How Does Natural Selection Influence Evoultion?

In the beginning of time, there was one organism. This organism evolved to become all the species that have ever existed. It is because of mutations and natural selection that we have different and evolved species. If it were not for natural selection and mutations, we would not have diversity. Diversity is what allows species to survive through harsh times. In the current age, it might seem that evolution is not occurring. In fact, evoultion is happening to right b before our own eyes. We can see this in the Galapagos finches and even humans. In the 17th century, Charles Darwin visited the Galapagos Islands. He hypothesized that natural selection influenced evoultion in his famous finch experiment. Some of these finches had mutations. Only

Believe it or not, we humans are also evolving. One way we can see human evolution is in the trait of a woman's fertility. According to Stephen Stearn, a scientist form Yale University, (2009)," Variations in reproductive success still exist among humans, and therefore some traits related to fertility continue to be shaped by natural selection." His team conducted experiments attempting to find a correlation between fertility and physical characteristics. In the end, Stearn's team discovered that women with very low body fat and low blood pressure can't ovulate. If natural selection does its job, then only the traits for women with body fat and higher blood pressure will survive. Over the generations, women will evolve because of natural selection and the genotype of women will change. According to Stearn, "The average woman would be 2.2 pounds heavier and have a healthier heart

According to a study in 2007 conducted by John Hawks, an anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin, "1,800 human gene variations have become widespread because of their modern day evolutionary benefits." His team found some found that the humans with the ability to digest milk, resist malaria, and govern brain development are becoming more common. Natural selection has played an important role here only allowing the fittest for survival to have offspring. Therefore, in the future we can see humans evolving to have certain traits required for their survival. So, even today we are continuing to observe Darwin's theory of natural selection still shaping how species are evolving. One example of modern day evolution influenced by natural selection was in the recent generations of the Galapagos finches. We can also see natural selection guiding evolution by only allowing women with fertility characteristics to have offspring. Not only that but there are many others phenotypes that survive because of natural selection, as seen in Hawks' study. Species are always evolving to have better traits that allow them to survive and will continue