B11-4 Variation & Selection Friday 20 June 2025

Lesson objective(s): Key

words:

Do Now…
1) Write some knowledge retrieval questions here…
2) 3 to 1 ratio of Additional:Core in year 11 from now…
3) They can be from any area in a given science eg
Chemistry
4) They can be in given topic for a given science eg
Physics - medical physics;
5) They can be mixed up from a number of unrelated topic
areas.
Variation as differences between individuals of the same species

Phenotypes ( What you see/ the expression of the character)

Caused in two main ways: It can be genetic – controlled entirely by genes

Or it can be environmental – caused entirely by the environment in which
the organism lives

Genetic Variation ( creates Discontinuous Variation)

Examples of genetic variation in humans include:

blood group
eye colour
gender
ability to roll tongue
whether ear lobes are free or fixed
Environmental Variation

Characteristics of all species can be affected by environmental factors such

as climate, diet, accidents, culture, lifestyle and accidents during lifetime
In this instance ‘environmental’ simply means ‘outside of the organism’
Examples include: An accident may lead to scarring on the body.

1) Eating too much and not leading an active lifestyle will cause weight
gain
2) Being raised in a certain country will cause you to speak a certain
language with a certain accent.
3) A plant in the shade of a big tree will grow taller to reach more light
Discontinuous data is data that has a limited number of distinct groups

- This means when you graph it, it will be a bar chart or a pie chart

Discontinuous data in phenotypes include:

- Blood types: there are 4 distinct groups : A, B, AB, and O
- Eye colour: limited number of distinct groups : brown, blue, grey etc.

Note that all discrete phenotypes are purely genetic factors

- Blood type and eye colour are only determined by your DNA
- Environment cannot change it
Tongue rolling – you can either roll the sides of your tongue up, or you
can’t. There are no in-betweens.
Continuous data is data that has range (infinite number) of data between two
extremes

- Infinite number of data points means basically the data can be measured in
decimals
- Meaning that it will be graphed by a line graph or a scatter graph

Continuous data in phenotypes include:

- Height
- You can have any value of height between extremes
- Weight
- Just like height, any value between extremes
- Skin tone
- You cannot divide skintone into exact groups
State that continuous variation results in a range of phenotypes between two
extremes, e.g. height in humans – CORE

Continuous variation results in a range of phenotypes between two

extremes, e.g. height in humans. The variation is continuous because there
is an unlimited number of phenotypes between two extremes.
Genetic and Environmental Causes

Discontinuous variation is usually caused by genetic variation alone

Continuous features often vary because of a combination of genetic and
environmental causes, for example: tall parents will pass genes to their
children for height their children have the genetic potential to also be tall
however if their diet is poor then they will not grow very well therefore their
environment also has an impact on their height.

Another way of looking at this is that although genes decide what

characteristics we inherit, the surrounding environment will affect how these
inherited characteristics develop.
Distinguish between phenotypic variation and genetic variation - CORE

Genetic differences or variation can lead to differences in an individual’s

phenotype.

For example, imagine the allele T coded for tall plants and t coded for
dwarf plants. There is genetic variation between Tt and TT, but no
phenotypic variation. However, there would be both genetic and phenotypic
variation between TT and tt or between Tt and tt.

An individual’s phenotype can be influenced by both their genotype on their

environment, e.g. height in humans, whereas genotype is only influenced
by mutation and inheritance.
State that phenotypic variation is caused by both genetic and environmental
factors – EXTENDED

Phenotypic variation is caused by both genetic and environmental factors.

For example, imagine T coded for tall plants and t coded for dwarf plants.

A plant with genotypes TT or Tt would be taller than a plant with genotype tt

given the same conditions for growth. However, factors like available
nutrients, water, sunlight, temperature, etc. can also affect the growth of the
plant, meaning plants with the same genotype can have different heights
because of environmental factors.
Record and present the results of investigations into continuous and
discontinuous variation – CORE

Continuous variation: one possible investigation would be to measure and

record the heights of all of your classmates.

Usually, in continuous variation, when you plot a graph of frequency on the

y axis and phenotype on the x axis, you get a smooth bell curve:

The bigger your sample size (the more people you measure), the smoother
the curve.

Other continuous variation(s):

- Weight of individuals
Record and present the results of investigations into continuous and
discontinuous variation – CORE

Other discontinuous variations:

- people who can roll their tongues vs people who cannot

- eye colour
- Gender
- whether ear lobes are free (lobed) or fixed (lobeless)

mutation - Change in the chromosomes OR DNA

 Mutation

Mutation: Change in the chromosomes OR DNA

Ionising radiation removes electrons. It causes the DNA to be ionised.

This includes the three most energetic electromagnetic waves

- Gamma radiation [most ionising]
- X-radiation (X-ray)
- Ultraviolet (UV) radiation [least ionising]

Chemical: causing unwanted reactions and resulting in a change in the base

sequence of the DNA eg: Benzene, Hg, Cigarette Tar ( 1,000+ potential mutagens)

It should be noted that mutations happen all the time in people, but in most cases,
your body can fix the faulty genes before any serious consequences arise.
State that ionising radiation and some chemicals increase the rate of
mutation – EXTENDED

Ionising radiation removes electrons. It causes the DNA to be ionised.

Chemical: causing unwanted reactions and resulting in a change in the base

sequence of the DNA

Mutation: Change in the chromosomes OR DNA

It should be noted that mutations happen all the time in people, but in most
cases, your body can fix the faulty genes before any serious consequences
arise.
Describe natural selection – example Giraffes
1) In a given population of a species, there will be variation.
Most species produce many offspring – more than is needed to maintain
the size of the population.
2) Often, there are only limited resources available to the population, e.g.:
food, mates, territory, etc.
3) Members of the population must compete for these resources – this
results in a struggle for survival.
4) Due to variation, some individuals will possess certain characteristics
that make them better adapted to their environment than others. E.g.:
longer necks in Giraffes.
5) Giraffes are better adapted to survive are more likely to survive – this is
called ‘survival of the fittest’. Allows individuals that will live long enough to
find a mate and reproduce.
6) The alleles of the individuals that are better adapted to survive will be
passed on to the next generation. In this way, advantageous alleles are
‘selected’.
7) is known as natural selection.
Describe evolution as the change in adaptive features of a population over
time as the result of natural selection – EXTENDED

Natural selection means that advantageous adaptive features are selected

with each passing generation, increasing these features over time. As the
newer generations change to adapt to their environments (remember,
environments can change over time as well), the species as a whole can
change. This is evolution.
Define the process of adaptation as the process, resulting from natural
selection, by which populations become more suited to their environment
over many generations

Adaptation is the process, resulting from natural selection, by which

populations become more suited to their environment over many
generations.
Describe the development of strains of antibiotic resistant bacteria as an
example of evolution by natural selection

(i) bacteria without the resistance die

(ii) bacteria with the resistance survive and breed
(iii) resistant allele passed onto offspring
(iv) The resistant bacteria will multiply by asexual reproduction & pass on
their genes to the next generation.
(v) New strains of resistant bacteria can evolve as a result of natural
selection.
Same theory works with animals

- Chickens are artificially bred to give larger chickens with more meat etc.
- Modern chickens are almost 4 times as large as older chickens
Describe selective breeding with reference to:
Selection by humans of individuals with desirable features
Crossing these individuals to produce the next generation
Selection of offspring showing the desirable features

Artificial breeding by humans can bring about changes in living organisms

by selecting certain individuals for breeding.

We can choose individuals with characteristics that we find desirable, and

cross these individuals to produce the next generation. Often, we do not
allow the other individuals to breed.

The offspring that arise will tend to show a high desirable feature.
Example of features that we artificially select include:
•Friendlier, more sociable pets such as domestic cats and dogs.
•Breeds of animals that are bred for their beauty, e.g. Persian cats
•Higher yield and faster growth rates in crops
State the differences between natural and artificial selection

Natural selection is the process through which organisms better adapted to

their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring.
Artificial selection is the process by which animals and plants are chosen by
the breeder to produce desirable and inheritable characteristics in
successive generations.

Some differences include: