Masio Sangster

Jude Higgens

3/16/19

Anthropology 1020

Natural Selection

Charles Darwin was a man who sailed around the world at the age of 22, he was on a

science expedicion where he would study the plants and animals he came into contact with.

He then saw that the birds were very similar with one another but they all had different

characteristics, there were finch birds with long beaks, short beaks, sharp beaks, etc. There

was such a wide variety of finches that he wanted to know why and how these animals were

so different from one another but yet still the same! Darwin, after research, came up with the

theory for not just these birds but the animal kingdom itself, on how things were so different

from each other. He called this theory “The Theory of Evolution”! With a lot of time and

dedication putting research into his theory he eventually tested his theory and wrote a book.
 Darwins Theory Of Evolution

1.EVOLUTION

What is evolution? Well, evolution is a natural science that happens when a common gene is

passed down to future generations! These genes can be found in almost every animal and

human. These genes or traits can be passed down and can make you the person you are today.

Let's look at a giraffe for example if a mommy and daddy giraffe have a long neck and have a

child the odds of that child coming out with a long neck is very high! This is also an inherited

difference that happens everywhere.

2. VARIATIONS !
Let’s talk about variations through evolution! So variation is another way of saying that

everyone has their own unique traits they inherit from their ancestors or even parents! So for

example some dogs are tall and big and others are small and short. This can even apply to

you! What is a unique variation about you?

3. COMPETING
Sometimes the environment can play a huge part when it comes to evolution and it can lead

to some heavy competition for some animals! Let us use giraffes as an example, giraffes live

in a dry climate. They eat nothing but leafs, sometimes the trees would be too tall for the

giraffes to reach, so the competitive ones would stretch their own necks out just so they could

reach the leafs. Talk about a major ouchie! This is also a trait the giraffes would inherit and

pass onto their offspring so when their babies would be born they would be slightly taller

than their parents. This causes a major panic within the giraffe circle because the short neck

ones will die if they do not try to stretch their necks out in order to survive.

4. ENVIRONMENT
Yes the environment also plays a huge part into natural selection of evolution. Since many

animals adapt to a certain environment there will be those who will die because they have a

lower fitness. The traits these animals get from their ancestors will also matter, as explained

in section 3 if trees were taller, tall necked giraffes would have a great advantage at survival!

Which increases their fitness! This can also apply to short neck giraffes who have the

advantage of eating lower trees, though they might not have the boost in the fitness unlike the

longer neck ones.

Fitness:Fitness is a handy concept because it lumps

everything that matters to natural selection.

5. OFFSPRING
Since natural selection, fitness, and the environment play such a huge part into everything

this means the future generations of their offspring also depend on them! Since shorter neck

giraffes are seen to be struggling to reach taller trees it decreases their chances of

reproduction whereas the taller necked giraffe reaching taller trees have a higher fitness and

increase their chances of survival and repopulating! No fitness means no way of populating

which means you will eventually die out.

6. TRAIT DIFFERENCES
When traits are passed down to future generations they sometimes come out different and

unique and can even be considered a new species! So when longer necked giraffes are born it

means along the line their short neck parents had to extend and stretch out their necks in

order to survive thus continuing the trait span from generation to generation, how cool is that!

Remember: Environment and fitness play a huge part into a species traits and evolutionary

process!

7. DARWINS THEORY
Using these elements darwin was able to establish why the finch birds varied from each other,

they all had their own unique characteristics! Finches with longer beaks were great at

catching insects and finches who had sharper beaks were great at eating and getting into fruit,

darwin was able to study all this through the finches environment and learn what their fitness

and competitive areas are.

Science In depth

There is a biological variation within all species but individuals will biologically be

different from one another. Environmental factors through natural selection are a key factor

and traits can be heritable, The offspring in any generation will be slightly different from one

another in their traits (color, size, shape, etc.), and many of these features will be
heritable.Natural selection doesn't favor traits that are somehow inherently superior. Instead,

it favors traits that are beneficial (that is, help an organism survive and reproduce more

effectively than its peers) in a specific environment. Traits that are helpful in one

environment might actually be harmful in another.In the example of Darwin's finches, we

saw that groups in a single population may become isolated from one another by

geographical barriers, such as ocean surrounding islands, or by other mechanisms. Once

isolated, the groups can no longer interbreed and are exposed to different environments. In

each environment, natural selection is likely to favor different traits (and other evolutionary

forces, such as random drift, may also operate separately on the groups). Over many

generations, differences in heritable traits can accumulate between the groups, to the extent

that they are considered separate species.

Works cited

Higgins, Judith. Lecture. Anthropology 1020 Human Origins: Evolution and Diversity.

https://biology4isc.weebly.com/3-theories-of-evolution.html - pictures