Rebekah's Biology Blog

 My twin and I have a crested gecko, appropriately named Gecko. For our BIO1625 lab, we are running an experiment that involves mealworms. Unfortunately, over the weekend, one of the mealworms (let's call it Worm) died. We decided that Worm would be the perfect dessert for Gecko. He woke up right away to devour the treat! Gecko is a diploid (2n) and so is Worm. Before Gecko and Worm were born, they were haploids (n) because they were in the process of gamete production. These cells were made by meiosis, and is how Gecko and Worm were formed. We've been learning a lot about plants in lecture and lab, so it's worth noting the Gecko is simply going through an animal life cycle, not any multicellular haploid stages like a plant could. I'm glad a diploid could enjoy another diploid, even though one reached the end of its life cycle.

Gene flow is the movement of individuals from one population to another. The mixing of genetic traits is the result of this movement. My family can be used as a simple example of this. My grandparents on my mom's side met in Chile and later moved to the US. They moved from one population to another and fully integrated into a new community. They brought genetic traits from Chile into a different population when they started a family here. My grandparents contributed to the genetic diversity in Utah County specifically thanks to gene flow. Over time, this movement increases genetic variation within a population and reduces genetic differences between populations.

Genetic drift is a change in population due to random, chance events, such as a flash flood. When Dr. B was discussing this topic in class last week, she brought up a story from her friend. She said her friend had spent time river rafting and camping on a river when he nearly got swept away by a flash flood in the middle of the night. Her friend was the only one who camped low enough on the shore to feel the effects of the flood, as everyone else in his party was camping further up.  This story reminded me of a recent river rafting trip I took on the Colorado River. We covered roughly one hundred miles and spent five nights camping along the shore. It was a rainy week, so we were constantly bundled up in rain gear and covered in mud. One day, about half way through our trip, we covered less mileage than expected and had to camp at the nearest sand bank. This sand bank was a few inches above the river and not an ideal place to stop, but it was the best option for the night. The wors...

This week in class, we learned about evolution. Prior to class, I wasn't aware that evolution was NOT possible within a lifetime, nor that humans didn't directly evolve from monkeys. I feel like everything I've learned has been a lie before today! Today in class, Dr. Boswell mentioned that there wasn't a single person in the room who was exactly the same. Kerri, my twin, and I looked at each other and smiled. Even with identical DNA, it's true that we are different, due to environmental factors and epigenetic changes. Tying it all back to what we learned about evolution - variation is necessary for natural selection. We recently played a Kahoot in class about evolution and the importance of natural selection. Even minor differences can play a role in a population over a long enough period of time. Variation is everywhere, even within me and my twin!