Mutations

 1. A mutation is when a gene in an organism goes through a change that makes the organism look or act differently. Think of it like the super heroes in the X-Men, they all got their powers because of a mutation that happened inside of their bodies.

2. Let's say we have a dog-like organism called a jaspeafinlla. A mutation in this population occurred by one of their genes being changed by adding extra information into it. Because of this mutation the jaspeafinlla, who is typically born with 4 toes, is born with 5 toes instead. 

a. The mutation that occurred with the jaspeafinlla is really something neutral because an extra toes is not going to harm or benefit the organism. Let's say that the jaspeafinlla's main food source was fish and the organism developed webbed feet, this would be beneficial because it would help the organism to be a better swimmer and therefore a better hunter. Instead let's say the the organism had a mutation that made them grow a big heavy shell, this would be a harmful mutation because it would make it very difficult for the jaspeafinlla to swim because it is not good for buoyancy or speed. 

b. The 5 toe mutation would not affect the trajectory of this population because an extra toe isn't a big deal. The webbed feet mutation would help this population survive longer which means they would reproduce more, therefore their population would grow larger. The shell mutation would prevent the organism from being good hunters which means they would eat food without all the nutrients that they need which means most of them would not live long enough to reproduce eventually this organism would go extinct.