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Descent with modification encapsulates the two key ideas central to the theory of evolution. These are that modifications (mutations) occur, and that these mutations are inheritable (passed on to descendants or offspring).

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What word do biologists use when they mean descent with modification?

Biologists use the term "evolution" when referring to descent with modification, which encompasses the changes in inherited traits of a population over successive generations.


When micro-evolution occurs over many generations as inherited characteristics leads to changes in populations what has occurred?

Macro-evolution. Or, more accurately, speciation.


Charles Darwin's idea of how species change over time is called what?

Charles Darwin's idea of how species change over time is called natural selection. This process involves the survival and reproduction of organisms that are best adapted to their environment, leading to gradual changes in the characteristics of a population.


What is descent with modification and how do fossils help it?

Descent with modification is a principal that is closely linked to natural selection. It means that the descendants of a parent species will have been slightly modified, and their descendants will be slightly modified, and so on. Natural selection is the engine that drives this modification- and ensures that this change is in a direction that better suits the species to its environment. In this way, species are constantly changing, though extremely slowly. The geological record can show how a certain species has slowly changed over time. As we follow a species through hundreds of thousands of years, parts of its organization become modified as the species becomes better suited to its environment, or to other environments that allow it to extend its range. These changes in physical aspects can be seen in fossils and show, for example, how a fin for swimming evolved into a leg for walking.


What idea of Darwin and based on fossils and the modern organisms he found basically says that genetic changes are inherited by later generations?

The ideas of descent with modification are based on fossils and the modern organisms he found basically says that genetic changes are inherited by later generations.