Introduction
Many scientists in the past, such as Aristotle and Plato, believed that there were no changes in populations; however, other scientists, such as Darwin and Wallace, arose and argued that species inherit heritable traits from common ancestors and environmental forces drives out certain heritable traits that makes the species better suited to survive or be more “fit” for that environment. Therefore, species do change over a period of time and they were able to support their theory by showing that evolution does occur. There were four basic mechanisms of evolution in their theory: mutation, migration, genetic drift, and natural selection. Natural selection is the gradual process by which heritable traits that makes it more likely for an organism to survive and successfully reproduce increases, whereas there is a decline in those who do have those beneficial heritable traits (Natural Selection). For example, there is a decrease in rain which causes a drought in the finches’ environment. The seeds in the finches’ environment would not be soft enough for the smaller and weaker beak finches to break; therefore, they cannot compete with the larger and stronger beak finches for food. The larger and stronger beak finches has a heritable trait that helps them survive and reproduce better than others for that particular environment which makes them categorized under natural selection (Freeman, 2002).
On the other hand, artificial selection is the exact opposite of natural selection. Artificial selection occurs when humans manually modify or manipulate certain desirable trait(s) that will appear in the offspring (Artificial Selection). Charles Darwin formed this term when he did selective breeding of animals such as pigeons, cat...
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... for the experiment to stay consistent. We would make sure that everyone remembers and does what they have to do. Also, we would do more than just two generations because the more generations we have, the better the results would be which would help us clearly see if our data supports or refutes out hypothesis.
References
Freeman, Scott. Biological Science. 4th. University of Washington: Pearson Education, 2002.
Mifflin, Houghton. "artificial selection science definition." Your Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010. Web. 10 May 2014.
Mifflin, Houghton. "natural selection science definition." Your Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010. Web. 10 May 2014.
Zacherl, Danielle. “Biology 171 Evolution and Biodiversity.” National Association of Research in Science Teaching 2007 Annual Meeting, New Orleans LA. (2007):n. page. Print.
"Charles Darwin: The Father of Evolution." Darwin1. University of Missouri, n.d. Web. 04 May 2014.
18 February 2014 “NSTA Position Statement: The teaching of Evolution”. NSTA.org. -. nd. Web. The Web. The Web.
Biological evolution is a change in the characteristics of living organisms over generations (Scott, 2017). A basic mechanism of evolution, the genetic drift, and mutation is natural selection. According to Darwin's theory of evolution, natural selection is a process in nature in which only the organisms best adapted to their environmental surroundings have a higher chance of surviving and transmitting their genetic characters in increasing numbers to succeeding generations while those less adapted tend to be eliminated. There has been many experimental research projects that relate to the topic of natural selection and evolution.
Besides, I feel that the idea of Natural Selection is really similar to the teaching of Buddha. “This preservation of favorable variations and the rejection of injurious variation, I call Natural Selection” Darwin explained the definition of Natural Selection. It means that all creatures should keep the good things and destroy the bad things in order to survive in the world.
Natural selection is a theory suggesting that some genetic traits will be more common than another trait in a given environment in which the organisms live in. Natural selection is a slow and gradual process which will happen in the matter of generations of the species. The traits become less or more common depending on the environmental circumstances, in other words, selection pressure.
This chapter covers the variations of selection. Selection is a process, a description of how genes that produce better adaptations become more frequent over time. Species don’t try to adapt to their environment. Adaptation to the environment is inevitable if a species has the right kind of genetic variation. (pg. 117) The thought that “everything happens by chance” is essentially wrong. Evolution by selection is a combination of randomness and lawfulness. First a “random” process is the occurrence of mutations that generate an array of genetic variants, both good and bad; and then a “lawful” process (natural selection) that creates these variations. (pg.118) DNA is random, and this shows in humans and animals. For example, a humans parents
Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection explains the general laws by which any given species transforms into other varieties and species. Darwin extends the application of his theory to the entire hierarchy of classification and states that all forms of life have descended from one incredibly remote ancestor. The process of natural selection entails the divergence of character of specific varieties and the subsequent classification of once-related living forms as distinct entities on one or many levels of classification. The process occurs as a species varies slightly over the course of numerous generations. Through inheritance, natural selection preserves each variation that proves advantageous to that species in its present circumstances of living, which include its interaction with closely related species in the “struggle for existence” (Darwin 62).
Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection is viewed by many as one of the most significant and influential ideas ever conceived. However it took Darwin 20 years to publish his book ‘the origin of species’, one of the primary reasons for this was that he feared the implications his theory would have on the world. Although the theory of evolution greatly enhanced and progressed science as well as deepen human understanding of nature, it came at a cost. The theory led to the development of Social Darwinism, which further created a variety of different sociological and political ideologies. One of the most prominent of these was the idea of eugenics, which emphasized improving the genetic quality of a race through artificial selection. The eugenics
In order for natural selection to happen, the species has to have genetic variation. Genetic variation happens because of mutations and recombination of genes. Other processes that contribute are gene flow and genetic This process is seen mostly in agriculture. It is because of artificial selection that we have the domesticated plants and livestock that we eat. In the case of canines, they were originally bred to become working and hunting dogs in agriculture.
With the studies that Charles Darwin obtained he published his first work, “The Origin of Species.” In this book he explained how for millions of years animals, and plants have evolved to better help their existence. Darwin reasoned that these living things had gradually changed over time to help themselves. The changes that he found seemed to have been during the process of reproduction. The traits which would help them survive became a dominant trait, while the weaker traits became recessive. A good example of what Darwin was trying to explain is shown in giraffes. Long-necked giraffes could reach the food on the trees, while the short-necked giraffes couldn’t. Since long necks helped the giraffes eat, short-necked giraffes died off from hunger. Because of this long-necks became a dominant trait in giraffes. This is what Charles Darwin would later call natural selection.
According to Darwin and his theory on evolution, organisms are presented with nature’s challenge of environmental change. Those that possess the characteristics of adapting to such challenges are successful in leaving their genes behind and ensuring that their lineage will continue. It is natural selection, where nature can perform tiny to mass sporadic experiments on its organisms, and the results can be interesting from extinction to significant changes within a species.
The environment determines which traits are most evolutionary desirable to an organism. If a population should move or should the environment change, a different set of traits would be the most advantageous and thus become adaptive. Darwin’s famous finches are a great example of this as it shows natural selection occurring in populations who moved to different environments and then evolved into separate species, each with its own distinguishable beak adaptations. Also, if two populations find themselves in similar environments, it is likely that similar...
The theory of evolution by natural selection is the process by which organisms change over time as a result of changes in heritable physical or behavioral traits. Certain traits are more common in a population because the traits increase an individual’s probability of surviving and reproducing. In a population of non-existent animals, the animals with the most beneficial traits survived in a certain environment. When an organism has a mutation that is beneficial to its environment, it is more likely to survive and reproduce. In a natural selection virtual lab, a mutant animal has claws for climbing in an environment with restricted food.
The principles of natural selection are suitable a metaphor for how knowledge within a discipline is developed. Natural selection is the process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring. The theory of its action was first fully proposed by Charles Darwin and is now believed to be the main process that brings about evolution. It is important to keep in mind that natural selection is different from evolution as evolution is the result of natural selection. The use of this metaphor signifies that only knowledge that is favored survives to be taught to the next generation and that only the best knowledge survives. In general, knowledge can be defined as justified true belief (Ichikawa). The
Natural selection is based on the concept “survival of the fittest” where the most favourable individual best suited in the environment survive and pass on their genes for the next generation. Those individual who are less suited to the environment will die.