Answer:
Genetics take a long time to mutate.
Explanation:
The KT boundary marks a mass extinction event. the KT boundary is the time between the Cretaceous and Tertiary periods. An asteroid hit the earth at the end of the Cretaceous and that caused the end of the Cretaceous period. Before the KT boundary, pollen from angiosperms and gymnosperms is high. After the meteor hits the earth, a mass extinction occurs and the amount of pollen from gymnosperms and angiosperms decreases dramatically, while the amount of spores from ferns increases. During the Cretaceous period there were many species of gymnosperms and angiosperms but they disappeared at the KT boundary, when the asteroid hit the earth.
1. Nucleic acids are the molecules that code the genetic information of organisms.
2. The two nucleic acids used in the repair, reproduction and protein synthesis are deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA, shown) and ribonucleic acid (RNA)
3. DNA and RNA are polymers made up of monomers called nucleotides
Answer:
1. Stabilizing Selection
2. Directional Selection
3. Disruptive Selection
Explanation:
Stabilizing Selection
This type of natural selection occurs when there are selective pressures working against two extremes of a trait and therefore the intermediate or “middle” trait is selected for. If we look at a distribution of traits in the population, it is noticeable that a standard distribution is followed:
Example: For a plant, the plants that are very tall are exposed to more wind and are at risk of being blown over. The plants that are very short fail to get enough sunlight to prosper. Therefore, the plants that are a middle height between the two get both enough sunlight and protection from the wind.
Directional Selection
This type of natural selection occurs when selective pressures are working in favour of one extreme of a trait. Therefore when looking at a distribution of traits in a population, a graph tends to lean more to one side:
Example: Giraffes with the longest necks are able to reach more leaves to each. Selective pressures will work in the advantage of the longer neck giraffes and therefore the distribution of the trait within the population will shift towards the longer neck trait.
Disruptive Selection
This type of natural selection occurs when selective pressures are working in favour of the two extremes and against the intermediate trait. This type of selection is not as common. When looking at a trait distribution, there are two higher peaks on both ends with a minimum in the middle as such:
Example: An area that has black, white and grey bunnies contains both black and white rocks. Both the traits for white and black will be favored by natural selection since they both prove useful for camouflage. The intermediate trait of grey does not prove as useful and therefore selective pressures act against the trait.
