occur during DNA replication and sexual reproduction, they introduce more desirable phenotypes in the offspring. With time these organisms develop more features that help with their survival. These mutations are developed by the changes that occur in the base pairs.

      Although tree diagrams have been used since the days of Charles Darwin, biologists have only recently adopted the tree model of evolution to read and interpret phylogenies. One of the reasons for this is the confusion that often arises from using a tree model to describe a phylogeny (Baum, 2008a). Many people interpret the trees to show that different species evolve from one another instead of viewing them as ways to trace the common ancestors between species. All species at the tips of the branches should be thought of as being evolutionarily equal;

In Biology, Diversity Begets Diversity - This statement has meaning for me because I believe it underlies a point of view that guides an ethic for a healthy human-nature relationship. As humans, we have a tendency to place things into categories, and while it is a useful tool for understanding the world around us, it can result in biased thinking not only in ways we see ourselves in relation to other people, but in our place in the natural world.

Another way species can vary is recombination and it shuffles our genes during reproduction to create new gene combinations. Recombination happens when the egg and sperm cells are being made during the process when chromosomes are “crossing over”. During the crossing over chromosomes exchange information to each other. Recombination can also happen to asexual species like bacteria where they transfer genetic information through lateral gene transfer. Furthermore, Variation is important because without it we would all look and act the same. More importantly, another reason why variation is important because they give us aspects on where natural selection can help evolution. For example because of mutation and recombination, they were able to

evolution, gradualism, natural selection and common ancestry. Therefore, the first component of the evolutionary theory is the evolution itself which translates to the idea that different species go through genomic variations over time. This means that over a long period of time species can evolve to become very different. However, the modifications are founded on DNA which initiate as mutations. Additionally, the idea of gradualism under the evolutionary theory refers to the concept that it actually takes very many generations for the significant evolutionary variation to be realized an example being that of birds having been reptiles before evolution.

To begin with, mutations (any change in the DNA sequence of an organism) introduce new genetic information into a population by altering alleles (a form of a gene usually arising through mutation) that are already present. Occasionally, a mutation introduces a new allele into the gene pool of species. On the other hand, a mutation may introduce an allele that was deficient in a local population. Meanwhile, it is present in other populations of species. All the different

Speciation accounts for the remarkable biological diversity found on earth. However, it has been extremely difficult to conclusively demonstrate in mockingbirds. Remote oceanic islands have long been recognized as natural models for the study of evolutionary processes involved in diversification and speciation. Their remoteness and susceptibility to catastrophic disturbances by invasive species provide opportunities for colonization and divergence of populations through isolation, making islands fantastic study plots of diversification and speciation. Groups of islands may share a closely similar geological history and comparable climate, but due to these subtly different, or perhaps distinctly different, environments, their inhabitants

2. Climate change would have an impact on all members of the food chain. There would be lots of habitat loss and animals would have to try to move to a different location for food and then the animals that hunted those animals would have to find a new food source and some plants would be affected and die off because they cannot move. This would affect the diversity because then the populations would be