Evolution- Module 4.2

    I have learned that during breakout rooms or when just listening, I recognize an important aspect that I had left out of my understanding. I feel like I usually only get a part of a question but get the other part in class listening to the discussion. A general change in my understanding is the extent of how all the concepts are intertwined with each other.  For example, we know that natural selection is the basis of evolution. With that, we can identify how the environment impacts species and contributes to fitness, and how that can lead to mutations. That connects to how we briefly talked about adaptation in enzymes during Tuesday’s lecture. Whether a notion is macroscopic or microscopic, we can connect its core ideas with one another.

    Going back to my first definition of evolution, I would say I understood the main basis of species changing in relation to adapting to their needs. The main part that I missed was the presence of heritability; I now know that heritability must be present for evolution to occur. With heritability, we are able to observe the traits that get passed down.

    There are still some parts of R coding that take me a while to properly code and I have to refer to my previous assignments. Overall, I think I have a good basic understanding of the different concepts that are introduced. I have definitely improved from my first assignment- I spent a while on it and had to keep watching the R Studio introduction video on Canvas.

    I think it would be interesting if we talked about specific traits/abilities that species have developed for their individual lifestyles. I think the diversity of animals is amazing, especially some extreme capabilities that we have discovered that seem unbelievable.

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