Charles Darwin

One mechanism of Darwin's theory of evolution is natural selection. This process describes how organisms with advantageous traits are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing those traits on to future generations. Over time, this can lead to the gradual adaptation of species to their environment.

Fitness refers to an organism's ability to survive and reproduce in its environment. Survival of the fittest is a concept in evolutionary biology that suggests that individuals with traits better suited for their environment are more likely to survive and pass on their genes to the next generation, driving the process of natural selection.

The varities of organisms observed by Darwin on the Galapagos Islands as Darwin realized these creatures all came from the South American mainland and were quite variant from Island to Island as to size, coloration and the different ways the organisms made their living.

Darwin's process of evolution was called natural selection. This process involves the survival and reproduction of individuals with advantageous traits for their environment, leading to gradual changes in a population over time.

Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection provided a comprehensive explanation for the diversity of life on Earth. It laid the foundation for modern evolutionary biology by demonstrating how species change over time in response to their environment. Darwin's work continues to be central to scientific understanding of evolution and has shaped modern views on the mechanisms driving the process.

Charles Darwin's theory of evolution as published in his book On the Origin of Species states that all organisms on earth develop through the process of natural selection. Small variations from one generation to the next increase an individual's ability to compete for resource, mates, and general survival.

Natural selection is the biological mechanism proposed by Charles Darwin that allows members of the same species to adapt and respond to various conditions in the natural world. Individuals with traits that are better suited to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing on these advantageous traits to their offspring. Over time, this process leads to the evolution of species that are well adapted to their specific environments.

he noticed that there were different species of animals on different islands which he concluded was from speciation. the geologic form of the different islands led him to the conclusion that they were once a single species on one island.

Natural selection is the process by which organisms that are better adapted to their environment tend to survive and reproduce more successfully. Over time, this results in the evolution of traits that better suit the changing environment.

Reinforcement theory is based on the relationship between behavior and its consequences. In the workplace, reinforcement can be applied to change or modify on-the-job behavior through incentives and rewards.

Source: Meyer, Stephen C. "DNA by Design." Lecture.There are twenty possible protein-forming amino acids. To get a chain of amino acids merely ten sites long, it is 20^10 or 10,000,000,000,000 possible combinations. However, some of the shortest proteins are 150 sites long, with most actually being 3-400. That means that for a tiny strand of only 150 sites, your possible combinations are 20^150 or 10^195! There are only 10^80 elementary particles (protons, neutrons, electrons) in the whole universe! How likely is it that we ever get a complete protein to arise by chance, given all the amino acids interacting in the pre-biotic soup given billions of years? According to Doug Axe, the functional sequences of amino acids as compared to all the possible sequences of amino acids are 1 to 10^74. Between each of these amino acids, there is a type of bond called a peptide bond. In nature, only half of the bonds that form between amino acids are peptide bonds. For the entire strand (149 bonds, rounded up to 150 to make a round number), that leads up to a probability of 10^45. Also, when you're building a protein, amino acids come in two types of optical isomers; left-handed and right-handed. The left-handed version is the only type that can be used in building amino acids. At 150 amino acids, that means we have another 10^45 chance. Putting these together, that means to form a functional protein by chance, we have a total probability of 1 in 10^164. There have only been 10^16 seconds since the big bang, there have only been 10^139 events happen since the beginning of the universe, and once again, there are only 10^80 elementary particles in the universe. However, all this time, we've been talking about one single protein. Estimates to form a minimally complex single-celled organism say that it requires between 250 and 400 different proteins to do this. There are vastly more in the human body, not to mention we also have specialized cells to do certain tasks requiring certain additional proteins.Though it is indeed possible, granted enough time, life could develop from simple chemicals, the universe (according to recent evidence found by the Hubble Space Telescope) is a maximum of 20 billion years old and this is nowhere near enough time in which to complete this process, even had the earth existed in the right state with all of the right conditions from the very beginning.

This is not all of the evidence, merely the evidence that exists in the formation of DNA.

1. Variation: Individuals within a population have differences in traits. (Example: Variation in beak size among Galapagos finches)
2. Inheritance: Some of these traits are heritable and can be passed down from parents to offspring. (Example: Offspring inheriting their parent's eye color)
3. Selection: Certain traits may provide a reproductive advantage, leading to increased survival and reproduction. (Example: Camouflaged moths surviving better in a polluted environment)
4. Time: Over successive generations, these advantageous traits become more common in the population, driving evolutionary change. (Example: Giraffes evolving longer necks to reach taller trees for food)

The chimps taste for fruit drove the selection of individuals that were tending towards trichromatic vision. This allowed them to distinguish the ripest fruit, thus the best nutritionally, with their color vision. Thus this drove selection for these individuals as this train was reproductively successful.

While Robert Nozick espouses a minimal state, limited to enforcement of contracts, protection against, theft, expansion of the state violates individual rights. He makes the leap that people would voluntarily embrace a pre-political state of nature.

Darwins' Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection says that species either adapt and evolve via an accumulation of sequential minor variations, or become extinct.

The Gaia hypothesis says that the planet's biomass self-regulates the conditions on the planet to make its physical environment (in particular temperature and chemistry of the atmosphere) on the planet consistently hospitable to the species which constitute its 'life'. For example, when atmospheric carbon dioxide levels rise, the biomass of photosynthetic organisms increases and thus removes more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Gaia has attracted considerable debate and should, at this stage, be considered a hypothesis rather than a proven theory.

The two concepts are parallel in that they explain the ability of an 'organism' to adapt to the changing environment. However, one is concerned with biological processes, while the other is concerned with macro-physics. They neither contradict nor support each other.

Darwin was influenced by the geological principle of gradual change over long periods of time, as proposed by geologists like Charles Lyell. This concept helped shape his theory of evolution by natural selection, as he saw similarities between the slow but transformative processes of geology and the gradual changes in species over generations. Darwin also incorporated the idea of deep time, or the immense age of Earth, which was supported by geological evidence, into his understanding of the slow pace of evolutionary change.

The foreign scientist who influenced Charles Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection was Alfred Russel Wallace. Wallace independently developed a similar theory to Darwin's, prompting them to present their ideas jointly in 1858. Darwin is credited with the theory of evolution by natural selection, but Wallace also made significant contributions to the field.

Charles Darwin is the famous scientist who introduced the idea of natural selection through his theory of evolution in his book "On the Origin of Species." Darwin proposed that species that are better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce, leading to the gradual change of species over time.

Charles Darwin used the term "natural selection" to describe the process by which certain heritable traits become more common in a population over time due to their advantage in survival and reproduction.

Fit to purpose, or environment.

I might be extremely fit in the modern sense, but I an not fit for survival in the desert.

In a different sense I am not as fit as someone who lives a nomadic life, but I am better fitted than they for survival in a modern city.

Yes, as a scientific concept, Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection has been supported by a vast amount of evidence since its proposal. It serves as the foundation for modern evolutionary biology.

Evolution, as proposed by Charles Darwin, is the process through which populations of organisms change over generations as a result of natural selection acting on heritable variations within those populations. It involves the gradual development of new species from existing ones through the mechanisms of variation, inheritance, and differential survival and reproduction.

Well, it's part of the weakest link theory. Natural selection weeds out those who are not fit to carry on their genes. Only the best genes are passed onto further generations, leading to a more widely developed population.