What are the five examples of discontinuous variation?

Answer 1

1)Eye colour, skin colour, blood group etc..

2) Actually, answer 1 is not accurate. Discontinuous variation is variation which occurs as a result of very few genes. Environmental factors have very little impact. Discontinuous variation is when individuals can be clearly categorised into 2 or more very DISTINCT groups (you are either one group or another, you do not fall somewhere in between). Therefore, better examples would be;

Blood Group

Gender (male/female)

And to be a bit whimsical, the ability to roll your tongue (you either can or you can't)

Eye colour and skin colour are examples of continuous variation as there can be many varying shades. I for one neither fit into the brown eyes or green eyes group, instead I am somewhere in between. My skin colour is fairly pale but has olive tones, meaning I don't burn easily but I don't tan either. Both are good examples of not really fitting into any pre-defined box. I also know someone whose eyes change colour.

Good examples of continuous variation are;

Hair and eye colour

Height and weight

The size of your features (ears, nose, hands etc)

Answer 2

Things such as blood groups and eye color are not distributed along a continuum, such as height is, but " clumped " in their distribution. Easy Google, so don't expect all the work will be done for you.

Answer 3

One classic but hypothetical example is Daisyworld. In this hypothetical model, we envision a planet inhabited by a single species of life, a single population of daisies. These come in two variants: black daisies and white. The colour is a trait that is passed on genetically to offspring. In the model, that star at which the planet revolves is variant, increasing or decreasing in intensity, changing the amount of light/heat the planet is exposed to. Black daisies will absorb more sunlight, increasing temperatures at the planet surface, while white daisies reflect more sunlight, cooling the planet. Theoretically, increasing temperatures should make things uncomfortable for the black daisies, who heat up faster because of their colour, relative to the white daisies, so that when solar luminosity increases, white daisies gain a reproductive advantage over the black daisies.

A similar example but from real life is the evolution of the peppered moth during and after the industrial revolution. Initially, lighter moths and darker moths were in equilibrium, but as the industrial revolution caused soot to stain the surfaces on which moths frequently settle, and predators could more easily distinguish the lighter moths against the darkening surfaces, darker moths gained a reproductive advantage, as they more often survived predation.

Three more findings are:

Herrel, 2008, Rapid large-scale evolutionary divergence in morphology and performance associated with exploitation of a different dietary resource.

This paper describes how in a few short decades a population of lizards transported to a different environment gained different morphological features by adapting to its new habitat.

Rolshausen, 2009, Contemporary evolution of reproductive isolation and phenotypic divergence in sympatry along a migratory divide.

This paper describes how the interaction between migratory flocks and human settlements is causing a speciation event to occur between flocks that migrate along routes including cities, and those migrating away from cities.

Lenski, 1989, Long-Term Experimental Evolution in Escherichia coli. I. Adaptation and Divergence During 2,000 Generations.

This paper describes morphological changes and associated increased in fitness during the experimental evolution of E. coli populations.

Answer 4

Examples are body weight, height, or shape, reproductive rate, and various behaviour traits.

Answer 5

earlobes (attached or not)

Whether you like to have your right thumb or left thumb over the other when you clasp your hands together.