4.2 Discussion

Reflection on What I've Learned so Far

      

    I think so far some important things I have learned are time at which evolution occurs at and the need for heritability. I assumed evolution took a long time to occur, but that's not the case. Evolution can occur after just one generation, so it doesn't have to a long time. I also assumed that if a trait was selected for, then if would evolve. This isn't always the case because the trait must be heritable in order to evolve. If a trait isn't heritable, then it can't be passed on to offspring, so genetic change is not occurring in a population. Looking back at my old blog post, this might be one thing I'd add to. The fact that a trait must be heritable in order for evolution to occur. 

    I think an area I am still struggling with is DNA mutation rates. I am still confused on how mutation rates evolve and how high or low mutations rates could be selected for. 

I am excited to continue learning more R. I've really enjoyed it so far and am excited to keep growing my knowledge. I'm interested to see as we go more in depth with our knowledge of evolution how the R exercises are incorporated in that.