Evolution is the process of change over generations in all forms of life through genetic changes and natural selection. Genetic changes like mutations occur randomly, and as traits influence reproductive success, some traits become more or less common in populations over time. This process of evolution through natural selection is responsible for the diversity of life on Earth. It began with the earliest life forms over 3.5 billion years ago and all present life is descended from a last universal ancestor. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, published in 1859, explained how evolution occurs through inherited traits and the survival of organisms better suited to their environments.
Evolution is the process of change over generations in all forms of life through genetic changes and natural selection. Genetic changes like mutations occur randomly, and as traits influence reproductive success, some traits become more or less common in populations over time. This process of evolution through natural selection is responsible for the diversity of life on Earth. It began with the earliest life forms over 3.5 billion years ago and all present life is descended from a last universal ancestor. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, published in 1859, explained how evolution occurs through inherited traits and the survival of organisms better suited to their environments.
Evolution is the process of change over generations in all forms of life through genetic changes and natural selection. Genetic changes like mutations occur randomly, and as traits influence reproductive success, some traits become more or less common in populations over time. This process of evolution through natural selection is responsible for the diversity of life on Earth. It began with the earliest life forms over 3.5 billion years ago and all present life is descended from a last universal ancestor. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, published in 1859, explained how evolution occurs through inherited traits and the survival of organisms better suited to their environments.
Evolution is the process of change over generations in all forms of life through genetic changes and natural selection. Genetic changes like mutations occur randomly, and as traits influence reproductive success, some traits become more or less common in populations over time. This process of evolution through natural selection is responsible for the diversity of life on Earth. It began with the earliest life forms over 3.5 billion years ago and all present life is descended from a last universal ancestor. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, published in 1859, explained how evolution occurs through inherited traits and the survival of organisms better suited to their environments.
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EVOLUTION
In biology, evolution is the process of change in all forms of life over generations, and evolutionary biology is the study of how evolution occurs. Biological populations evolve through genetic changes that correspond to changes in the organisms' observable traits. Genetic changes include mutations, which are caused by damage or replication errors in organisms' DNA. As the genetic variation of a population drifts randomly over generations, natural selection gradually leads traits to become more or less common based on the relative reproductive success of organisms with those traits. The age of the Earth is about 4.5 billion years. The earliest undisputed evidence of life on Earth dates from at least 3.5 billion years ago.[4][5][6] Evolution does not attempt to explain the origin of life (covered instead by abiogenesis), but it does explain how early lifeforms evolved into the complex ecosystem that we see today. Based on the similarities between all present-day organisms, all life on Earth is assumed to have originated through common descent from a last universal ancestor from which all known species have diverged through the process of evolution. All individuals have hereditary material in the form of genes received from their parents, which they pass on to any offspring. Among offspring there are variations of genes due to the introduction of new genes via random changes called mutations or via reshuffling of existing genes during sexual reproduction. The offspring differs from the parent in minor random ways. If those differences are helpful, the offspring is more likely to survive and reproduce. This means that more offspring in the next generation will have that helpful difference and individuals will not have equal chances of reproductive success. In this way, traits that result in organisms being better adapted to their living conditions become more common in descendant populations.[9][10] These differences accumulate resulting in changes within the population. This process is responsible for the many diverse life forms in the world. The modern understanding of evolution began with the 1859 publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species. In addition, Gregor Mendel's work with plants helped to explain the hereditary patterns of genetics. Fossil discoveries in palaeontology, advances in population genetics and a global network of scientific research have provided further details into the mechanisms of evolution. Scientists now have a good understanding of the origin of new species (speciation) and have observed the speciation process in the laboratory and in the wild. Evolution is the principal scientific theory that biologists use to understand life and is used in many disciplines, including medicine, psychology, conservation biology, anthropology, forensics, agriculture and other social-cultural applications. In the 19th century, natural history collections and museums were popular. The European expansion and naval expeditions employed naturalists, while curators of grand museums showcased preserved and live specimens of the varieties of life. Charles Darwin was an English graduate educated and trained in the disciplines of natural history. Such natural historians would collect, catalogue, describe and study the vast collections of specimens stored and managed by curators at these museums. Darwin served as a ship's naturalist on board HMS Beagle, assigned to a five-year research expedition around the world. During his voyage, he observed and collected an abundance of organisms, being very interested in the diverse forms of life along the coasts of South America and the neighbouring Galápagos Islands. Darwin noted that orchids have complex adaptations to ensure pollination, all derived from basic floral parts. Darwin gained extensive experience as he collected and studied the natural history of life forms from distant places. In 1838, he described how a process he called natural selection would make this happen. The size of a population depends on how much and how many resources are able to support it. For the population to remain the same size year after year, there must be an equilibrium or balance between the population size and available resources. Since organisms produce more offspring than their environment can support, not all individuals can survive out of each generation. There must be a competitive struggle for resources that aid in survival. As a result, Darwin realised that it was not chance alone that determined survival. Instead, survival of an organism depends on the differences of each individual organism, or "traits," that aid or hinder survival and reproduction. Traits that hinder survival and reproduction would disappear over generations. Traits that help an organism survive and reproduce would accumulate over generations. Darwin realised that the unequal ability of individuals to survive and reproduce could cause gradual changes in the population and used the term natural selection to describe this process
