Evolution

• Evolution is the change of inherited characteristics within a population over time through natural selection, which may result in the formation of a new species.
• The work of Lamarck and Darwin's work on evolution are key elements in the study of evolution.
• Lamarck's work focused on the inheritance of acquired characteristics.
• Females choose a mate based on their colourful tail feathers, with the more colourful the tail of a peacock, the more likely they are to mate and pass on these genes.
• Over time, the tails of peacocks have become more colourful.
• Problems with evolution include the work of Lamarck and Darwin's work on evolution.
• Speciation is a key concept in the study of evolution.
• Evidence of evolution can be found in rock fossils, ice and peat fossils, and resistant bacteria.
• Principles of evolution by natural selection include the idea that all species of living things have evolved from simple life forms over a period of time.
• The Earth is about 4.5 billion years old and there is scientific evidence to suggest that life on Earth began more than three billion years ago.
• Evolutionary changes can be observed in the inherited traits of a population of organisms from one generation to the next through the process of natural selection.
• A type of organism that is the basic unit of classification is a species.
• Individuals of different species are not able to interbreed successfully.
• All species of living things have evolved from simple life forms over a period of time.
• Natural selection is the natural process whereby the best-adapted individuals survive longer, have more offspring and thereby spread their characteristics, sometimes referred to as 'survival of the fittest'.
• Both genes and the environment can cause variation, but only genetic variation can be passed on to the next generation.
• Over a period of time, a species will gradually evolve.
• The accepted theory of evolution explains that it happens by natural selection.
• If two populations of one species become increasingly different in phenotype, they can no longer interbreed to form fertile offspring, which can result in the formation of two species.
• The variation in individuals is due to differences in their genes.
• Individuals with characteristics most suited to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce, a concept commonly known as 'survival of the fittest'.
• Individuals poorly adapted to their environment are less likely to survive and reproduce, and their genes are less likely to be passed on to the next generation.
• About 3,500,000,000 years ago, the first bacteria appeared (prokaryotes).
• Individuals in a species show a wide range of variation.
• The genes that allow these individuals to be successful within their environment are passed on to their offspring, resulting in these specific genes becoming more common.
• Evolution is the change of inherited characteristics within a population over time through natural selection, which may result in the formation of a new species.
• Charles Darwin, an English naturalist, is recognised as the scientist most associated with the theory of evolution.
• Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, a French scientist, developed an alternative theory of evolution at the beginning of the 19th century.
• Lamarck's theory involved two ideas: a characteristic which is used more and more by an organism becomes bigger and stronger, and one that is not used eventually disappears.
• Lamarck's theory also suggests that any feature of an organism that is improved through use is passed to its offspring.
• Modern science has disproven Lamarck's theory as it is now known that in the vast majority of cases inheritance of features through use cannot occur.
• Lamarck's theory implies that all organisms would gradually become complex, and simple organisms disappear.
• Lamarck's theory suggests that the giraffe's original short-necked ancestor repeatedly stretched its neck to reach the higher branches to eat.
• Lamarck believed that the stretching elongated the giraffe's neck, which became a useful characteristic and was passed onto future generations.
• Lamarck's ideas about evolution were wrong as simple organisms are still detected in all varieties of life, and it is now known that mutations can create variation such as neck length.
• Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species in 1859, outlining his theory of evolution.
• Evolution is the change of inherited characteristics within a population over time through natural selection, which may result in the formation of a new species.
• Darwin's theory of evolution is based on principles of inheritance, variation, and natural selection.
• Charles Darwin, an English naturalist, published On the Origin of Species in 1859, which outlined his theory of evolution.
• The process of change in the inherited traits of a population of organisms from one generation to the next is known as evolution.