Theory of Natural Selection and Evolution: Survival and Adaptation, Slides of Evolutionary biology

Download Theory of Natural Selection and Evolution: Survival and Adaptation and more Slides Evolutionary biology in PDF only on Docsity! *Theory of Natural Selection DEFINITON Nature selects the organisms that are best adapted to their particular environment to survive and to reproduce. For example, giraffes born with longer necks are better able to reach food, resulting in long neck giraffes being healthier and living longer so that they can produce more offspring than short neck giraffes. The end result is the passing of the “long neck gene” on to more offspring, resulting in a population of giraffes with long necks, instead of short necks. *Descent with modification DEFINITION Any population consists of individuals that are all slightly different from one another. Those individuals having a variation that gives them an advantage in staying alive long enough to successfully reproduce are the ones that pass on their traits more frequently to the next generation. Subsequently, their traits become more common and the population evolves. *Survival of the Fittest DEFINITION Many people assume that "the fittest" refers to the strongest, biggest, or smartest and most cunning individuals. The fittest individuals are simply the ones who have the combination of traits that allow them to survive and produce more offspring in their particular environment. What makes an individual fit all depends on the environment at the time and the combination of traits that are most suited to flourishing in it. *He believed that evolution was a random process, that it was just chance that an organism was born into just the right environment with just the right combination of genes to allow it to survive in that particular environment.