...Evolution and Natural Selection The purpose of this lab is to observe how variables in an organism’s environment can show adaptations over different periods of time and given different variables or changes to the environment or that organism. In this experiment it will show that manipulating the size of the island by 10 mm over a course of 100 years will show evidence of the Finches beak to grow or decrease in size because of their environment and their need to survive. The survivors will evolve while the others parish this experiment illustrates natural selection and evolution. Another variable or change to observe will be an increase or decrease in clutch size. Population of offspring over periods of time can largely be viewed effecting evolution and adaptation in this experiment. I believe the outcome of this experiment will depend totally on modification of increase or decrease, meaning whatever is being input and it is increasing size or numbers of the finches it will continue that same pattern increasingly higher than the opposition untouched. However if the input modifications are decreased that will decrease the size and population of finches below that of those on the opposing island. The materials for this experiment include a laptop computer with internet access and accessibility to the Phoenix student website where the evolution lab is located in the materials section. In the first iteration of changes to be input was to the clutch size of the finches...
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...Natural selection, a concept conceived by Charles Darwin, is one of the most important ideas about the natural world. It states that environmental variables decide the course of life and its evolutions to produce constituents with the most favorable traits. It is prevalent and intangible; it is trial and error in its most beautiful form. However, natural selection is not just limited to the agrarian world, its patterns can be observed in society too. In the process of natural selection, there is a losing side. Extinct animals and archaic ideas are the victims of natural selection and end up on the losing side of history. This ensures that the most appropriately adapted organisms or ideas prevail. Sudden events and gradual changes shape the...
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...an example of a secondary succession. A secondary succession is defined as a change in species composition after a disturbance destroys the existing vegetation in an area that contains soil (Wiley, 2000-2012). The Succession animation was about a forest that contained a small creek. The natural flow of this creek was disturbed by a dam built by beavers thus creating a flood in the forest, the death of the current trees and plants and the new growth of trees and plants in later years. That is why it is a secondary succession. Evolution takes place in the process of natural selection. This process is one where necessary and successful characteristics and traits are passed on to future members of the species for survival. All traits and characteristics that are unnecessary cease to exist in future offspring. The hypothesis I’ve formed in regard to the aquatic salamander, who is missing hind limbs and has small forelimbs, is it came from a line of salamanders that migrated to a new area where they no longer needed their hind limbs. It is possible their new home had smaller areas for them to swim through and their limbs were proving to be a hindrance. Through the process of natural selection, the offspring of these salamanders were born with smaller limbs until their hind limbs were no more. This would be an example of their struggle for existence. References: • Wiley, J. (2000-2012). Community Responses to Changing Conditions over Time: Succession. Retrieved from http://edugen...
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...survive the environment we are in our daily lives and reproduce offspring. This is called natural selection, which is now considered as the main process that brings about evolution. Now, the real question is, are the natural selection process still existing today and are we still evolving into another species? First of all, humans did not evolve from monkeys. Humans share a common ancestor with modern African apes (similar gorillas and chimpanzees). Scientists believe that this human related ancestor existed 5 to 8 million years ago. There after, these ancestor species were separated into two separate ancestries. One of these ancestries evolved into gorillas and chimpanzees and the other evolved into early human ancestors called Hominids. In other words, these common ancestors that separated over time, formed a number of distinctive species of hominid. Only one of the hominid species survived to become modern humans that we are today. Natural selection led the surviving species (hominids) into evolutionary change. The surviving species had certain characteristics to have greater survival than other species in a population and pass these transferrable genetic characteristic to their off spring. The rest of the hominids, including early humans, became extinct. They became extinct because they were...
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...The Difference between Natural Selection and Sexual Selection There are debates raging on whether to regard natural selection and sexual selection separately. On one hand is the argument that the two are mutual and in particular, that sexual selection is a part of the natural selection. On the other hand is the contention that the two are exclusive of each other because the manner in with each selection progresses (Andersson & Simmons, 2006); (Kokko, Jennions & Brooks, 2006). For instance, natural selection is not selective in the sense of deliberation. Natural selection is eliminative, where organisms that do not meet the reductive nature of their environments cease existing. The elimination has no ordered sequence because it not definitive which organisms are up for elimination. Additionally, mate choice occurs in both males and females, although females appear to exercise this choice more than males (Rundle, Chenoweth & Blows, 2006). Alternately, sexual selection is deliberative because it involves organisms exercising elements of premeditation and choice, elements absent in natural selection. There are several characteristics that make up an organism that predispose some organisms do perform better compared to others in environments exigent for their existence. However, determining the interaction of these challenges with their environment is not straightforward. To illustrate, showing how mating preferences evolve genetically is challenging and compounded by the fact that...
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...Natural Selection is the scientific theory first proposed by English Naturalist, Charles Darwin as an explanation for evolution. Darwin first became aware of the capability of this theory when he studied variation in plants and animals during a five-year voyage around the world in the 19th century. He noticed whilst in the Galapagos Islands that the habitat of certain finches on the island changed their physical characteristics. Darwin mainly focused on the shape of the finches beak according to their habitat, concluding that even though the finch had a common ancestor, their beak shaped evolved according the foods that they ate in their habitat. He continued the development of this theory by studying hundreds more plants and animals than on...
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...The Natural Selection Process of Evolution “Darwin Island” and “Wallace Island” finches have survived many years on these isolated islands without much help from the human population. They are able to survive by adapting to their surroundings by a process called evolution. The evolution process begins with a process called natural selection. At this time, both islands are around the same size and the finches have similar populations and beak sizes. What would happen in 200 years if the “Wallace Island” shrank 0.2km and “Darwin Island” grew 0.2km and the clutch sizes for the finches increased by 4 eggs in size? Would the finches still have similar populations and beak sizes? Materials The material used for this experiment was my home computer and the Evolution Lab web link on the University of Phoenix Student Website. Methods and Procedures The first step in my methods and procedures was to login to the University of Phoenix Student Website. Next, I went into the materials link of my classroom and clicked on the web link for the Evolution Lab. Finally, once I am on the Evolution Lab website, I clicked “start lab.” After clicking start, the first step in understanding the natural selection and evolution process was to read the background information. Next, was to run a control experiment to see where the finches on “Darwin Island” and “Wallace Island” would be if nothing out of the ordinary happened. Once the control experiment was completed and the data recorded...
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...Paragraph 1: Misconceptions about Natural Selection One of the misconceptions about natural selection is that humans can’t negatively impact ecosystems, because species will just evolve what they need to survive. This is, perhaps, based on another misconception that natural selection can predict and supply what a species needs. This however is not true. Natural selection happens non-randomly in some individuals in a species who possess adaptive phenotypic traits that have a higher net reproductive success than individuals without these traits (Larry L Mai, 2005, 371). Natural selection can only occur for those adaptive traits that possess heritability. This means that if a population does not possess these genetic variations, evolution in response to environmental changes brought on by humans will not occur in the species. For example, climate changes i.e. global warming has had and is still having quite an adverse effect on the Arctic, causing the sea ice to decline drastically and thus having a negative impact on the ecosystem. Polar bears, whose main source of diet are seals, depend on the sea ice for their hunting methods, which is stalk seals at their breathing holes in the ice. Another animal negatively impacted by the disappearing sea ice are the Walrus. Walrus depend on floating pieces of sea ice to haul themselves out of the water. However, as the sea ice disappears some Walruses and walrus pups drown at sea. If the Polar Bear’s and Walrus’s lack the necessary genetic...
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...Natural selection is the process where life forms that have more favourable traits which allows them to adapt to specific environmental pressures. Thus them being the ones to most likely survive and reproduce in larger numbers than the rest of their species. This will result in the trait being passed down in succeeding generations. An example of modern-day natural selection is the Peppered Moths. The Peppered Moths were originally found mostly with white wings with black speckles across them. This colour pattern allowed the moths to be more camouflaged against tree trunks that were covered in lichen. There was also a mutation that allowed for some moths to be born with wings that are almost black. Since these moths with the black wings were...
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...was very interested in how species changed over time, he had studied fossils and other creatures as he travelled the world and found some to be more familiar to others. This realization that there were similar species roaming the earth led to his theory of natural selection. On one of his journeys to the Galapagos Islands, Charles Darwin began to study finches, a bird found on many of the different islands. To his discovery he recognized that some of the finches had bigger beaks than others. He went on to find that the different islands had different types of living conditions and food resources. Due to the different food Charles concluded that there was a reason these birds were almost similar in size but their beaks were completely...
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...Charles Darwin wrote one of the most influential pieces of work of all time, “The Origin of Species” on his theory of natural selection. The voyage to South America, Australia, the Pacific Ocean and more specifically the Galápagos Islands on the H.M.S Beagle offered the prefect environment for Darwin to develop his theory and explore within his own scientific investigations. Although studying the natural environment in England could deliver similar observations regarding variances in species and the subtle yet on-going geological changed over long periods of time, it is reasonable to argue that the total enterprise experienced by Charles Darwin would not have been realized to the same magnitude as occurred on the voyage as compared to studying in England....
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...Evolution plays a major part in today; it provides a vast amount of information of the reproduction of animals and organism. Evolution is the process of which different kinds of living organisms are believed to have developed from recent and earlier forms during the history and past of the earth. There are many theories of evolution from many different scientists but the two most well-known theories are by Charles Darwin and Jean Baptise Lamarck. Charles Darwin: Charles Darwin was born in 1809. He used the term “Decent with modification” to explain his proposed theory of “Natural Selection”. He stated that all species evolved from species in the past. Organisms change through time, usually slowly and can evolve overtime to become a new species. He had a large amount of useful...
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...Humans are the only species that have acquired the ability to combat evolution. Our ancestors relied solely on genetic adaptations to survive. This principle is defined by natural selection. Today, humans are changing the world so quickly that natural selection cannot keep up. Humanity is able to achieve this by controlling environments and aiding “bad” mutations in circulating throughout the genetic pool. Humans are learning how to control environments before natural selection can change them. We have increased the rate of mutation while slowing natural selection by releasing many mutagenic chemicals and radiation into our environment in a condensed period of time. From the culture of the hunters and gathers until the agriculture revolution...
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...evolution”). The theory of evolution is largely based on the ideas of Charles Darwin and is controversial because it contradicts current theories on creation (“Human Evolution”). Charles Darwin is credited for the beginning of the theory of evolution (look in cites). The reason most scientist agree with the theory is because it is backed by facts (“Human Evolution”). Evolution is the journey that can be proven through genetics, anatomy, and geology. Charles Darwin’s research shown in his book, On the Origins of Species by Natural Selection, gave birth to the theory of evolution (“Human Evolution”). Darwin, during his research noticed the variation through heredity in all living organisms in nature (cite). Explained in his book On the Origins of species by Natural Selection, “these individual differences are highly important for us, as they afford materials for natural selection to accumulate” (Darwin and Levine 47). He also explains that evolution, through natural selection, only helps each organism to become better...
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...Darwin, the most notable naturalist, collected, studied, and classified many organisms that no one in Europe had ever seen. His study of this amazing variety of organisms led him to develop his theory of ‘Natural Selection’, which explains how population evolve and how new species develop. According to the natural selection proposed by Darwin, in any population, there exists variation and an unequal ability of individuals to survive and reproduce, and only the best fir individuals survive and get to pass on their traits to offspring, known as survival of the fittest. Until 1845 in England, most pepper moth were light colored and few dark individuals could be found. With increasing industrialization, smoke and soot polluted the environment,...
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