BIO E105 Chapter Notes - Chapter 25: Daphne Major, Natural Experiment
Document Summary
Populations: change in frequency of traits over time. Charles darwin and alfred russel wallace proposed that species change through time. Does not follow a linear, progressive pattern. Is based on variation among individuals in populations. While others had proposed the fact of evolution, darwin"s contribution was describing a process, natural selection, that could explain the pattern of descent with modification. The ability of an individual to produce surviving, fertile offspring relative to that ability in other individuals in the population. A heritable trait that increases an individual"s fitness in a particular environment relative to individuals lacking that trait. Differential reproduction as a result of heritable variation. Natural selection occurs when individuals with certain traits produce more offspring than do individuals without those traits. The individuals are selected naturally, by the environment. The selected traits will increase in frequency in the population from one generation to the next, resulting in evolution. Evolution is thus a logical outcome of the four postulates.
