Charles Darwin's Theories Of Natural Selection

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Charles Darwin, associated with Cambridge University, revolutionized science with his theories of evolution. His ideas birthed new ways of understanding how species came to be. According to Darwin, the key driving force behind evolution is natural selection, which occurs under environmental pressures leading to speciation. Natural selection allows a population to adapt to changes in environmental conditions. Natural selection also explains how one species may evolve into another through the process of speciation. This is done when the four aspects of natural selection, survival of the fittest, reproduction, genetic variation, and over population, are affected by environmental changes. species produce more offspring that can survive; populations …show more content…

Predation, competition for food and water, competition for space, weather, natural disasters, and disease are all examples of environmental pressures that could bring about the natural selection of traits.
Reproduction is one of the aspects of natural selection. It is the process by which genes and characteristics are passed down from one generation to the next generation. In this way, characteristics are inherited from both parents by the offspring. During the prophase 1 of reproduction, chromosome composition is altered when in the stages of crossing over. Sperm fertilises eggs randomly so the results of reproduction are up to random chance. Sexual reproduction is also the cause of genetic variation, which will be thoroughly explained in a latter paragraph. Accept independent assortment during meiosis from AHL.
Genetic Variation exists between members of one species, which means that some individuals are better suited for survival than others. Individuals that are better suited to changes in the environment survive and pass on their genes for surviving. The sources of variation are: Mutations allows for the mergence of new alleles. Meiosis enables the production of a variety of gametes with random chromosome composition. Sexual reproduction has to do with fertilisation and male