Question

How does natural selection lead to evolution?

Answer 1

Evolution:

Evolution is a change in the inherited characteristics of a population over time through the process of natural selection, which may result in the formation of new species.

Natural selection:

1. Natural selection refers to the survival and reproduction of organisms that are more adapted to their surroundings.
2. This indicates that the variant organism's favourable alleles are passed along to offspring.
3. The process of natural selection leads to evolution over many generations.
4. Charles Darwin was a well-known naturalist from England.
5. The term "survival of the fittest," coined by Darwin, describes how natural selection works. Individual organisms are selected for in a given environment.
6. This means that only organisms with the best features for that environment will be able to survive.
7. Example of peppered moths: The name "peppered moth" refers to an insect whose wings are typically white with black specks across them.
8. When it lays on lichen-covered tree trunks throughout the day, its patterning helps it blend in effectively.
9. In addition, certain moths have a genetic abnormality that results in their almost-black wings.
10. These dark forms, known as "melanic," are less well-camouflaged on the lichen than typical, "peppered" forms, making them more vulnerable to predation from birds and other animals.
11. As a result, black forms are less abundant in the population than the paler speckled forms because fewer of them survive to reproduce.
12. Urban tree trunks and buildings had turned black due to sooty air pollution brought on by industrialization and home coal fires, which also killed out lichens.
13. Thus, the melanic form of the moth was better hidden and more likely to live and create progeny, whereas the pale form was now more visible to predators.
14. The outcome was that over repeated generations, the black moths in our towns and cities began to outweigh the pale versions.