Evolution - BIOL 4133

  Genetic drift is a random process where the frequency of certain traits in a population changes over time just by chance. Not to be confused with natural selection. Natural selection is intentional and not by chance. 

Plasticity   -is an organism's ability to change its phenotype (observable traits) in response to environmental conditions.  Example of a study to determine if the organism has plasticity:

Genotype Vs Phenotype          Selection acting on phenotype produces evolutionary change. Although genotypes are the genetic makeup passed down, they are not the reason for selection. Phenotypes determine what genotypes are passed down through the environmental selection for specific phenotypes.      For example:  A population of frogs have two different colors, light brown and neon pink (the colors would be the phenotypes). The environment is made of dirt and trees, which means the environment would be more favorable for the light brown frogs to hide from predators, resulting in a selection for that phenotype. This means more light brown frogs would live to reproduce, increasing the genotypic frequency for the light brown frogs due to it's presenting phenotype.