Charles Darwin gave his theory of evolution by the way or Natural Selection in 1858 as an explanation for adaptation and variation in species and organisms. Natural selection is the differentiation of organisms due to the differences in phenotype. Natural selection acts on the phenotype of an organism. The phenotype is the observable characteristics of a specific organism resulting from the interaction of its genotype with the environment. The phenotype is determined by an organism’s genotype, which is its genetic make-up and the environment in which the organism lives.
Darwin popularized the term “Natural selection” in his book, On The Origin Of Species. The book was published in 1858. In his book, Darwin writes about the Natural selection that “Changes in the condition of life give a tendency to increased variation.” And also, “Nature, if I may be allowed to personify the natural preservation or survival of the fittest, cares nothing about appearances, except in so far as they are useful to any being.
” An example of this would be a natural camouflage on any being that would help them survive by giving them the ability to hide from predators or alternatively, hide from prey. A variation occurs in all types of organisms. It occurs partly because of random mutations in the DNA of an individual that is then inherited by the offspring of said individual, but it mainly occurs because of adaptation.
Throughout the lives of an organism, its genomes interact with the environment that surrounds them and which they live in that then cause variations in their personal traits which is then inherited by their offspring. A genome is a biology in the cell. In other words, it is the complete set of genes or genetic material present in a cell or organism. Organisms with certain variations of certain traits may reproduce with other individuals that have less successful traits, therefore, the population evolves. In Darwin’s book, he states that “No country can be named in which all the native inhabitants are now perfectly adapted to each other and to the physical conditions under which they live.”
Although this was stated is 1858, we can only assume this is still accurate due to the fact global warming is now changing the environments around the world, this statement is still accurate. He also explains that “we see nothing of these slow changes in progress until the hand of time has marked the lapse of ages, and then so imperfect is our view into long-past geological ages, that we can only see the forms of life are now different from what they formally were.”
To summarize, the process of Natural selection goes by the following… organisms face a struggle to survive in their environment, only the stronger ones of the species reproduce, the result of this is genetic change gradually over the course of many, many generations, then the species in fully adapted or better suited to their environment.