Natural Selection is the process that allows evolution to happen. Natural Selection was discovered by Charles Darwin on his 5 year voyage across the world. The main points are that each organism of a species have a range of variation because of each of their genes. The single organisms with the best characteristics suited to its environment will tend to live on (survival of the fittest). They will either inherit those good genes or have mutations, where the DNA sequence is altered. The ‘fittest’ organiss will then reproduce offsprings, which will have a high chance of inheriting those good genes or it may even have mutations of its own.
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck also had a theory on evolution but was disregarded and is wrong. He thought that a characteristic used repeatedly all the time would get stronger and better. Any characteristic that isn’t used often will be forgotten. Then the gene that is used a lot and has developed will be inherited by the next generation. Lamarck’s views are seen as wrong and Darwin’s view is correct and is accepted by the world of science.
September 25, 2016 at 5:56 pm
I’m please you included the word variation here. It’s one that gets missed out quite a lot. Equally mutations are important. You’ve adequately described the difference between the two. Well done.