Sexual selection

Natural selection as defined by Charles Darwin has exerted a powerful influence on how we perceive our world. This theory holds that favorable characteristics in a species will persist in populations, while disadvantageous traits will be selected against via the death of unfit individuals from environmental pressures, such as predation, decreased availability of resources like nutrients and shelter, and natural processes such as drought; thus only individuals with the most advantageous traits…

He knew his belief would contradict the religious beliefs, which was popular belief at the time. Darwin continued to research the topic of evolution for 18 years before his published his book on Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Every copy of this book was sold out on the first day of its release. Initially scientist did not support these concepts and theories, however in time Darwin was recognized for his hard work and his courage to go against popular beliefs. Even today…

argued that through the principle of “survival of the fittest” the colonists were justified in their efforts of colonizing to create colonies. In the most extreme case, Social Darwinism was used to justify Nazism using Darwin’s principle of natural selection stating that the Germans were the chosen people. We can see that Social Darwinism effected the world…

Although there are four viewpoints portrayed in this book, some tend to agree but on opposite ends of the topic. I will start with the ones who, contrary to the last chapter when they were the ones on opposite sides, completely disagree. Professor David Davies is an evolutionary biologist, so naturally on this position, he is for evolution. Davies starts his argument with mentioning that there are many different organisms on the planet and that they all share a common ancestor. Davies also…

RESULTS: An experiment was conducted to document the patterns of evolution in the fictional species, Cannus stannous. Fitness of the C. stannous population is determined solely by its ability to retain heat. Three genes determined heat retention; can size, skin type, and water level. Each gene had three alleles, producing 27 possible phenotypic combinations (Table 1). The data recorded pertains to two populations of C. stannous over 9 generations; a small population of 4 cans (Figure 1) and the…

the progress of our species. One of the topics Wilson covers in The Meaning of Human Existence is the newer idea of multilevel selection. Multilevel selection recognizes two levels of natural selection: individual selection and group selection. Individual selection is based on competition and cooperation among members of the same group, whereas group selection arises from competition and cooperation between groups. Multilevel…

or with other species” (Fitch, Hauser, & Chomsky, 2005, p.182). Almost twenty years later, Steven Pinker, who was hugely influenced by Chomsky’s work on language evolution, developed the idea further by proposing that language evolved by natural selection for knowledge and experience…

species) and Cocos (1 species) Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Charles Darwin collected these birds on the second voyage on the Beagle in 1831. It is often stated that the finches were the key to the development of his theory of evolution and Natural Selection. They are used as evidence in many of Darwin’s textbooks. The finches Darwin collected included three species of seed-eating ground finches with large, medium, and small beaks; another ground finch with a pointed beak; two species of…

selective neutral mutation that influences the appearance of such species, favoring genetic drift. The other viewpoint suggested that mutations in pleiotropic genes unintentionally produce regressive traits and the selection of constructive traits is important, favoring natural selection. As noted by Retaux and Casane, an expectation of the neutral theory of evolution involves different degrees of mutations. It is expected that mutations occur at a higher rate in cave animals because the…

The science of biology and applied psychology were affected by the progression and impact of the science of Eugenics. Eugenics remained under the consideration of a communal faction in the late nineteenth century; asserting to perfect the genetic attributes of human populations via prudent propagation and sterilization, grounded by the idea of Francis Galton; who supposed that it was within the realm of science to extricate inferior elements of society and replace them with superior elements. An…