Darwin's Theory Of Evolution By Natural Selection

The theory of evolution by natural selection, first formulated in Darwin's book "On the Origin of Species" in 1859. It is when an animal changes over time it changes its heritable physical or behavioral traits. This happens so a species is better suited to live in an environment and to have more offspring. Evolution by natural selection is one of the best substantiated theories in the history of science due to is evidence from paleontology, geology, genetics, to developmental biology.

The theory of evolution sets forth an explanation of how all of the living species on Earth came to be. The theory as we know it today, written by Charles Darwin, states that all the living species of today – humans included – evolved over time; we can see evidence of their evolution in the fossils of now-extinct species. In his book Origin of Species, published in 1859, Charles Darwin wrote that species evolve over time through a mechanism known as “natural selection.” Basically, each species is born with a multitude of traits, some more favorable to survival than others. Because some traits encourage survival more so than others, the animals equipped with those traits tend to breed more than the animals that lack those traits. Over time, more and more offspring are born with these favorable traits and less are born without them; thus, the species evolves. In his 1871 book, The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Darwin surmised that where humans are concerned, natural selection helped humans evolve in addition to a concept known as “sex selection.” Similar to natural selection, sex selection is the process by

In 1859, Charles Darwin set out his theory of evolution by natural selection as an explanation for adaptation and specialization. He defined natural selection as the “principle by which each slight variation, if useful at all, may be preserved”

Charles Darwin revolutionized biology when he introduced The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection in 1859. Although Wallace had also came upon this revelation shortly before Origins was published, Darwin had long been in development of this theory. Wallace amicably relinquished the idea to Darwin, allowing him to become the first pioneer of evolution. Darwin was not driven to publish his finding, which he'd been collecting for several years before Wallace struck upon it, because he had "never come across a single [naturalist] who seemed to doubt to permanence of species" (Ridley, pp. 70). What follows are the key points of Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection taken directly from the two chapters concerning it in his book

“Death pursues the native in every place where the European sets foot,” these are the words of Charles Darwin (Tasmanian Genocide ). Darwin was a biologist who studied many plants and animals and brought forth the theory of natural selection. This theory stated that when adversity strikes a population, the strongest will survive, and the adaptations of the surviving species would be passed on to the next generation, and so on. But what this theory did not include is what happens when all of the people of a population are killed in mass murder and by brute force due to greed and racism.

What makes humans such a successful species is the unique skill of altering the environment around us to suit our needs. According to figure 1.4 in our books, humans started to domesticate plants and animals around 10,000 years ago. Domestication of plants and animals for our own personal use of food, clothes and labor all contributed to our cultural change from hunter-gatherers into farmers. This domestication cancels out Darwin’s Theory of natural selection, because now humans were in charge of what traits live on causing artificial selection. For example a championship horse breeder wants to breed with another championship horse in order to create a horse with amazing racing genes all around. This example works for anything humans have

Natural selection is the notion that all forms of life have ultimately from a single common ancestor. Darwin argued about how “all the organic beings which have ever lived on this Earth have been descended from some primordial form.”

Before I get into detail about Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection, I should probably tell you about him and his life first. He was born in shrewsbury, England, on the 12th of February 1809. He was born after a long line of scientists, with his father being a medical doctor, and his grandfather a renowned botanist. Once he was sixteen, he and his brother went to Edinburgh university. Through his education and experience, Charles decided not to do medical work due to blood, but was inclined to study natural history. His mentor and botanist professor, John Stevens Henslow had suggested Darwin for a naturalist’s position aboard the HMS beagle. In 1831, Charles embarked on a five year voyage on the HMS beagle. After coming back, Darwin’s

From the simplest single celled organism all the way to humans, evolution has been the driving force behind every single lifeform that ever lived. Evolution is the most scientifically accepted theory of how all living organisms came to be. It states that overtime organism change, and the way they change is through natural selection. Natural selection is a theory first coined by Charles Darwin in 1859. He proved that overtime there are changes in a species’ traits to greater enhance that individual’s chances to survive and reproduce.

Charles Darwin broached the theory of natural selection in his book the Origin of Species, which has been considered the basis of evolutionary biology to this day. Natural selection is when populations of a species evolve over the course of many generations. Darwin believed that species were not created separately, but instead, species were derived from one another. In other words, the evolution of species creates many variations among creatures, and this is because all of those species came from a common ancestor, and characteristics changed to increase the species chance of survival.

Darwin’s exploration to the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific was truly transformative in what he was able to encounter on these isolated and remote islands that allowed these indigenous species to develop in their reclusiveness. Having the seclusion of natural developments of these species, Darwin was able to make the connections in which he does based upon the native animals in their isolated environments. During his expedition to the Galapagos, Darwin encountered a variety of plants and animals, which he noticed differed in appearance on each separate island. The unique shape and patterns on the shell of giant tortoises varied based on their location and distinguished them from one another. Darwin also paid meticulous attention to the abundant diversity of the bird species on these islands, including four different species of mockingbirds and thirteen types of finches. Similar to the tortoise, the finches had each developed uniquely on each island to the extent where they didn’t appear to be related; the birds were visibly distinct from one another (See Appendix I). As observed and recorded in his bound works, Darwin states that the “most curious fact is the perfect gradation in the size of the beaks in the different species of Geospiza, from one as large as that of a hawfinch to that of a chaffinch, and even to that of a warbler.” Certain birds

Another issue is that Darwin’s theory has many holes the scientists are unable to fill. These holes are obvious in Dwain’s theory of evolution. Craig Belanger works for EBSCO Publishing he stated in his Biography of Charles Darwin, which was found on the TRC database under Book Collection Nonfiction: High School Edition Belanger said that,

Over time the beak would become longer and those birds would survive. The next mechanism, genetic drift, happens by chance. For example, a bug that is either red or green. If a large portion of the red bug happens to get stepped on, the gene frequency for this species is now changed. Mutation is another evolutionary mechanism that happens by chance. Mutation is when the genetic material of an organism is altered. An example of this is albinism which has altered the genes of several different animals.

Darwin’s theory of evolution states that “by natural selection, organisms that possess heritable traits that enable them to better adapt to their environment, compared with other members of their species will be more likely to survive, reproduce, and pass more of their genes on to the next generation”. The grouping of organisms in the classification table is not just the result of similarities, colours, ecological functions, etc, it also covers and expresses information about our understanding of the evolutionary history of these groups. Another part of Darwin’s theory of evolution that has an effect on the classification table is natural selection, which is the process where “organisms that better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring. The theory of its action was first fully expounded by Charles Darwin, and it is now regarded as be the main process that brings about evolution”. Over time organisms have evolved to adapt, to their new or ever changing environment, different predators and natural selection. An example of these adapting animals are the great white shark and the fern.

There are many theories as to what scientist believe is the forth coming of evolution or what they deem to be the reasoning behind its development. However, Charles Darwin would change the theories of evolution and would go down in history as one of the greatest influential figures in human existence. Although some scientist disagree with Darwin’s Theory, Darwin is the only person who was able to provide sufficient evidence to prove his theory of evolution. The one question that remains, Can God and evolution co-exist?