Question Completion Status: 1234 567S QUESTION3 Imagine you are doing a summer i

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Question Completion Status: 1234 567S QUESTION3 Imagine you are doing a summer internship as a research assistant at Sevilleta Research Station in the desert an New Mexico. During your internship you observe two distinct species of beetle in the area. They have similar body shapes and they both seems to lake to land on cacthi But their color patterns are different, one is bright green and one is dark green You further observe that their habitat ranges overlap, but are distinct in that the dark green beetle prefers small, darker cacti while the bright green beetle prefers larger, lighter-colored cacti. Both species are camouflaged well in their respective habitats. You have seen both species preyed upon by lizards. Finally, the population size of the rwo species is about equal. Based on the information given, was the evolution of these two species of beetle more likely due to natural selection or genetic drift? Write an answer in which you concisely define both mechanisms, state which evolutionary mechanism is more likely and logically explain why 3(12pt) T-·-·-· T TT Arial , Click

Explanation / Answer

Natural selection is based on Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Natural selection affects phenotypes as it select traits that are better adapted to the environment. The genotype is however unaffected in natural selection.

Genetic drift is a random chance effect affecting allelic frequencies in a population over time. It is more effective in a small population that has survived a natural disaster as larger populations can overcome the effects of genetic drift easily. No positive or negative selection pressure is applicable in genetic drift. In some cases, genetic drift can help overcome the deleterious effects on population selection due to natural selection.

In the situation given, both the bright green colored and dark colored beetle are adapted to their natural habitats. Hence, they are obtained by natural selection. Genetic drift does not result in adaptation but will result in either loss of an allele or presence of the allele as the sole allele in the population locus. Both beetle populations are equal in numbers in the desert.

The evolution of the beetles in their habitat was not by chance. They have distinct habitats, with the dark colored beetles preferring smaller darker cacti while the bright green beetle preferring larger light colored cacti. This allows the beetles to evade the predator lizards as the beetles are perfectly camouflaged in their environment. Thus, the population evolved to obtain selective advantage in the environment due to a positive selective pressure. Genetic drift is a random event and randomly affects the fitness of the organism.

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