Evolution And Natural Selection

Evolution is the theory that organisms are, and have always been, evolving throughout time. We have also discussed the idea of natural selection, one part of the evolution theory. Over the past few weeks we have slowly started to dive into the theory of evolution and natural selection. In this paper, I will explain what natural selection is, and give an example of natural selection and how it relates to evolution. Natural selection is the idea that the organisms that are best suited for the environments they live in, are able to survive and pass on their genetic traits with huge success to the next generation of said organism. I chose an article on a popular topic within the study of evolution, Darwin’s finches. Charles Darwin traveled to
The scientists came to realize that the different types of finches and their traits were all related to the environments in which they lived. Each island had its own type of environment that contributed to the natural selection process of the finches. The environment of each island is different from the others. One island may have different types of plants (such as trees, bushes, cactus) that produce certain types of food for birds (such as berries, nuts, insects, or cactus pulp) while a different island may have completely different plants and food sourcing for the finches.
The scientists also noticed that natural selection was influenced by climactic changes as well. In the article, the author discusses how the islands went through extreme droughts and this effected the vegetation of the islands. When there was a shortage in precipitation, there was a decrease in seeds small enough for the small beaked finches to eat. The larger beaked finches were able to use their long, strong beaks to break open the larger seeds of the plants that were still producing seeds. The smaller finches would suffer huge losses in numbers in the years the islands went through droughts (Grant, 1991, p.