Preview

Analysis of Charles Darwin's on the Origin of Species

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2167 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Analysis of Charles Darwin's on the Origin of Species
Charles Darwin in his book, On the Origin of Species, presents us with a theory of natural selection. This theory is his attempt at an explanation on how the world and its species came to be the way that we know them now. Darwin writes on how through a process of millions of years, through the effects of man and the effects of nature, species have had a trial and error experiment ongoing. It is through these trials that the natural world has developed beneficial anomalies that at times seem too great to be the work of chance. Darwin writes on how a species will adapt to its surrounding given enough time. When an animal gains a genetic edge over its competitors, be they of the same species or of another genus altogether, the animal has increased its chance of either procreation or adaptation. When this animal has this beneficial variance, the advantage becomes his and because of this, the trait is then passed on to the animals offspring. The theory of natural selection is not limited to inheritable and beneficial variations of a species. It also relies a great deal on the population growth and death of a species. For a species to continue to exist it must make sure of a few things. It must first produce more offspring than survive. If this is not done then the species is obviously going to die off. It is also important for the species to propagate at such a rate as to allow for variance, for it is variance that will ultimately allow the animal to exist comfortably in his surroundings. In his studies, Darwin was led to understand that "…the species of the larger genera in each country would oftener present varieties, than the species of the smaller genera;" (p. 55). Thus the larger species would adapt while the smaller one would not. And to quote Darwin again, "…if any one species does not become modified and improved in a corresponding degree with its competitors, it will soon be exterminated." (p. 102) Extinction, although not as pleasant a

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Charles Darwin’s theory of Natural Selection is the process by which biological traits become either more or less regular in a species and is a key component of evolution. Natural Selection occurs when a subject has a feature that enables to be able to survive more easily than those without it. Take for example the Galapagos Finches (Darwin’s Finches). Found on the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean are a group of about 13 types of finches…

    • 1096 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    12. Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, or the idea that nature “selects” its survivors, has six main points. He states species populations remain more or less constant because only a small fraction of offspring live long…

    • 886 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Evolution, ever since its introduction by James Hutton in the early 1700s, has been a very controversial topic with many people opposing the various theories presented by scientists throughout the years. In modern science, evolution has come to be accepted by many scientists around the world, with significant amounts of evidence from various fields of science provided to support Charles Darwin’s theory of naturally selective evolution - “survival of the fittest” and adaptation.…

    • 1072 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Charles Darwin’s theory states that the change in evolution is the variation in each generation and different individual surviving features with different combinations of the variable. The Individuals with characteristics that increase their probability of survival will be able to reproduce more often and their offspring will also benefit as there would be an advantage because it would be passed on to the offspring. Over time these variation of characteristics will spread through the population. (College, 2009)…

    • 594 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Charles Darwin after studying the beaks, concluded that each shape seemed to serve a purpose suited to the particular island (Lee 15). He concluded that finches who had short, fat beaks mostly ate nuts and on islands where the main food source is insects the finches had long, skinny beaks (Lee 15). Based on this evidence Darwin developed a theory that at some point in the past, one type of finch arrived at the islands and then evolved differently on each island (Lee 15). This theory is called natural selection, which ensures that traits that promote survival will win the struggle for existence (Akert, Aronson, Sommers, and Wilson 43). This theory also states that any trait that lowers our chances of survival, such as those that cause life- threatening diseases, reduce the chances that we will produce offspring and pass traits to other generations (Akert, Aronson, Sommers, and Wilson 316). However, if traits are not passed on to different generations, there would be no mechanism through which traits could reappear in subsequent generations and therefore there will be no way for a species to…

    • 652 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Natural Selection is when each generation of a species develops new characteristics and adapts more to the environment to survive. This theory of evolution caused some controversy because it contradicted the beliefs of many religious leaders. It also caused scientists studying the field to reevaluate everything that they had learned! Some people tried to use this theory to justify acts like slavery and genocide. Natural Selection was used to imply that these behaviours were natural.…

    • 256 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    The well known ecologist Charles Darwin exhibited the hypothesis of natural selection. He went on numerous trips to the wildlife, taking after his interest of the nature and the change that happens in the nature. After examining different kinds of living organisms, he clarified Natural Selection as "preservation of favorable variations and the rejecting of injurious variations."(900). Darwin utilized relations and demonstrations to show that distinctive changes happened in the same specie, which assisted them with adapting to their environment.…

    • 714 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Darwin's theory resides on the presence of Natural Selection in the animal kingdom. This means that favorable genetic mutations are "selected" for in nature, thus accounting for complex and highly specific organisms. The selection of favorable genetics is driven through competition for resources and the production of progeny. However, natural selection is a process dependent on random mutations of an organism’s genetic material. It hinges upon the fact that organisms obtaining randomly generated mutations, that provide a selective advantage in their environment, are more likely to form progeny and pass on their…

    • 1584 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection suggest that the physical environment exerts selective pressure upon adaptive characteristics, which are traits that increase the survival potential of an individual because they enable them to better adapt to their ecological niche. The adaptive traits are genetically transmitted (inherited) because the individual survives to reproduce and this is known as 'survival of the fittest', where fitness is measured by the number of genes present in the next generation.…

    • 371 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Since the natural resources are usually limited, the reproduction results to competition for survival by utilizing the scarcely available resources. Species of organisms that posses traits that give them advantage over the others, they usually survive and pass the traits to the next generation unless the others organisms lacking the traits which do not survive the competition. Thus the process of natural selection is determined by the organism’s evolutionary fitness which shows the ability of an organism to survive and reproduce and determines the amount of genetic traits to be passed to the next…

    • 630 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay #1Four contributions Charles Darwin contributed to the field of evolutionary biology were: non-constancy of species, branching evolution, occurrence of gradual change in species, and natural selection. Each of his contribution became the foundation of evolutionary biology and can be seen in the wild very commonly. Non-constancy can be observed though variation in the offspring. For example, different sized beaks in finches display variation in the species and therefore, non-constancy. This can cause change in the gene pool of a species over time. Many evidence of branching evolution can be seen in the anatomy of different species like homologies and vestigial structures. In whales, the hip bones are similar to humans which indicates the common ancestry between the two species. Gradual change is displayed by the fossil records of many species. Older fossil records have some small differences from the newer fossil records which can be used to prove gradual change in species over time. These changes occur due to mutation and are picked out by the natural selection. These mutations accumulate over time and cause the species to look drastically different after many decades. Natural Selection picks out individuals better suited for the environment and allows them to reproduce and pass on their gene while unsuited individuals die without passing on their gene. Natural selection occurs every time a predator feeds on the weakest, slowest, worst camaflouged, or most un-adapted prey. This allows the gene pool of the species to evolve and shed off undesired genes.…

    • 351 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Darwin’s theory of evolution is based on the theory of natural selection. Natural selection is the the process whereby organisms better adapted to their environment tend to survive and produce more offspring. This theory is now widely believed by many people throughout the world. Charles Darwin’s theory includes the idea that fossils of extinct animals turn up where similar animals live today. Darwin came up with this theory when he discovered fossils of animals that were very similar to the animals that were living today. Darwin also observed that the Galapagos tortoise’s had different shapes of their shells depending on which island they came from. Darwin believed that these tortoises were adapting to their environment by changing their shell…

    • 235 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    In 1859, Charles Darwin, a scientist from England, formulated the theory of evolution. His theory was composed of two ideas: variation and natural selection. Variation was explained to be certain biological characteristics that a creature possessed in order to survive. Certain creatures who had the positive, favorable traits equipped them better for survival as opposed to the individuals lacking them. Natural selection was the process in which a species that adapted better to the environment because of preferable physical or mental characteristics continued to evolve and what caused the weakest of the species who were lacking in these to perish.…

    • 1558 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Sci 230 Week 1

    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Evolution by natural selection: This theory came about as a result of Charles Darwin trying to find an explanation for “why there are so many different living beings on earth?” (Pruitt, N. L., & Underwood, L. S. (2006). His theory contains two parts, the first part states that species change over generations. The second part states that what causes this change is natural selection.…

    • 426 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Tma02

    • 1753 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Natural selection was first noted by Charles Darwin and his theory of evolution originates mainly from his observations of the Galapagos finch (Clegg, 2007) and how the species had evolved over time to best survive dependent on their environments. Darwin’s theory considers that each and every species is subject to change, evolving to better suit their…

    • 1753 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays