Darwin's Theory Of Evolution By Natural Selection

The theory of evolution by natural selection and the evidence presented by Darwin.

The evolution of biological organisms describes the changes within different populations which creates variability in their phenotypes and genotypes. The fundamental basis of evolution, is that every living individual is related by a common ancestor (Strickberger,2000.). Charles Darwin, in 1859, published one of the most credible and compelling theories of evolution, in his book ‘the origin of species’ (Darwin and Beer, 2008), which best explains the theory of natural selection. Darwin’s theory of natural selection states that living individuals show two types of variation in their phenotypes; favourable and injurious and it is the inheritance of the favourable

These new ideas include the development of subjects such as molecular evolution and population genetics. However, there is still a topic which is popular and credible and which many people still give justice to, the Darwin-Wallace theory of evolution (Quammen, D. 2001). There have been various encounters of modern evidence, which support Darwin’s theory of natural selection. One of the most well-known modern discoveries which supports the theory of natural selection comes from the numerous cases reported of antibiotic resistance. The evolution of antibiotic resistant bacteria, is the consequence of the overuse of antibiotics in both humans and animals (Knoppel, A,. et al. 2017). Since the first uses of penicillin, there have been numerous cases of resistance towards the antibiotic penicillin. The bacteria associated with penicillin, has originated from rare and naturally resistant varieties that had prevented the killing of the bacteria and as a result, making the drug ineffective. The resistance towards penicillin was due to the high number of antibiotic-resistance bacteria present which had a greater chance of survival over the bacteria that was not resistant, therefore being preserved and eventually causing a mutation in the bacteria not already resistant to penicillin (De

et al (2018) acts as modern evidence to support the Darwin-Wallace theory of natural selection. This is because, the mtDNA gene can be used to show the genetic diversity found in such penguins due to observation of the nucleotide sequences. (Murata, M., Murakami, M. 2013). The mtDNA gene, was studied within different species of penguins such as the Galapagos penguin and the Emperor penguin. The pattern of the mitochondrial gene, was measured in environments where the temperature, altitude and oxygen availability varied. From studying the gene, it was found that there are similarities between the coding patterns of the mitochondrial gene between penguins that are closely related and that the presence of the gene allows penguins to become best selected to their environment, allowing them to become preserved over generations as they will have more energy to survive (Ramos, B. et al.