The Ways Allele Frequency Can Change
- A mutation is simply put, a change in the DNA sequence. A change in the DNA sequence results in a change in amino acid sequence and then a change in the allele or trait (which means that the organism will look different and or have different adaptations). Mutations are the only way new alleles are made. These mutations can be harmful or helpful and it is possible that these changes will affect reproductive success. It is very important to understand, however, that the change in the DNA sequence must make a new trait that is heritable in order to classify as a mutation.
- Genetic drift is a random change in allele frequency. There are two examples of genetic drift, the founder effect and a population bottleneck. The founder effect is when people with a specific mutation or specific trait move to a community and all mate with other organisms with that same mutation, this creates a community with a large population of people with a specific mutation. Population bottleneck is when there is a disaster and only animals with a specific mutation live and every other type of that organism with a different allele sequence dies out.
- Migration is gene flow and basically a group of individuals move from one population to another and they have different traits so they bring their specific traits to the other population.
- Natural Selection is simply put "survival of the fittest". In natural selection those best suited for the environment survive and reproduce. This idea was described by Charles Darwin first in the 1830s.
Snake Adaptations
- Snakes can sense heat with their tongues and therefore find their pray without using their eyes.
- Snakes have a stretchy ligament at the back of their jaw so that each side of their jaw can open really big in order to swallow large amounts of food.
- Snakes lay eggs that have hard shells so that their babies don't get hurt.
- Snakes have scales that lock in moisture so that they can spend time in the sun.
- Scales on snakes are used as a mechanism for camouflage as they spend a lot of time on rough backgrounds (in terms of texture) and scales make their skin rough.