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Charles Darwin's On The Origin Of Species

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The theory of evolution by natural selection, first formulated in Darwin's book "On the Origin of Species" in 1859, is the process by which organisms change over time as a result of changes in heritable physical or behavioral traits. Changes that allow an organism to better adapt to its environment will help it survive and have more offspring. Darwin's theory is fairly simple and has five main essential points: (1) variation exists in natural populations, (2) many more offspring are born each season than can possibly survive to maturity, (3) as a result, there is a struggle for existence, (4) characteristics beneficial in the struggle for existence will tend to become more common in the population, changing the characteristics of a species, (5) …show more content…
The struggle for existence is the competition within the species. These differences give certain members of a species an advantage to survive in the environment. This can also be known as survival of the fittest. These species “fittest” for their environment will begin to live long enough to produce offspring. Offspring that will be produced will have the mutation in their genes and the steady input of new variation will start to show through in the environment. Eventually most of the population will be a carrier of this new mutation that helps better suit them for their environment. The three main types of selective pressures include directional selection, disruptive selection, stabilizing selection. Directional selection is the occurence of natural selection when it favors one extreme of the population for that trait. This most often occurs when the environment changes in a consistent way, such as the climate changing. Next, disruptive selection is when natural selection favors both extremes selected. This causes the species to diverge and separate from one

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