Natrual Selection Informitive
Uploaded by steinauf on May 03, 2005
Natural Selection
Table of Contents
Intro – Page 3
Natural Selection and Charles Darwin – Page 4-5
Herbert Spencer, Social Darwinism – Page 5
Arguments against Natural Selection - Page 6
Conclusion – Page 7
Bibliography – Page 8
Evolution is one of the most controversial topics that has been argued about for centuries. Natural selection is one of the main supports for the evolution theory; it is defined as: “the process in nature by which, according to Darwin's theory of evolution, only the organisms best adapted to their environment tend to survive and transmit their genetic characteristics in increasing numbers to succeeding generations while those less adapted tend to be eliminated”(4). A similar term would be “survival of the fittest.” For centuries Evolutionists have argued between themselves about the evolution of the human race. There are many different theories of natural selection, the first of which was proposed by Charles Darwin. Some of the common theories within natural selection include discussion of Charles Darwin, Herbert Spencer and Social Darwinism. When discussing evolution, one must also look at the common debates of natural selection because of its controversy.
Natural selection occurs when a certain cell mutates in a favorable way to either help it survive or make it more likely to procreate. This is one of the bases for Darwinism in that, without that adaptation to the environment, a species would just die off at the first change in weather patterns or from being extinguished by predators. While sailing on the H.S.S. Beagle, Darwin wrote about this topic and other observations in his book: “On the Origin of Species.” One such observation was made about the population of different animals in relationship to each other:
“From experiments which I have tried, I have found that the visits of bees, if not indispensable, are at least highly beneficial to the fertilization of our clovers; but humble bees alone visit the common red clover (Trifolium pratense), as other bees cannot reach the nectar. Hence I have very little doubt, that if the whole genus of humble bees became extinct or very rare in England, the heartsease and red clover would become very rare, or wholly disappear. The number of humble-bees in any district depends in a great degree on the number of field-mice, which destroy their combs and nests; and Mr. H. Newman, who has long attended to the habits of humble-bees, believes...