Evolution: How Species Changes Due To Natural Selection

What is evolution? Evolution in modern terms is fairly easy to understand. Evolution is the theory that life on earth began with a single celled organism that lived more that 3.5 billion years ago that slowly evolved into

Evolution: the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth.

Natural selection is the process in which heritable traits that make it more likely for organisms to survive and successfully reproduce become more common in a population over successive generations. Each of us individuals is specifically shaped and formed by our own genetic pattern. We inherit this pattern half from are mother and half from are father. The cause of this is the proximate cause that led it’s phenotype to ultimate causes. Much of we know today about evolution derives from the late great pioneer, Charles Darwin. Charles Darwin was an english naturalist that even from an early age was very interested in outdoor pursuits. Early in his prep career his father tried sending him to the University of Edinburg to pursue his medical

1. What is the direct evidence in support of the theory of natural selection? Include at least four examples. Paleontology shows us that organisms have changed gradually over time, as reflected in the fossil record. Biogeography shows us how new species only arise near very similar species. Similar species share a common time and place. Developmental biology shows us that an organism builds on ancestral features as it develops from a single cell. Genetics shows us that we can group species by similarity of

Evolution is when an organism or something evolves over an extended period. An example of evolution would be humans because it took a long time for early humans to evolve into modern humans.

Anatomical Evidence – evidence relating to the structures of organisms and how they have evolved over time and might share a common ancestry.

What is evolution? Evolution is a change in the traits of living organisms over generations. Since the development of modern genetics in the 1940s, evolution has been defined more specifically as a change in the frequency of alleles in a population from one generation

The word evolution means the process of change over a period of time. For example: plants and animals evolve over time by their genetic system allowing them to adapt to different changes in the world. The theory of evolution states animals, insects, plants, humans, and etc are all from a one-celled ancestor. A bad example of evolution is having a bad diet, which does not pass on to your next generation.

Fossils provide a record of how organisms have evolved overtime, as they contain the remains of life trapped in sediment, ice or amber and preserved for over millions of years. Transitional fossils, which provide evidence for evolutionary change, have features that show the transition of characteristics of organisms from ancestors to descendents. An example is Archaeopteryx, which featured reptilian features, including teeth and skeleton, however, also had feathers and a wishbone sternum (used to attach muscles for flying). The evidence of the fossil shows the evolutionary transition between dinosaurs and

Evolutionary biology has always interested me, specifically the mechanisms of natural selection and how species adapt to their environment. It started with my love for animals and nature when I was little. I spent my summers working with horses at a local corral, where I would ride around the surrounding wilderness areas. My favorite part about riding in the mountains was watching the change in plant and animal species as the elevation changed. It never ceased to amaze me how the alpine tree line was always so sudden. Humongous pine trees would give way to the short, shrubby plants of the alpine tundra so uniformly and noticeably. I have always wondered about the environmental conditions that cause species to distribute themselves in

A cladogram is a chart that show similarities through a selected species of organism or completely random organisms. They are basically tree like structures to show similar characteristics. Some of these characteristics may be opposable thumbs, hair, cells, or segmented bodies, although all characters can be used. There are many different names for these such charts: phylogeny, evolutionary tree, phylogenetic tree, and cladogram.(reading trees, 2006) In cladograms, there are clades, a clade is a group of species that shares a common ancestor. Each of these organisms share a common trait or traits with this ancestor. While cladograms show certain similarities between species, there is no defined strength of any of the similarities, thus all must be treated with equal meaning. This can lead to awkward situations of species which seem to bare no resemblance to each other being actually correct. This can show great evidence towards evolution only depending upon the organisms used in such a chart.

The reason for this is because a lot of organism that are around today were closely related a one point ("Comparative Anatomy."Pg.1). Sometimes these similarities are conscious. A good example of anatomy that are humans and primates and also crocodiles and alligators ("Comparative Anatomy."Pg.1). Even species that are far off even humming birds and whales. When looking at these different species you see the natural selection happening in each of these by how their anatomy gets better suited for their environment ("Comparative

What do a sponge and bird have in common? Believe it or not, they share a common origin. In the film, "Darwin 's Tree of Life," the narrator, David Attenborough, presents the audience with the theory of evolution as documented by Charles Darwin in the 1800 's. The video is based on Darwin 's perspective of evolution and natural selection. Darwin 's findings were revolutionary and caused out-rage among the religious who believed in the story of creation beginning with Adam and Eve. In the video, "Darwin 's Tree of Life," Darwin 's theory of evolution and natural selection proved the tree of life explains our evolution from a molecule to mammal.

If natural selection is to result in the evolution of traits associated with adaptation within a given plant population certain conditions such as sexual reproduction, mutations, and gene flow, all of which facilitate genetic variation, must exist. While plants can reproduce asexually, those that reproduce sexually produce new alleles through genetic recombination. This allows for the emergence of new phenotypes, and subsequently new individuals, that are better suited for their environment. Likewise, mutations, which are changes in DNA, can add genetic variation to a population and create phenotypic changes. If these alterations result in individuals being better suited to their environment, natural selection will select for these traits,

Evolution refers to "change over time". In terms of physical anthropology, evolution is changes over time in living organisms. This means that living things have passed their traits from one generation to the next. There are very little changes that occur with each generation, but over time these changes accumulate in each living organism. It is believed that all life on Earth has common ancestry that lived more than 3.5 billions of years ago (Park, 2008).