Selection in action

     In week 2, we were required to watch the video in PutraBlast which is Selection in Action. This video is about comparing of dogs and corns with the natural selection of the stickleback fish. The products of natural, and human selection are all around us. Human have transformed wild plants into useful crops by selective breeding. Human selection has also produced pets and other domesticated animals with sizes and shapes very different from their wild ancestors. Controlled genetic crosses can be used to identify and locate the genes responsible for artificial selection in domesticated species. Genetic crosses in maize and dogs, for example, suggest that few genetic changes are needed to dramatically transform the shape and structure of plants and animals.

                                             

                                                                 Video 2 Selection in Action

            Natural selection in wild populations can also generate amazing diversity in a surprisingly among short among of time. Ocean stickleback fish, for example, colonized numerous freshwater streams and lake produced by retreating glaciers after the last Ice Age. Differential survival and reproduction under natural selection have generated dramatic changes in morphology, physiology and behavior as the fish adapted to different foods sources, predators and water conditions. Genetic studies of recently evolved freshwater fish confirm that many evolutionary traits are controlled by relatively few genes. It appears that natural selection populations, like domesticated populations, can evolve rapidly under the influence of a few sample genetic changes.

                Next, I also we had to do the SCL activity about evolution. We were divided into a few groups and each groups consists of 4-5 group members. We discussed together with group members abou Darwin’s Observation. We knew more about the main idea of Darwin’s observations which was Darwin observed variation among island species, Darwin realized species could adapt to their environment and Darwin observed fossil and geologic evidence of an ancient Earth.

                Then we did our SCL activity about Theory of Natural Selection. We learned that key insights led to Darwin’s theory is artificial selection which means the chosing of desirable traits by an outside source other than the organism itself. Next the other key insights led to Darwin’s theory is heritability which means ability of a traits to pass down from generation to other generation. Lastly for the key insights led to  Darwin’s theory is struggle for survival which means only the fittest could survive. It is the key to evolution by natural selection.

            I love this topic because we can know so many  new things about Charles Darwin’s theory. Before this I didn’t know anything about who is Charles Drarwin, what was he doing and so on. I only heard once about his name for the human to monkey evolution. But that was a little bit that I’m not sure about the facts. Now in university, for this subject that I’m taking Cellular and Developmental Biology was quite interesting because all we had learned was about our history and mostly the facts aand also for sure more detail about Charles Darwin.

              Furthermore, I had learned about the 4 main principles of natural selection which were variation, overproduction, adaptation and descent with modifications. In this SCL activity, we were required to find all those definitation with group members and present it in the class so we can share the definition that we had searched. Besides, we also had to find the information about the evidence for evolution in Darwin’s time which came from several sources. The main idea was about the evidence of common ancestry among species comes from many sources which were fossils, geography, embryology,anatomy and analogous structures which are not evidence of a recent common ancestor.

               Lastly for the SCL activity for this week, we had to do the research about molecular and Genetic evidence support fossil and anatomical evidence. The new technology is furthering our understanding of evolution were DNA sequence analysis, Pseudogenes, Homeobox genes and Proteins comparison. I had learned about new things that really important for our daily lives.