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Natural Selection Background

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Background research:
The background research for this experiment demonstrates how clearly linked the concepts of natural selection, evolution, scientific advances and changes in the environment are constantly working together to obtain the necessary requirements to survive in their habitat. The concepts below have been explained in better detail, along with diagrams, to grasp a better understanding of the topic studied.
 Explanation of the concept of natural selection and how it takes place
Natural selection is an easy mechanism to describe the process of evolution. It allows us to observe how species interact with their environment, the reproductive cycles and successes of species and allows us to prove, through evidence, that evolution of …show more content…

1. Overpopulation of organisms in the same area – a species produces too many of the same organisms with the same functional needs. This means that most of these organisms rarely meet adulthood.
2. Genetic variations – this is where the offspring’s traits are slightly different to one another giving some a better chance of survival than others.
3. Competition – the offspring attempt to survive in their environment. Offspring with the favourable traits will survive while others will die out.
4. Reproduction- the offspring that survive will mate, reproduce, and pass their favourable genes on to their offspring to repeat these four steps over and over again.
 Outline the evidence for natural selection
There are many preserved traces of past life on earth, however, they are mostly discovered through the process of Palaeontology, Biogeography, Comparative embryology, Comparative anatomy and …show more content…

Structural comparison – The comparison of structures from different eras lead scientists to discover the evolutionary relationships between organisms with the same ancestors, however with different traits. An example of this is a relation to the common Australian kangaroo, however, this animal was unable to hop. This began to explain the evolutionary pathway for scientists.
2. Carbon dating of fossils – As soon as a living organism dies, its carbon consumption becomes zero. The carbon-12 and carbon-14 (radioisotope with half-life of 5700 years) is half and half when the organism dies, however, the carbon-14 decays and is not replaced. Therefore when looking at the carbon-12 to carbon-14 ratio and comparing to living organisms, the age of the sample is able to be determined almost exactly.
3. Knowing the type of rock that the fossil formed in – The rock that the fossil is found in indicates the time (era) that the fossil was formed. Comparing the fossils found with others found in the same type of rock allow scientists to decipher the differences between the

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