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Asked by anon-385212 to Michael S, Michael C, Martin M, Lisa M, Alexander dB on 27 Feb 2024.
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Alexander De Bruin answered on 27 Feb 2024:
it’s a slow process where beneficial features are gradually bred into a species because the animals with those features / mutations are more likely to reproduce and pass on those features to their offspring.
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Martin McCoustra answered on 28 Feb 2024:
The theory of evolution is usually attributed to Charles Darwin… and the most important idea in that theory is survival of the fittest. Those species that are fit for purpose in their environment prosper and survive while those that don’t die out. It is generally a slow process, but biologist noted that moths in London in the last 19th century evolved dark spotty patterns relatively quickly to camouflage themselves from predators in the city.
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Michael Schubert answered on 29 Feb 2024:
My theory is pretty much the theory everyone else uses! When an environment changes, the organisms that are best suited for living in it are the ones most likely to reproduce, so those helpful characteristics get passed down and eventually most or all of the organisms have them. For instance, if it suddenly gets very cold, the organisms that have the most body fat or fur or the best body shape for warmth are more likely to survive and have children than the ones that can’t keep themselves warm!
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Michael C Macey answered on 1 Mar 2024:
I agree with an essay on Evolution by Ernst Mayr who argued that evolution is actually five separate theories combined:
1) All life has a common origin – as evidenced by all life having the same building blocks (DNA, RNA, membranes etc)
2) Speciation – the potential for populations of a species to become genetically distinct to the extent that they can’t reproduce anymore, becoming separate species
3)gradualism – things happen slowly, with living things developing mutations and selection being an ongoing process
4) Evolutionary change – things can change over time
5) Natural selection – Some organisms survive better in their environment and therefore reproduce and pass on their traits.It’s a really interesting way of looking at evolution, because some people actually disagree with the idea of gradualism because of fast evolving organisms like antibiotic resistant bacteria, but accept all of the other components.
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Lisa Mullan answered on 7 Mar 2024:
We can look at different living things (organisms) and see how some are different and some are the same. We know about DNA and that this is the instruction manual for every living thing on the planet, both today and in the past. We know that DNA changes over time – either by swapping bits when a new life is created, or by copying accidents which prove to be really beneficial.
Based on all of this evidence, I would suggest that this is how living things have changed over the past 4 (ish!) billion years, getting more complex with time and environmental circumstances. There may still be things we don’t know about the process, but what we do know fits the evidence so far.
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