Natural Selection
Madison Azevedo
Biology Semester 1
Elizabeth Hawks
June, 4 2018
The earth “is approximately 4.5 billion years old and there has been living things on it for a long time” (History of). The earth has gone through many stages in its lifespan. While the earth has gone through many changes, so have our living things on this planet. Some of them have survived and others have led to distinction. This is because of natural selection. According to merriam-webster.com, natural selection is “ the survival of individuals that are best adapted to the changes in the environment.” Natural selection contains many aspects of the individual organism. It is what makes evolution happen.
According to the article “ What is Darwin’s Theory of Evolution?”, “in 1859 Charles Darwin wrote about his theory of natural selection in his first book.” Natural selection can affect a species in many ways. It has the ability to create new species or even have some species extinct. Let's take two sets of birds as an example. “One set of birds have a longer beak and the other set have a short beak. During the time of finding prey and food, the birds who have the longer beak will have an easier and greater chance of finding food” (Than). Therefore, getting more food will increase their survival rate. “Genes and the traits organisms have are very important to survival. They can benefit organisms in many areas in their life such as mating, predation, and survival. The genetic traits that living things have is only one factor of natural selection” (Than).
Attracting a sexual partner is also a process that is involved with natural selection. Organisms that are more physically attractive will attract a sexual partner so they can produce offspring and continue growing their species. By reproducing it decreases the likelihood of the species going extinct. A few examples of this would be “ the peacocks with vibrant feathers and deers with antlers” (Than).
Mating is one aspect of natural selection, however mutations are a very important factor as well. Mutations are “incorrect order forms of DNA( deoxyribonucleic-acid)” (Than). Mutations may seem like a bad thing, however that is not the case all the time. Mutations are actually great to a gene pool because the provide species diversity. Diversity is very important and good to a gene pool because it provides more different offspring to be produced (Than).
Natural disasters can have a huge impact on the size of a population. Disasters like floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and even earthquakes have the ability to wipe out a population. However, those with the best suited traits for these types of disasters will be the ones who are left to survive. For example, “let's say there is a population of giraffes and they are either 10 feet or 15 feet tall. They get their food from the leaves on trees.After a forest fire happens, the trees are destroyed and there are only trees above 10 feet left. This means that the giraffes above 10 feet will be the only ones to get food (Grabianowski).”
According to the article “Evolution and Natural Selection”, it states that “natural selection operates by comparative advantage.” Organisms that have better traits than others have an advantage to survival. They also have an advantage of finding food and shelter.
The theory of natural selection started during the Industrial Revolution. During the Industrial Revolution there” were many factories producing products and by this the machines give off soot and dark colored waste (Evolution and).” The soot and waste covered the trees where moths came to lay on. Eventually there were more dark colored moths around than light colored moths. The light colored moths became rare because they were easily spotted on the dark colored trees. This comes to show that the traits organisms have can increase or decrease their chance of survival (Evolution and).
There has been some progress made with the term “natural selection.” According to the article “How Natural Selection works,” many people misunderstand the term “natural selection” with “survival of the fittest.” As many people have stated that” survival ofthe fittest does not necessarily mean the organisms with the strongest traits but, instead those with the best traits that allow them to adapt (Grabianowski).” As well as the organism's ability to adapt. This can be known as biological fitness. That is one common misconception regarding natural selection (Grabianowski).
Works Cited
“History of Life on Earth.” BBC, BBC, www.bbc.co.uk/nature/history_of_the_earth. Accessed on 4 June 2018
“Natural Selection.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/natural%20selection. Accessed on 4 June 2018
Than, Ker. “What Is Darwin's Theory of Evolution?” LiveScience, Purch, 26 Feb. 2018, www.livescience.com/474-controversy-evolution-works.html. Accessed on 4 June 2018
“Evolution and Natural Selection.” The Flow of Energy: Primary Production, globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange1/current/lectures/selection/selection.html. Accessed on 4 June 2018
Grabianowski, Ed. “How Natural Selection Works.” HowStuffWorks Science, HowStuffWorks, 8 Mar. 2018, science.howstuffworks.com/life/evolution/natural-selection3.htm. Accessed on 4 June 2018