Student Evolution Blog

 

 Phenotypic plasticity in an environment is the change in an organism caused by environmental stress. Some common changes in the organism include color, size, eating habits, physiology, and other behavioral or phenotypic traits that can be easily modified with their conditions. These changes lead to evolutionary processes because, if the changes are hereditary, they are passed onto their offspring and begin being selected for or against in a population.  For example, as the temperature changes to where it is warmer for longer in an environment, it becomes more beneficial to be a brown bunny compared to a white bunny because it is not snowing as often. The brown bunnies therefore have a higher survival rate. However, 100 years ago, only white bunnies were present in the population. One bunny mutated and became a creamy color of fur instead of pale white. This bunny found it easier to survive and 50 years later, more cream bunnies appeared! We were even starting to see bunnies b...

 Even though an organism's genotype is passed from generation to generation, its phenotype is selected for in nature. Genotypes, or the genetic makeup of an organism, encode for the phenotype, or the physical characteristics of an organism. This selection process is seen throughout populations because an organism's size, color, leg length, and many other physical characteristics help it survive and reproduce in an environment. The genes of these phenotypic traits that aid in an organism's survival are passed from generation to generation, resulting in the physical traits of an organism being selected for and increasing in frequency in a population over time.