EasyBiologyHigh School (9–10)GeneralPlant Biology › Reproduction in PlantsHeredity and Evolution › Heredity and InheritanceConceptual
A pond holds millions of bacteria of one kind.
Contributed by StemPy LabTry it on paper first. A hint, the key idea and the worked solution are here when you need them.
A pond holds millions of bacteria of one kind. A few of them can stand water a little warmer than the rest. One summer the pond warms up for weeks. Predict what happens to the bacteria, and explain the part played by variation.
Need a reminder? The key ideaShow
Reproduction makes new individuals of the same kind. Its basic event is the copying of DNA, which is never perfect, so the copies differ a little. These variations help a species to survive when its niche changes.
The worked solution
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Work it out on paper first. It is fine to get stuck or make a mistake: that is how we learn. When you are ready, go through the solution one step at a time, and check each step against your own.
Step 1. In the heat. Most of the bacteria cannot stand the warm water and die.
Step 2. The survivors. The few that carry the heat-resistant variation survive.
Step 3. Afterwards. The survivors reproduce, so the pond fills again with bacteria that stand the heat.
Answer: most bacteria die, but the variants that stand heat survive and multiply, so the kind survives because of variation.
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