Observations from videos:
multiple insects focused on one in aggressive manor, attacking the individual multiple times
one individual (walrus?) showing dominance against another by forcing it off rocks, territorial
horses that look alike stay together and eat together, different colored horses separate further once they have more space one horse lies down, different colored horses approach all observing lower body of fallen horse, horse stands up and appears to walk normally with the other similar color horse to get water
questions
video 1: is this fighting for reproduction? fighting for alpha? why are there multiple attacking one?
video 2: are these animals both male? is this for reproduction or alpha role? was the older animal the one forcing the other away?
video 3: do animals that look similar stay together? was the horse injured?
Physiological Mechanisms
Genetics
Development
Evolution
Ecology- study of interactions among organisms and their environments
Phenotypic variation in a population is due to: genotype and environment
Sometimes genetic differences among individuals have a greater influence on phenotypic variation in population, sometimes environmental differences that individuals experience have a greater influence
Heritability- the portion of phenotypic variation in a population due to genetic differences between individuals
Natural selection- one mechanism of evolution if three conditions are met THEN adaptive evolution occurs
- Phenotypic variation in the population
- Some of that variation is inherited
- Interaction with the environment: Traits that increase survival and reproductive of individuals increase in frequency
NATURAL SELECTION Those individuals with traits best suited for the local environment survive, grow, and leave more fertile offspring
This leads to changes in genetic makeup of a population over generations and favorable characteristics accumulate over time
Relative frequency of genes change over time
natural selection acts on individual
evolution acts on population
Why aren’t organisms perfectly adapted to their environments?
-What is “perfection”?
-Organism currently not in an environment it evolved in
-Genetic constraints and lack of genetic variation-
-Gene flow
-Ecological trade-offs