DessBlog

 First, let's define what absolute fitness and relative fitness are. Relative fitness can be defined as a comparison of reproductive success between members of the same population. Absolute fitness is the total number of offspring an individual produces, that survive, successfully having passed on their genes. In the drawing below we can see how the absolute fitness of an individual differs from the relative fitness of the population. The last drawing shows how our population of goats goes through positive selection.

"Survival of the good enough" is a more accurate description of natural selection because it acknowledges that an individual does not have to be the best or have the best traits to survive and reproduce, but are good enough to survive and reproduce due to adaption to their environment. Unlike the phrase "survival of the fittest" which can be  misinterpreted as, an organism that has the "best traits" will survive and reproduce more, when in fact that is not the case.  Individuals fitness in comparison to other individuals of the population 

 1. One example of convergence from the "Improbable Destinies" chapter that caught my attention was that of the Mantises and Mantifly. 2. Convergent Evolution is the process where similar traits, characteristics, or behaviors evolve independently in not closely related organisms. 3.  Mantises and Mantifly display convergence evolution because they have similar characteristics such as forearms, long necks, and bulging eyes, even though they are not even a bit closely related, but rather millions of years of evolution apart.  4. These two distantly related organisms perhaps developed these same characteristics due to the need for them in their environments, which would be where natural selection comes in, these traits were specifically selected for based off of survival of the fittest, most individuals with certain traits had a higher survival rate.

 1.  A mutation is a random change in an organism's DNA. This change can happen randomly and is due to changes that happen from the outside of the body or the inside!  2. In the drawing below on the left you can see a regular Vamonbear and on the right is a Vamonbear with a mutation that caused white patches on the fur. This random mutation happened due to perhaps a lack of melanin, which is a dark pigment in humans and animals. This mutation could be beneficial, harmful, or neutral. The way this mutation could be beneficial would be if Vamonbears with spots were able to have a higher reproduction rate, resulting in more Vamonbears with spots due to the white patches helping with camouflaging. The way it would be harmful would be if the bears with spots would not survive because the spots made them more visible to predators. How this mutation would be neutral would be if there were no difference in the survival rates of these two different Vamonbears. In the next years, t...

  1. One myth that I believed when I was younger was that humans evolved from Apes/Monkeys. I thought this because many people around me would describe this as evolution. Then in middle school, I learned that we in fact do not come from Apes or Monkeys, but that we have a common ancestor, which was probably an ape-like organism but not an Ape or Monkey. 2. This Myth is interesting to me because I have met a few people who still believe that this misconception is true. Unfortunately, there are images out there that exist that might create the illusion that this myth is true.  3.