The Common Reed Frog and Genetic Mutations

Genetic mutations within an organisms DNA can completely change the chances of survival of the organism over time. This is because a change in DNA could affect the phenotype or fitness it has in its environment. The Common Reed Frog is a West African Frog that is very different from most frog species. The Common Reed Frog can be found in subtropical or tropical dry forests. Something this species is able to do that is very unique is to change its sex in any single sex environment it is in in order to reproduce and keep the population big enough to survive. This happened over many generations, due to changes in its DNA structure; genetic mutations; allowing them to change gender when the environment they were in made it difficult or impossible to reproduce and keep the species fit for the environment. This could heavily affect the population because it will allow them to survive longer, even when there is only one sex in their population, because they could simply just switch sexes and fix the issue.

Another mutation that helps the Common Reed Frog is that the species has a large variety of colors. If the environment was to change, a mutation in the DNA of the frog for its skin color could help the frog, or hurt the frog in terms of camouflage. This possible mutation could help the species hide more easily, or be much more visible to their predators. If the camouflage is suited for the environment, then the species could grow and become much more fit in the environment, and have no problem surviving. If the camouflage is opposite of the environment, it could hurt their chances of survival, and make it much more difficult, requiring them to work much harder for their survival.

Controlled Habitat and Natural Selection

There are 12 white mice, 12 brown mice, and 12 black mice in a population in the forest. Some of the mice have long tails, some have medium sized tails, and others have really short tails. There are 36 mice in total. Four each of the white, brown, and black mice have long tails; four each of the white, brown, and black tails have medium sized tails, and four each of the white, brown, and black mice have really short tails. They will be put in a scenario and the possible outcomes will be noted. This will show the frequency of each phenotype will change within the populations. Also, this is an example of natural selection within a population.

33% of the population is white. 33% of the population is brown. 33% of the population is black. Also; 33% of the population has a long tail. 33% of the population has a medium tail. 33% of the population has a short tail.

The mice population is put into a large forest environment for 9 weeks. The only predators in this island are snakes. The environment has some very light habitats that are easy for the white population to blend in with. What can be predicted from this?

The snakes get hungry and begin their search for food. They are able to find the black mice the easiest, and these 12 black mice and one brown mouse are all gone within the first four weeks of nine weeks. During the next week, the brown and white mice mate together making the new mice have a phenotype of very light brown colored fur, allowing them to camouflage as well. Within the next weeks, the dark brown mice are targeted, removing them from the island population. At the end of the 9 weeks, the snakes are removed and the mice population is observed on the phenotype of fur color. Results show that the light brown and white fur mix fur coat was the most fit for the environment on the island. Even though the white mice were much hidden within the environment, the snakes could find them easier than the light brown ones. The black population died out because they did not reproduce offspring with more “fit” qualities such as white OR brown fur. The white population ended with 13 white mice. The brown mice ended with 0 mice with this phenotype, and the brown and white fur population was 7 at the end of the 9 week period. The white population grew by one member, making the white mice have 65 percent of the new overall island mice population. The brown and white grew to be 45% of the overall population, and grew from 0 to 7, having a 100% increase. The black mice were 0% of the overall population, and the brown population was 0% of the overall population. This shows how natural selection can affect the frequency of each phenotype within a population.

Peacocks and Reproductive Isolation

There are three types of Reproductive Isolation; behavioral isolation, temporal isolation, and geographical isolation. All three types can break a species up into two or more species over long periods of time. Although all three can each affect different species, behavioral may be the type of reproductive isolation that affects a population the most.

Each individual organism has its own behaviors, no matter what species it may be. These behaviors are passed on genetically from generation to generation. As they get passed, they change because they are different than the others previous to them. As these behaviors become more and more different, it is possible that the organisms will get to a point where they will no longer mate with each other. This can be for a large variety of different behavioral changes within the species or the interests of or dislikes of the organism or species; or the individual organism. If the behaviors change enough to the point of separation due to the differences in behavior, over generations time, the groups can separate into two or more different species.
This would lead to the inability to mate with the other species even though they were once one species that used to mate together. The gene pools would then be completely different over time from the new species. There could be changes in the color of the species, the sharpness of claws or teeth, the length of their tails, or other unique features that may be present within the species.

One example of behavioral isolation is in peacocks. Peacocks are a beautiful type of bird. Males have large beautiful and colorful feathers whereas the females have more dull brown colored feathers. The females choose their mates based on their interest in the feather color of the males. If the males begin to develop a large amount of one colored feather, the females will begin to choose preferences. They will eventually separate into two species since certain females’ wont mate with certain males. This is behavioral separation and the two different “species” of peacocks (created over many generations) will no longer be able to mate/breed with each other.

Behavioral isolation is very common among many types of animals and many species.

Fishing and Genetic Drift

Fishing is an activity that millions partake in every year. Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish in their habitats, including ponds, lakes, oceans and other bodies of water. Fishing is a recreational sport for many of people, and a job for many others. There are about 38 million commercial fisherman and fish farmers, providing jobs to over 500 million people who often catch and sell fish for food supply. Other fishermen are considered recreational fishers who go fishing during their free time. Through these millions of fishermen, fish get removed from their natural habitat and are either moved to different locations, or are killed and processed for food. Like many other animals, some fish are much more popular than others.

Tuna is a very popular, and a very well-known species of fish that many people enjoy eating and/or catching to feed others. Fisheries or other commercial fishing businesses catch and sell thousands and thousands of tuna fish every year. This has brought many changes and consequences, and will continue to if tuna fish are not able to reproduce enough to keep their populations striving. This means that the diversity of tuna fish, or the differences of tuna fish is going to decrease as those different traits get removed from the process, killing off those exact traits from getting passed on to the next generation. Fishermen usually prefer to obtain larger breeds of tuna fish. There are tuna of all sizes, but if fishermen keep only the larger tuna fish, leaving the medium sized and smaller sized tuna which will continue to reproduce, there will eventually be no more large tuna. This is because the diversity of the population of large tuna reduced their ability to survive and reproduce. If the population of the large tuna goes extinct by getting killed off, the traits of the large tuna die off with them, resulting in the future populations of medium and small populations unable to have any of the traits unique to the large tuna.

Another example of what could happen with the tuna is that they would completely change their structures or; ways of living. Some of the large tuna have a beautiful green color to their bodies. If fishermen preferred tuna with the green rather than blue or purple, the green population would decrease, leaving a higher percentage of blue and purple tuna. If the green tuna doesn’t mate faster than the rate of reduction within the population in order to bring up the percentage of green species, the green population will struggle to survive and could possibly go extinct, leaving no green tuna to reproduce anymore, reducing the diversity of the tuna population.