3.1.

Chemical Elements in Living organisms

• Unlike energy which is derived mainly form a
single source, i.e., sun, and
• which is quickly lost (dissipated) in passing
through the food chain,
• the chemical elements essential to life may be
obtained form any one of pool areas to be found in
the atmosphere, ocean, soil and bedrock and,
• furthermore, are continually re-circulated among
ecosystems, so being reused indefinitely.
• Of all the known natural elements, between 30 and
40 are considered very essentials to living
organisms.
• After hydrogen, carbon and oxygen the elements
required in greatest quantity by living organisms
are nitrogen, phosphorus, sulfur, potassium,
calcium, magnesium and iron.
• The first four elements in the list are derived
ultimately from the atmospheric sources, and the
remaining ones are obtained from the soil and the
bedrock or seas.
• Although all of the know elements are capable of
being absorbed by living organism, usually
oxygen, carbon and hydrogen are found in
appreciable quantities within living organism.
• These three often comprise of 90% of the dry
weight of organisms and the same atoms in the
form of water may account for much of the
remaining total weight of all life forms.
• It must be noted here that both the manufacture of
cells and their component substances depend upon
the adequate circulation of many chemical
elements, the most abundant being oxygen, carbon
and hydrogen.
• These three are important constituents of not only
cell structures, but they are also major components
in fats and carbohydrates.
• Moreover, with nitrogen and phosphorus, they
create many of the nucleic acids and much of the
cytoplasm materials.
• Of course, the presence of several other elements may at
time be critical for the healthy development of organisms.
• For instance, sulfur, although needed in small quantities,
is required for the formation of amino acids, without
which proteins couldn't be synthesized.
• Calcium is needed in the strengthening of cell walls and,
was it not for magnesium; chlorophyll production could
be seriously reduced.
• Although their precise functions have not been fully
known, several other elements such as phosphorus, iron,
manganese, copper, zinc, molybdenum, chlorine, etc,
appear to act as catalysts, which speed up many of the
complex chemical changes within cells.
• Most elements enter living organisms either in a
gaseous state such as O2 and Co2 or as water-
soluble salts such as NaCl and KCl.
• For a variety of complicated environmental and
physiological reasons there are always inevitable
differences in the intake of specific elements of
different types by organisms,
• although the dominance of oxygen, carbon and
hydrogen remains paramount.
 3.2. The Biogeochemical Cycles
• The chemical elements tend to circulate in the
biosphere in characteristic paths from the
environment to organisms and back to the
environment.
• This more or less circular path is known as
biogeochemical cycle.
• The movement of these elements and inorganic
and organic compounds that are essential to life is
termed nutrient cycle.
• Another component of ecosystem structure is the
pathway of each chemical element through the
components of the biosphere.
• Every element that is used by living organisms
passes between the biotic (living) and abiotic (non-
living) components of the biosphere.
• The pathways taken by these chemical elements
are called the biogeochemical cycles.
 biogeochemical cycles fall into two categories
• The gaseous cycles and Sedmentary Cycle
• 1. The gaseous cycles:
• include all gaseous elements whose reservoir is the
atmosphere or hydrosphere and for that reason
such elements have global circulation patterns.
• The elements falling into this category are carbon,
nitrogen, and oxygen. Carbon is found in the
atmosphere in carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen as
nitrogen gas (N2), and oxygen as oxygen gas
(O2). The carbon and nitrogen cycles are shown
below.
 2. The sedimentary cycles:
• The sedimentary cycles: are those in which the
element is not found in a gaseous form. In other
words it includes those elements whose reservoir
is the Earth's crust or the soil.
• Minerals such as phosphorus, phosphorus, sulfur,
potassium, calcium, magnesium and iron
 1. The gaseous cycles:
• Carbon is found in the atmosphere as carbon
dioxide which is taken into plants to become plant
tissues (we ignore other products of
photosynthesis such as oxygen because we are
only interested in what is happening to the
carbon).
• The plant tissues are consumed and either
metabolized to CO2 (and water) or turned into
animal tissues.
• The animal tissues become detritus eventually
most of which will ultimately revert to the
inorganic forms.
• But over time small amounts of detritus have built up in
the form of coal, oil, gas, and peat, the fossil fuels.
• These fossil fuels have been built up very slowly over
long periods of time, literally millions of years, as
incompletely decomposed detritus was covered by other
materials and subjected to heat and pressure.
• This process has meant a very gradual loss of carbon from
the cycle.
• But our industrial society has been using these fossil fuels
very rapidly compared to their buildup, adding carbon to
the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide.
• This added CO2 is thought to contribute to the
Greenhouse Effect and thus to global warming.
The increase in carbon dioxide and related gases is
bound to affect our atmosphere.
• An imbalanced situation in the carbon cycle is
being created.
• As a result of this imbalanced situation, we have
today a problem of what is known as global
warming, i.e., the increase in world temperature
more than the normal one because of the green
house effect of above normal concentration of
CO2.
Carbon is stored on our planet in the following
major sinks:
• a.as organic molecules in living and dead organisms
found in the biosphere;
• b.as the gas carbon dioxide in the atmosphere;
• c.as organic matter in soils;
• d. in the lithosphere as fossil fuels and sedimentary
rock deposits such as limestone, dolomite and
chalk; and
• in the oceans as dissolved atmospheric carbon
dioxide and as calcium carbonate shells in marine
organisms.
• The biosphere contains a complex mixture of carbon
compound in a continuous state of creation,
transformation and decomposition.
• This dynamic state is maintained through the
photosynthetic activities of phytoplankton in the sea
and green plants on land.
• These organisms capture the energy
• of sunlight and utilize it to transform carbon dioxide
and water into organic molecules of precise
architecture and rich diversity.
• This is to say that the engine for the organic processes
that reconstructed the primitive Earth is photosynthesis.
• In the process of photosynthesis, plants convert
atmospheric carbon dioxide and water frown the soil
through chemical rearrangements in the presence of
sunlight energy into organic matter of food, which is
the source of the chemical bond energy for the life
activities for not only green plants but also all other
organisms.
•
• The carbon cycle begins with the fixation of
atmospheric carbon dioxide directly from the
atmosphere through the process of photosynthesis by
green plants and certain microorganisms (refer to the
figure shown below).
 nitrogen cycle
• The nitrogen cycle also uses the atmosphere as a
component, but plants don't get their nitrogen from
the atmosphere.
• Nitrogen gas is mostly inert, while plants obtain
needed nitrogen from soluble nitrates in the soil.
• These nitrates are produced from the
decomposition of detritus, i.e. composting.
 ````````````
• Plants absorb soluble nitrates, along with other minerals, and
use them to make plant tissues.
• It's proteins that especially require nitrates, making the nitrogen
cycle (the nitrogen budget) so critical for nutritious crops.
• The plant protein is passed on to animals to be made into
animal protein.
• Animals metabolize some of the protein for energy, excreting
urea in the process.
• Urea can be used by plants, but most of the nitrogen is
converted to the soluble forms by the decomposers.
• Soil organisms such as worms, fungi, and bacteria are essential
to the normal recycling of minerals and nutrients for continued
plant growth.
• Another underappreciated component of our biota.
• The growth of all organisms depends on the availability of
mineral nutrients, and none is more important than
nitrogen, which is required in large amounts as amino
acids, proteins, and nucleic acids and other cellular
constituents.
• The largest store of nitrogen is found in the atmosphere
where it exists as a gas (mainly N2).
• Other major stores of nitrogen include organic matter in soil
and the oceans.
• There is an abundant supply of nitrogen in the Earth's
atmosphere - nearly 78% in the form of N2 gas.
• Despite its abundance in the atmosphere, however, nitrogen
is often the most limiting nutrient for plant growth.
• It is one of nature's great ironies that nitrogen is
inert or unavailable for use by most organisms,
including all plants and animals.
• nitrogen is often the limiting factor for growth and
biomass production in all environments where
there is even suitable climate and availability of
water to support life.
• Even though nitrogen comprises over 78% of the
atmosphere and its main reservoir pool is the
atmosphere, much of its circulation actually takes
place within the soil.
 2. sedimentary cycles
• The sedimentary cycles: are those in which the
element is not found in a gaseous form. In other
words it includes those elements whose reservoir
is the Earth's crust or the soil.
• Phosphorus is derived from the soil and weathered
bedrock.
• It is essential for the healthy growth of living organisms;
and available in relatively short supply in terms of its
biological demand.
• It also serves as the most important link in the chain of
chemical elements necessary to life.
• It is indispensable in the formation of nucleic acids and
nucleo-proteins. It is the key to energy in living
organisms, for it is it that moves energy from ATP to
another molecule, driving an enzymatic reaction, or
cellular transport. Phosphorus is also the glue that holds
DNA and RNA together, binding deoxyribose sugars
together.
• Phosphorus in elemental form, like nitrogen, is
inert, i.e., cannot be directly used by living
organisms.
• These supplies of phosphorus should undergo
several changes (see figure above), acted upon by
several groups of bacteria, to produce the final
compound form which living organisms can use.
The final compound of phosphorus, which plants
utilize, is orthophosphate (H2PO4-).
• Plants dissolve ionized forms of phosphate.
• Herbivores obtain phosphorus by eating plants and
carnivores by eating herbivores.
• Herbivores and carnivores excrete phosphorus as a
waste product in urine and feces.
• Phosphorus is released back to the soil when
plants or animal matter decomposes and the cycle
repeats.
 The sulfur cycle:
• Sulfur is important in the formation of amino acids, cystine,
cystein and methionine.
• Most elemental sulfur is present in the form of inorganic
compounds developed from weathered rock materials.
• What do amino acids do?
• Break down food.
• Grow and repair body tissue.
• Make hormones and brain chemicals
(neurotransmitters).
• Provide an energy source.
• Maintain healthy skin, hair and nails.
• Build muscle.
• Boost your immune system.
• Sustain a normal digestive system.
 UNIT FOUR
• FACTORS AFFECTING GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTIONS OF LIVING
ORGANISMS

B. Limiting Factors
A. Environmental 1. Climatic Factors:
Factors
2. Topographic Influences:
3. The Influence of Soil:

4. Geological Factors
5. Biotic Restrictions:

6. Evolution Factors
7. Anthropogenic Factors
 CHAPTER 5: BIOMES
• The communities of organisms of the biosphere vary in so
many respects that it is impossible to study their
characteristics unless we use some form of classification
for this purpose.
• One of the classifications that emerged early in the
twentieth century and is still in use today is the concept of
biome.
• Biome is appropriate division to organize the natural
world,
• because the organisms that live in each of them possess
common constellations of adaptations to them, in
particular to the climate of each of the zones.
 7.1. MEANING OF BIOME
• A biome can be defined as a major regional community of plants
and animals with similar life forms and environmental conditions.
• It is the largest geographical biotic unit, across which the
interactions of climate, soil and topography are sufficiently uniform
to permit the development of similar life forms or types of
vegetation.
• It is named after the dominant type of life form, such as tropical
rain forest, grassland, except in aquatic ecosystems where the zones
are used such as wetlands and lakes.
• A single biome can be widely scattered about the planet.
• Due to similar pressures of natural selection, species in different
parts of a biome may converge in their appearance and behaviors,
even when they do not share the same ancestors.
• As indicated earlier, the biosphere is divided into two
general ecosystems: terrestrial (land) and aquatic (water),
• each of which is further subdivided into smaller
formations that we have already termed biomes.
 7.2. TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEM
• 1. Forest Biomes:
• Equatorial Forests: They occur in lowlands, coastal plains and
valleys near the equator, mainly within the area bounded by latitudes
10 degrees N and 10 degrees S.
• The most extensive forests of this type are found in the Amazon and
Zaire basins, with some patches scattered in the islands and
peninsulas of Southeast Asia.
• Year-round high temperatures characterize the biome, with a daily
range exceeding the seasonal range.
• Day lengths are essentially the same all year round. Temperature is
on average 20-25° C and varies little throughout the year:
• the average temperatures of the three warmest and three coldest
months do not differ by more than 5 degrees.
• Precipitation is almost evenly distributed throughout the year, with
annual rainfall exceeding 2000mm.
• There may be one or more relatively dry months (with less than 100 mm rainfall)
almost anywhere in the zone, but there is no moisture stress in the region.
• Animal life is highly diverse.
• Common characteristics found among mammals and birds
(and reptiles and amphibians, too) include adaptations to
an arboreal life (for example, the prehensile tails of New
World monkeys), bright colors and sharp patterns, loud
vocalizations, and diets heavy on fruits.
• Tropical forests, covering 7% of the Earth's surface area,
contain perhaps 50% of the world's species.
• This forest is the most complex ecosystem on Earth.
• It is one thousand times more biologically complex than
the tropical reef system, the second most complex system
on Earth.
•Tropical Dry Forest: Normally, is found in a broad zone extending
between the equatorial rain forest and the savanna.
•Here temperatures are high all year, but there is well-developed
alternate long dry season and short wet season.
•Soils are essentially like those of tropical rain forests with similar
processes.
•The deciduousness of most tree species is a significant difference
from the tropical rain forest.
•Many evergreen tree species of the rain forest become deciduous in
this zone.
•Growing conditions are not so optimal, thus the tree canopy is lower
(10-30m) than in the rain forest and the trees are less dense where
drought is more extreme.
•The undergrowth is often dense and tangled because of greater light
penetration.
•Mediterranean Shrub Lands: occur roughly between 30°
and 40° latitude on the west coasts of continents, where
offshore there are cold ocean currents.
•Each region in which the Mediterranean scrublands and
woodlands occur is island-like in character and thus there is
frequently a high degree of endemism.
•The Mediterranean Climate is unique in that the wet season
coincides with the low sun or winter period. Summers are dry.
•Temperatures are those of the subtropics moderated by
maritime influence and fogs associated with the cold ocean
currents.
•Shrubs characterize the Mediterranean biome.
•Temperate Broadleaf Deciduous Forest: The Temperate Broadleaf
Deciduous Forest occurs in three major, disjunctive expressions in western
and central Europe, eastern Asia, including Korea and Japan, and eastern
North America.
•The region is characterized by warm summers and cold winters, with
precipitation often spread throughout the year.
•Snow is common in the northern part of the zone but decreases to the south
end of it.
•The non-growing season is due to temperature-induced drought during the
cold winters.
• Brown, fertile forest soils develop under the Temperate Broadleaf
Deciduous Forest. Broadleaf trees tend to be nutrient demanding and their
leaves bind the major nutrient bases.
 2. Grasslands:
• Grasslands are characterized as lands dominated by
grasses rather than large shrubs or trees.
• There are two main divisions of grasslands: tropical
grasslands, called savannas, and temperate grasslands.
 Savanna:
•Savannas or Tropical grasslands are associated with the
tropical wet and dry climate type, but they are not generally
considered to be a climatic climax.
•Instead, savannas develop in regions where the climax
community should be some form of seasonal forest or woodland,
but edaphic conditions or disturbances prevent the establishment
of those species of trees associated with the climax community.
•Mean monthly temperatures are at or above 64° F and annual
precipitation averages between 30 and 50 inches.
•For at least five months of the year, during the dry season, less
than 4 inches a month are received.

•The dry season is associated with the low sun period.

• Savanna soils are often reddish, acid latosols, as in
the tropical rainforests, but there may be gray to
reddish calcareous soils also, especially in drier
areas.
•Temperate Grasslands: are located in the interior of the continent of
Eurasia, North America, South America and Southern Africa, far
removed from maritime influence.
•They are found between the temperate forests and deserts. These
grasslands have hot summers and cold winters.
•The temperature range is very large over the course of the year.
Rainfall is moderate and usually occurs in the late spring and early
summer.
• The soil of the temperate grasslands is deep and dark, with fertile
upper layers.
•It is nutrient-rich from the growth and decay of deep, many-
branched grass roots.
•The rotted roots hold the soil together and provide a food
source for living plants.
•This fertile soil is called chernozem, soil that is more of
alkaline nature because net water movement within it has been
upward, carrying calcium with it, which precipitates as calcium
carbonate.
• This zone is largely dominated by grasses, but with annual
and perennial forbs intermingled in different proportions in
different areas.
•As in the savanna, seasonal drought and occasional fires are very
important to biodiversity. The seasonal drought, occasional fires, and
grazing by large mammals all prevent woody shrubs and trees from
invading and becoming established. However, a few trees grow among
the grasses.
• Plant and animal diversity is rather low in this structurally simple,
temperate climate.
 3. Desert Scrubs
 develop under four distinct geographic conditions:
 Under zones of high atmospheric pressure associated with the subtropics
and centered near 30° latitude. Air descending from the upper atmosphere
at these latitudes causes evaporation to exceed precipitation. Much of the
Sahara and the Australian desert can be associated with this phenomenon.
• West coasts of continents between 20° and 30° latitude where prevailing
winds are easterly and prevent moist air from coming onto the west coast.
• Rain shadows of high mountain ranges where air masses are forced over
mountains and down slope, warming and their capacity for holding water
vapor increasing. Evaporation exceeds precipitation and an arid
environment or rain shadow is created on the leeward side.
• Interiors of continents where usually, in combination with the rain shadow
effect, distance from a major source of moist air results in dry climates in
the interior of a landmass.
• Desert climates are those, which average less than 250mm of
precipitation a year.
• Potential evaporation exceeds precipitation in the annual water budget.
Furthermore, rainfall is highly localized and relatively unpredictable in
terms of when it will occur, although usually there are seasons of
highest probability for precipitation. Temperatures are also variable.
• Winters are cool to cold: "hot deserts" rarely experience frost; "cold
deserts" may have prolonged periods of below freezing temperatures
and snowfall
• Desert areas are rarely devoid of life.
• Instead, they abound with wonderfully adapted plants and animals that
have evolved various mechanisms for tolerating or avoiding the
extremes of aridity and temperature that might be encountered in their
environment.
• Shrubs are the dominant growth form of deserts.
• xerophytes adapted to tolerate extreme drought.
 4. The Tundra
• The word tundra derives from the Finnish word for barren or
treeless land.
• The tundra is the simplest biome in terms of species
composition and food chains.
• It is restricted to the high latitudes of the northern hemisphere
in a belt around the Arctic Ocean.
• Many of its species, both plant and animal, have circumpolar
distribution areas.
• No true soil is developed in this biome due to the edaphic
factors mentioned above.
• Ground-hugging and other warmth-preserving forms of plants
lichens, mosses, sedges, perennial forbs, and dwarfed shrubs
are the commonest plants here. Animals include few species
of resident and migratory birds and mammals.
The high latitude conditions of climate type that impact life in this
biome include
 Extremely short growing season (6 to 10 weeks)
 Long, cold, dark winters (6 to 10 months with mean monthly
temperatures below 0° C.)
 Low precipitation, coupled with strong, drying winds. Snowfall is
actually advantageous to plant and animal life as it provides an
insulating layer on the ground surface.
 Permafrost, not cold temperatures per se, are generally believed to
be what prevents tree growth.
 AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
• It is believed that life began in the ocean, possibly around
deep volcanic vents in the ocean floor, or perhaps in
warm, shallow seas.
• The chemicals of life move easily in water, and water
environments support many forms of animals and plants.
• Aquatic life is dependent on access to sunlight and
nourishing chemicals that are dissolved in the water.
• Some of these chemicals are carried into the ocean from
the land; some are reclaimed from the decaying bodies of
dead animals and plants.
• Light is an important factor in determining the makeup of
aquatic populations.
 1. Freshwater Ecosystems
• Freshwater is defined as having a low salt concentration—usually less than 1%.

• Plants and animals in freshwater regions are adjusted to the low salt content and
would not be able to survive in areas of high salt concentration (i.e., ocean).
• Freshwater Aquatic Biomes have close ties to their surrounding terrestrial
biomes.
• Runoff of water from land creates streams and rivers, and where runoff in
trapped, ponds and lakes are formed.
• Also, the characteristics of a freshwater biome are influenced by the pattern and
speed of water flow, as well as the climate to which the biome is exposed.
• There are different types of freshwater regions: ponds and lakes, streams and
rivers, and wetlands. The following sections describe the characteristics of these
three freshwater zones
 2. Marine Biomes
• Marine regions cover about three-fourths of the Earth’s
surface and include oceans, coral reefs, and estuaries.
Marine algae supply
• much of the world’s oxygen supply and take in a huge
amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
• The evaporation of the seawater provides rainwater for
the land.
• Oceans are the largest of all the ecosystems. Over 70 percent of
the Earth's surface is covered by water.
• In fact, when seen from space, our Earth looks blue, because of
the large bodies of water, which cover most of it.
• Although we speak of separate oceans, the world is really
covered by one huge ocean in which the continents are islands!
• There are four main oceans: the pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and
arctic.
• Some say that the ocean contains the richest diversity of species
even though it contains fewer species than there are on land.
• algae and small animals such as herbivorous snails, crabs, sea
stars, and small fish, many invertebrates, fishes, and seaweed
can be found
• The benthic zone is the area below the pelagic zone, but does not
include the very deepest parts of the ocean (see abyssal zone
below).
• The bottom of the zone consists of sand, slit, and/or dead
organisms.
• Here temperature decreases as depth increases toward the abyssal
zone, since light cannot penetrate through the deeper water.
• Flora are represented primarily by seaweed while the fauna, since it
is very nutrient-rich, include all sorts of bacteria, fungi, sponges,
worms, sea stars, and fish.
• The deep ocean is the abyssal zone. The water in this
region is very cold, highly pressured, high in oxygen
content, but low in nutritional content. The abyssal zone
supports many species of invertebrates and fish.
• Coral Reefs are widely distributed in warm shallow waters.
• They can be found as barriers along continents (e.g., the Great
Barrier Reef off Australia), fringing islands, and atolls.
• Naturally, the dominant organisms in coral reefs are corals.
• Corals are interesting since they consist of both algae and tissues of
animal polyp.
• Since reef waters tend to be nutritionally poor, corals obtain
nutrients through the algae via photosynthesis and also by
extending tentacles to obtain plankton from the water.
• Besides corals, the fauna include several species of
microorganisms, invertebrates, fish, sea urchins, octopuses, and sea
stars.
• Estuaries are areas where freshwater streams or rivers
merge with the ocean.
• This mixing of waters with such different salt
concentrations creates a very interesting and unique
ecosystem.
• Micro-flora like algae, and macro-flora, such as seaweeds,
marsh grasses, and mangrove trees (only in the tropics),
can be found here.
• Estuaries support a diverse fauna, including a variety of
worms, oysters, crabs, and waterfowl.
 Chapter six: Important Biogeographic Processes
• There are several fundamental processes in
biogeography. These are the processes by which
organisms respond to changes in the geographic
template.
1. Evolution 4. Extinction
2. Adaptation 5. Geographical Dispersal and Colonization

3. Speciation 6. Ecosystem stability, Diversity and Ecological Succession

• 6.1 Evolution
• Evolution is the emerging out of different organisms from
a single ancestor.
• Common ideas of scholars fall to the conclusion as
evolution is response to different environment which
experience very different conditions from before.
• Evolution may be defined as any net directional change or
any cumulative change in the characteristics of organisms
or populations over many generations in other words,
descent with modification…
• It explicitly includes the origin as well as the spread of
alleles, variants, trait values, or character states.
• An astonishing number of organisms exist on Earth, each
adapted to the ecosystem in which it carries out its life
cycle.
• About 40,000 species of microorganisms, 350,000 species
of plants, and 2.2 million species of animals, including
some 800,000 insect species, have been described and
identified.
• This is probably only a fraction of the number of species found on
Earth. How has life gained this astonishing diversity?
• Through the process of evolution, the environment itself has acted
on organisms to create this diversity.
• You’ve probably heard of Sir Charles Darwin. His monumental
work, The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, was
published in 1859.
• Through exhaustive studies, Darwin showed that all life possesses
variation—the difference that arise between parent and offspring.
• He proposed that the environment acts on variation in organisms, in
much the same way that a plant or an animal breeder does, picking
out the individuals with qualities that are best suited to their
environment.
• These individuals are more likely to go on and propagate. Darwin
termed this survival and reproduction of the fittest natural
selection.
• He saw that, when acted upon by natural selection through
time, variation could bring about the formation of new
species whose individuals differed greatly from their
ancestors.

• The central idea of biological evolution is that all life on

Earth shares a common ancestor, just as you and your
cousins share a common grandmother.
• Through the process of descent with modification, the
common ancestor of life on Earth gave rise to the fantastic
diversity that we see documented in the fossil record and
around us today.
• Evolution means that we're all distant cousins: humans and
oak trees, hummingbirds and whales.
 What is natural selection?
 Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution states that evolution happens by natural
selection.
 Individuals in a species show variation in physical characteristics. This variation
is because of differences in their genes?.
 Individuals with characteristics best suited to their environment are more likely to
survive, finding food, avoiding predators and resisting disease. These individuals
are more likely to reproduce and pass their genes on to their children.
 Individuals that are poorly adapted to their environment are less likely to survive
and reproduce. Therefore their genes are less likely to be passed on to the next
generation.
 As a consequence those individuals most suited to their environment survive and,
given enough time, the species will gradually evolve.
 6.2 Adaptation

• adaptation, is the adjustment of organisms to their environment in order

to improve their chances at survival in that environment.
• In evolutionary theory, adaptation is the biological mechanism by which
organisms adjust to new environments or to changes in their current
environment.
• Although scientists discussed adaptation prior to the 1800s, it was not
until then that Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace developed the
theory of natural selection.
• Wallace believed that the evolution of organisms was connected in some
way with adaptation of organisms to changing environmental conditions.
• In developing the theory of evolution by natural selection, Wallace and
Darwin both went beyond simple adaptation by explaining how
organisms adapt and evolve.
• The idea of natural selection is that traits that can be passed down allow
organisms to adapt to the environment better than other organisms of the
same species. This enables better survival and reproduction compared
with other members of the species, leading to evolution
• Organisms can adapt to an environment in different ways. They can
adapt biologically, meaning they alter body functions.
• An example of biological adaptation can be seen in the bodies of
people living at high altitudes, such as Tibet.
• Tibetans thrive at altitudes where oxygen levels are up to 40 percent
lower than at sea level. Breathing air that thin would cause most
people to get sick, but Tibetans’ bodies have evolved changes in their
body chemistry.
• Most people can survive at high altitudes for a short time because
their bodies raise their levels of hemoglobin, a protein that transports
oxygen in the blood.
• However, continuously high levels of hemoglobin are dangerous, so
increased hemoglobin levels are not a good solution to high-altitude
survival in the long term.
• Tibetans seemed to have evolved genetic mutations that allow them to
use oxygen far more efficiently without the need for extra
hemoglobin.
• Organisms can also exhibit behavioral adaptation. One
example of behavioral adaptation is how emperor penguins
in Antarctica crowd together to share their warmth in the
middle of winter.
 6.3 Speciation
• Speciation is the origin of new species. Generally, this entails one
species changing over time and eventually becoming two species.
• It consists of the evolution of biological barriers to gene flow
(reproductive isolation) between two populations of the same species.
• In other words, the two populations genetically diverge from each other.
• These changes can be due to different selection pressures because of
different environments, or because of genetic drift/founder events.
• Causes of Speciation
• 1. Geographic Isolation
• In the fruit fly example, some fruit fly larvae were washed up on an
island, and speciation started because populations were prevented from
interbreeding by geographic isolation.
• Scientists think that geographic isolation is a common way for the
process of speciation to begin: rivers change course, mountains rise,
continents drift, organisms migrate, and what was once a continuous
population is divided into two or more smaller populations.
• It doesn’t even need to be a physical barrier like a
river that separates two or more groups of
organisms—it might just be unfavorable habitat
between the two populations that keeps them from
mating with one another.
 2. Reduction of Gene Flow

• However, speciation might also happen in a population with no

specific extrinsic barrier to gene flow.
• Imagine a situation in which a population extends over a broad
geographic range, and mating throughout the population is not
random.
• Individuals in the far west would have zero chance of mating with
individuals in the far eastern end of the range. So we have reduced
gene flow, but not total isolation.
• This may or may not be sufficient to cause speciation. Speciation
would probably also require different selective pressures at opposite
ends of the range, which would alter gene frequencies in groups at
different ends of the range so much that they would not be able to
mate if they were reunited.
 1.4 Extinction

• Extinction is the mass destruction of organisms.

• The ultimate fate of all species just as death is for all individual
organisms.
• Over geologic time, all species are doomed to extinction. When
conditions change more quickly than populations can evolve new
adaptations, population size falls.
• When that happens, the population is more vulnerable to chance
occurrences, such as a fire, a rare climatic event, or an outbreak of
disease. Ultimately, the population is wiped out.
• Some extinction occurs very rapidly, particularly those induced by
human activity, such as in the classic example of the passenger
pigeon (The passenger pigeon was a dominant bird of eastern North
America in the late nineteenth century.
• But these birds were easily captured in nets and shipped to markets
for food.
• By 1890, they were virtually gone. The last known
passenger pigeon died in the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914.).
• Rare but extreme events can also cause extinctions. Strong
evidence suggests that the Earth was struck by a meteorite
about 65 million years ago, wiping out the dinosaurs and
many other groups of terrestrial and marine organisms.
• Many scientists now believe that the impact of this
meteorite was responsible for the extinction of dinosaurs
and many other species.)
• Natural Extinctions
– Climate change
– Cataclysmic event (volcano, earthquake)
• Human Activities
– Habitat Loss/Fragmentation
– Introduction of exotic/invasive species
– Pollution
– Commercial harvesting
– Accidental killing (tuna nets)
– Harassing
– Pet Trade
– Urbanization
– Damming/Flooding
– Agricultural conversion
2.5 Geographical Dispersal and Colonization