Albert Ho, Austin Shaw, Benson Edward, Kourosh Tavakoli

Professor Lakin
August 15, 2024
SMC Biology

SMC Biology – 2024

In-Class Assignment #2: Evolution (Thursday, August 15th)

Due Date: 11:59pm (EST) Sunday, August 18th into the Dropbox on eClass

Overview: In class we have explored a number of topics related to evolution,

including natural selection, speciation, and convergent and divergent evolution.
Today you will have the opportunity to apply your learning to different evolutionary
scenarios.

Instructions: Working in small groups (in-class) or on your own, you will work
together through multiple scenarios to demonstrate your understanding of how
evolution occurs.

Submission: Assignments can be uploaded into the Dropbox on eClass. If you are
working as a group, make sure to include all of the names of the students on the
assignment that contributed.

Part I: Speciation and Selection

Benson did this section

Have you ever wondered how the diversity of life on Earth has come about or how a single
new species forms? Environmental (selection) pressures can cause populations to change
over time or evolve. This is because an organism’s ability to live to adulthood in its current
environment will determine its reproductive success and ability to pass on its genes.
Changes within a population can also occur without creating a new species.

Three Types of Selection

Consider the three types of selection below and answer the associated questions below:

1. Based on different models above, how would you define each type of selection? What
selection or environmental pressure(s) might cause each type of selection?
Albert Ho, Austin Shaw, Benson Edward, Kourosh Tavakoli
Professor Lakin
August 15, 2024
SMC Biology

i) Directional Selection:

Organisms with a phenotype that’s preferred in their environment survive and

are able to pass on their genes to the next generation. Ex: Darker coloured mice are
able to camouflage on darker rocks and are less likely to be predated on.

ii) Disruptive Selection:

Individuals at different ends of the graph can use their traits to help them
survive in different ways. Ex: Finches with larger beaks use their size to break tough
seeds, and gain enough nutrition to survive long enough to pass on their genes. On
the other end, finches with thin beaks use them to break open smaller seeds.

iii) Stabilising Selection:

Organisms with phenotypes that fit their environment are more likely to survive
and pass on their genes to the next generations. As time passes, more of the
population starts showing said phenotypes. Ex: Humans’ skin colour based on the
environment around them stabilises depending on the amount of melanin they receive
from their habitat.

2. Fitness is defined as the relative ability of an individual (or population) to survive,

reproduce, and pass on genes. Which individuals in the Model A appear to display better
fitness?

Individuals about 110g in model A seem to have the best fitness, as that’s where the
number of individuals peaks, which shows that they are fit enough to survive the
longest.

3. In each of the following examples, describe the likely outcome due to the environmental
pressure and state the type of selection (i.e., A, B, or C). Justify your choice (1-2 points).

a. Finches with a small beak cannot crack open seeds.

Graph B. Finches with smaller beaks are able to get nutrients from smaller seeds while
bigger finches crack open larger seeds. Finches at the middle aren’t skilled at either option,
and have competition that’s better than them, and are likely to not pass on their genes
Albert Ho, Austin Shaw, Benson Edward, Kourosh Tavakoli
Professor Lakin
August 15, 2024
SMC Biology

b. Human babies with very high or very low birth weights have a higher mortality rate.

Graph C, as individuals in the middle of the graph, ones that have reached that “goldilocks
zone” have the lowest death rate.

c. Overfishing occurs in two rivers in NewFoundland, Canada, where larger salmon are
preferentially caught.

Graph A, because only larger salmon are caught, so the smaller salmon at the other end of
the graph are left and more have more chances to pass on their genes

Part II: Evidence of Evolution

Overview: Using his travels and the observations that he noted, Charles Darwin
proposed the idea of evolution in that all new species descend from a common
ancestor. Today, the major pieces of evidence for Darwin’s theory of evolution are
derived from fossil records, embryology, comparative anatomy, and molecular
biology. We will explore how some of these pieces of evidence can be used to
demonstrate evolution.

Embryology: Organisms that are closely related may also have similar physical
characteristics before they are born. Examine these six different embryos below”

Based on the embryos, predict which embryo is from each of the following
organisms:

It is ok if you find this challenging. Please try to avoid googling the answer. Instead,
just briefly explain your thinking. Austin did this portion.

Species Embryo Your reasoning.

Human E *Without using google–I think E is likely human. I

base that on the image of the head being the
“smoothest” and the proportion of the head to
body being closest to that of a grown human.
Chicken F
Albert Ho, Austin Shaw, Benson Edward, Kourosh Tavakoli
Professor Lakin
August 15, 2024
SMC Biology

Rabbit D I think A is the salamander. Salamander is an

elongated animal and E looks the most elongated
of the embryos.

Tortoise C I think C is the tortoise. It has the “roundest” back

portion where a shell may develop.

I think B may be the fish, because of all the other

Salamander A
embryos that remain to be “estimated,” B looks
like the closest match.

I think F will be the chicken. Based on the fact that

Fish B
the head shape closely resembles the head shape
of a grown chicken (taller on the top and
descending down unto the front).

That leaves D as the rabbit, for reasons that it is

the only one left.

Something tells me these are way off because 4

of the embryos look awfully similar to one another.

oops

As the embryos develop, they may become more distinct at later stages. Here are
older embryos from the same organisms as above: Austin did this portion.

Species Embryo Your reasoning.

Human E or F After seeing the newly developed stage of these

embryos, I know without a doubt that A and B are
the fish and salamander, but they look too similar
to one another to know 100% of which is which, at
Chicken Likely D
this time.
Albert Ho, Austin Shaw, Benson Edward, Kourosh Tavakoli
Professor Lakin
August 15, 2024
SMC Biology

E and F are giving off serious mammalian vibes

with their structure. Again, hard to say 100%
Rabbit E or F which is rabbit or which is human, because the
two embryos look very similar, but E and F are
likely rabbit and human. Using process of
Tortoise Likely C elimination (they are not A or B because those are
presumed to be fish and salamander; and not C or
D because their body structure is too “bent” if that
makes any sense..
Salamander A or B
That leaves C and D being the chicken and
tortoise. Based on the more “low to the ground” or
level-plane structure of C, I will guess that C is the
Fish A or B tortoise.

The leaves D as likely being the chicken. And

based again on the “two bumped head” structure,
just in chickens have as adults, D could very likely
be our chicken. The two bumped head structure
would correspond to the cranium (top portion) and
the beak portion in the front.

Lastly, these are embryos at their most advances stage of development, shortly
before birth.

Describe below how the embryos changed for each of these organisms from their
earliest to latest stages. Austin did this portion.

Species Anatomical Changes from early to late stages of

development

Human The human embryo started off looking like some kind of
fish-creature, with gills and a tail. But as it developed, the tail
receded, the gills would turn into lungs, arms and legs began
to emerge in the appropriate parts of the body, and at the
final stage, there is no discrepancy that the embryo is
human.
Albert Ho, Austin Shaw, Benson Edward, Kourosh Tavakoli
Professor Lakin
August 15, 2024
SMC Biology

Chicken Much like embryos C, D, E, and F, (and A, B too but not as

much) they look very similar to one another, which is no
surprise being all vertebrates (A - F). For the chicken though,
it too has a tail, a longer one, gills structures, and a short
thorax. In the second stage, the tail recedes, arms and legs
begin to emerge, and the head grows significantly. In the
final stage, it is very easy to distinguish that it is some kind of
chicken (or genus Gallus).

Rabbit The rabbit looks very similar to the human embryo in the
beginning. Differences emerge in the 2nd depicted stage,
whereby the tail still recedes–but not as much as the human
(this makes sense because rabbits have small tails), the
arms and legs begin to emerge just like the human embryo,
and the head changes shape. Everything else is somewhat
comparable to the human embryo at this stage. Once again,
the final depicted stage, we can easily see that this no
human. It has longer, flappy ears, the arms and legs are
jointed differently than the human, and there is a relatively
large underside.

Tortoise Looks similar to embryos C, D, E, and F in the beginning.

Develops arms and legs in the 2nd depicted stage, and the
tail begins to recede. The head changes form and looks very
rigid. The 3rd stage shows the tail is a part of the animal, a
keratin-shell is easily visible, and the arms look like they are
not jointed.

Salamander Looks similar to the fish in 1st stage. From 1st to 2nd, tiny
arms and legs begin to emerge. The tail remains and much
like the fish, the skeleton is elongating. From 2nd to 3rd
depicted stage, the arms and legs grow larger, and the tail
remains.

Fish The salamander and fish share the most similarities in the
1st depicted stage. From 1st to 2nd stage, the fish keeps the
tail, does not develop legs, and instead of developing
arms–develops fins. The gills remain and will not turn to
lungs. The body (or vertebrae) straighten. The final stage,
the fish is elongated, and secondary fins emerge.
Albert Ho, Austin Shaw, Benson Edward, Kourosh Tavakoli
Professor Lakin
August 15, 2024
SMC Biology

1. Using the information above, do the patterns you see between each of the six embryos
suggest an evolutionary relationship? Explain how these embryos can be used as evidence
of a common ancestor between each of these six organisms.

Austin: Yes, these are all vertebrates, and at the beginning of embryonic development, they
all share many of the same characteristics; body structure, gills, tail, head shape. They begin
to diverge as the embryo develops. This points to the fact that all of these species evolved
from one common ancestor–one that was a vertebrate.

In the 2nd stage depicted, they all either develop arms or fins in the same location. They all
develop either gills or lungs to perform respiration, in the same location. They all either keep
their tail or don’t.

This is a great example of evolution–where natural selection has selected for different traits
depending on the environment. While these all evolved from one common ancestor, after
millions of years of natural selection, that ancestor led to divergent speciation of many
different species. And the fact that the embryonic development is virtually identical at the
very beginning, can justify this claim.

While these embryos all start from basically the same place, depending on the species, that
will determine the traits that get expressed through development.

If embryos A to F looked completely different from each other in the earliest stages, it would
be hard to argue a common ancestor between them. However, because the earliest stages
look eerily similar, we can posit that claim. The fact that humans “have gills and a tail” at
early embryonic stages is wonder of biology. And biology rarely wastes energy so unless
these embryos shared a common ancestor, why would biology waste energy putting gills and
a tail in by mistake, if it knows it will be a human?

Part III: Comparative Anatomy

Albert Ho, Austin Shaw, Benson Edward, Kourosh Tavakoli
Professor Lakin
August 15, 2024
SMC Biology

Shown below are images of skeletal structures of the front limbs of 6 animals: human,
crocodile, whale, cat, bird and bat. Each animal has a similar set of bones shown by the
shaded regions

For each animal, indicate what type of movement each limb is responsible for. I have
indicated the primary functions of humans as an example.

Albert did this section

Animal Primary Functions

Human Using tools, picking up and holding objects

Whale Steering in water laterally, balance, stopping

Cat Sharp claws to kill prey, pursuit of prey, propulsion

Bat Flight manoeuvrability

Bird Flight,

Crocodile Stabilisers, movement

Compare the skeletal structure of each limb to the human arm. Relate the differences
you see in the form to the differences in function.

Kourosh did this section

Albert Ho, Austin Shaw, Benson Edward, Kourosh Tavakoli
Professor Lakin
August 15, 2024
SMC Biology

animal Comparison to Human Arm in Comparison to Human Arm in

Form Function

Whale Whale has a much shorter and The whale fin needs to be longer to
thicker humerus, radius, and ulna. help in movement through water.
Much longer metacarpals. Thumb Thumbs are not necessary as the
has been shortened. fins are not used for grasping.

Cat Cat compared to human, has a Claws are needed in order to

much longer metacarpals. Ulna, make hunting possible and act as a
humerus and radius are weapon. Longer metacarpals make
approximately similar in both of them. the animal’s arm capable of
Appearance of claws. running.

Bat Much thinner and longer humerus, Bat’s bones need to be

radius, ulna, metacarpals and digits. lightweight, so the wings wouldn’t
Thumb has been shortened be heavy. Bat’s wing is made of the
compared to other digits. skin formed between the fingers,
so the space between digits and
metacarpals should be vast and
wide in order to have a wider wing.
The thumb acts as a hook.

Bird Thicker and shorter humerus. Bird’s wing is made of feathers

Radius and ulna are apparently stuck to the arm, so the arm needs
longer. Metacarpals and digits are to be long and thin. Less
very close to each other and not flat metacarpals and digits make the
and wide and they are less than end of the arm not wide.
human’s but longer.

Crocodile Much thicker and shorter humerus, Crocodile needs vast and big
radius and ulna. Much longer hands to stand on them or swim.
metacarpals and digits. The claws are used as a tool for
movement and also as a weapon.

You have now studied three different types of anatomical structures. Fill in the blank below:

Albert did this section

1) Homologous structures share physical features due to a common ancestor
(evolutionary history). An example of a homologous structure from this part is:
Albert Ho, Austin Shaw, Benson Edward, Kourosh Tavakoli
Professor Lakin
August 15, 2024
SMC Biology

An example of a homologous structure is the human arm and whale flippers. The
function of the limbs is different but the structure is similar.

2) Analogous structures have different anatomies but similar functions. These are seen in
organisms that are not necessarily closely related but live in similar environments and have
similar adaptations. An example of an analogous structure from this part is:

An example of an analogous structure is the wings in bat and birds. They both use
wings as a form of movement, however, they are from different species. Bats are
mammals and birds are birds. Same function but not closely related

3) Vestigial structures are anatomical remnants that were important in the organism’s
ancestors but are no longer used in the same way. An example of a vestigial structure from
this part is: The tail bone in humans or the appendix. Both structures were used by
our ancestors but are no longer used by humans. For example,The tail bone was a
crucial part of movement that is no longer present in humans. Additionally, it is
thought that the appendix helped with the digestion of food
Albert Ho, Austin Shaw, Benson Edward, Kourosh Tavakoli
Professor Lakin
August 15, 2024
SMC Biology

Assignment Derived from:

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