Charles Darwin's Theory Of Evolution By Natural Selection

1. The theory of evolution by natural selection is a mechanism used to detail how species evolve throughout time. It is not concerned with how the earth was formed, or how living things began, but how the characteristics of these living things advance from generation to generation. Charles Darwin is considered to be the father of evolution by natural selection. Darwin observed nature for many years of his life and published his findings in 1859 in a book named On the Origin of Species. His book was very contentious because it conflicted with many religious ideas that species were designed by God. Darwin refereed to the change/ adaptation of species over time as ‘decent with modification’. Shifts do not occur quickly but rather, over a long period of time.

The four principles are: within each population of an organism, there must be individual distinctions in inherited characteristics. The characteristics inherited are from their parents. All organisms reproduce offspring and some organisms may reproduce much more than others. Change occurs when there is a mutation in a gene of an organism. These mutations may cause a slight shift in physical characteristics. Darwin concluded that mutations can occur by chance and on purpose due to pressure by outside factors. For example, if an environment went through change and a butterfly was no longer able to drink nectar because their proboscis was too narrow and the nectar was too thick, over time that organisms’ proboscis would adapt to the environment making it able to efficiently drink the thicker nectar. Because this mutation would have helped the butterfly to survive in its environment, this new adaptive trait would have been passed on to its offspring. The overall idea is that over time, these small mutations and new traits add up creating an entirely new