Allison's evolution blog

. I decided to research strokes to see investigate how lifestyle is associated with a rise in stroke cases. I am interested in researching strokes specifically because I am currently reading a book called My Stroke Of Insight, and I find strokes to be very intriguing. A stroke is a what occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain interrupted or reduced, which then prevents the brain from getting oxygen and nutrients. When stroke occurs brain cells begin to quickly die, and getting medical attention fast is the most important thing for the best stroke outcome. From my research, I have learned that there are many causes that can increase your risk of stroke from lifestyle choices one may make.  One of the major causes of stroke is an unhealthy diet. A diet high in cholesterol, sodium, processed foods, sugar, and not enough fresh fruits. and vegetables are all things that will increase risk of stroke. Being overweight/obese also greatly increases yo...

This weeks blog is all about species and the rate at which species evolve. The term species is a basic evolutionary unit.  It takes different amounts of time for a new species to form, and the speed is different for each type of species. I think that the speed of speciation does vary among different modes of speciation. Reproductive isolation tends to be a gradual process that occurs along the gradient. Reproductive isolation has multiple different mechanisms of how species evolve. The different mechanisms include pre-mating isolation, post-mating isolation/pre-zygotic isolation, and post-zygotic isolation.  The Pre-mating isolation has reproductive barriers such as members from different populations not meeting, they are not compatible for mating, or they do not recognize each other. Post mating has reproductive barriers that could come from sperm competition, cryptic female choice, or gametic incompatibilities. Post-Zygotic isolation mechanisms could come from reduced hybrid...

I believe this courtship of females courting males may have evolved to be this way because females may have been getting too  seriously injured during mating, resulting in no or very few offspring being produced. This would cause fitness levels to be very low for males and females. in turn, the fish may have adapted better ways to reproduce without the females being injured during an aggressive mating process. Pipefish are an example of a species where the female courts the male. This means that the roles are also reversed for males and females when it comes to attracting mates. Females are attracted to larger males in order to carry their offspring, and females do a dance to attract the males to choose them.  I do not think my hypothesis completely aligns with why females court males in the pipefish population. From the reading I have done, it seems that the females court the males because the males have pouches which allows the offspring be...