What is Evolution?

In Biology, the theory of Evolution doesnt tell us exactly how life began on earth, but it
helps us understand how life, once it came into existence, diversified into the many
incredible forms we see now and in the fossil record.

It also helps us make sense of the way in which modern creatures continue to adapt
and change today.

In biology, evolution can be defined as any change in the heritable traits (those are
physical traits like fur color in mice, spots on the wings of butterflies, or instinctive traits
like the way in which dogs greet their friends with a sniff) within a population, across
generations .

This definition can be a bit confusing so lets see how it works.

All healthy living things, from single celled amoebas, to flowers, to dolphins: are capable
of reproduction. We have children, we make copies of ourselves. We do this by
duplicating our DNA and passing that DNA on to future generations.

DNA is a chain like chemical stored inside each one of your cells, which tells them how
to grow and function. Your DNA contains coded information on how to build you. The
information in your DNA is different than that of, say, a daffodils DNA which is why you
look and function differently than a daffodil. The information in your DNA is slightly
different than that of Elvis Presley, which is one of many reasons you dont look or act
quite like he did.

Single celled amoebas (and other simple creatures) reproduce by copying their DNA
inside their guts, moving both copies to either side of their body, splitting in two right
down the middle, and then growing back to full size.

If all goes well, the two new amoebas will be exact copies of each other, but in nature,
things arent always perfect. When DNA is being copied, errors can occur which modify
the DNA code. This is what we call a DNA mutation. These mutations (which happen
completely on accident and randomly to any part of a DNA strand) can produce
variation in the body shape and function of the creature who inherits the modified DNA.
In this case, our new little friend has an arm that stretches extra-long. If he survives to
grow and reproduce, that extra stretchy arm (which is now coded for in his DNA) will be
passed on to his children. Evolution, any change in the heritable traits within a
population, across generations, has officially occurred.

As you know, reproduction for Dolphins and badgers and people, is a little more
complicated. We have to find ourselves a partner. When two badgers get together and...
ya know, fall in love, a sperm cell from the father (which contains a copy of half of his
DNA - ONLY half), combines with the egg cell of the Mother (which contains half a copy
of her DNA). The result is a new cell with a complete set of DNA instructions, all the
information needed to divide and grow up into a brand new badger.

The new child matures to be similar to her parents but also unique because she
developed some traits from her mothers DNA and some from her father. Her new
combination of traits can be passed to her children and again, evolution, any change in
the heritable traits, within a population, across generations, has officially occurred.

Natural selection is one of several key concepts contained within the theory of evolution.
To understand exactly what natural selection is and why its important, lets first take a
quick look at two other evolutionary concepts: descent with modification, and the
overarching idea of common descent.

Descent with modification is the observable fact that when parents have children, those
children often look slightly different than their parents and slightly different than each
other.

Common descent is the idea that all living things on earth are related, they descended
from a common ancestor. Through the gradual process of descent with modification
over many many generations, a single original species is thought to have given rise to
all the life we see we today.

The common descent of all life on earth is not a directly observable fact. We have no
way of going back in time to watch it happen. Instead, common descent is a conclusion
based on a massive collection of facts. Facts found independently in the study of fossils,
genetics, comparative anatomy, mathematics, biochemistry, and species distribution.
Because the evidence for common descent is so overwhelming, the concept has been
around since ancient times but in the past it was rejected by many philosophers and
scientists for one main reason: You can not get order and complexity from random
chaos alone.

The bodies and behaviors of living things are extremely complex and orderly, but
descent with modification produces random variation.

All through history, no one could explain how complex life arose from simple life through
random variation, until Charles Darwin discovered natural selection.

All through history, no one could explain how complex life arose from simple life through
random variation, No one until Charles Darwin and his discovery of natural selection.

Charles Darwin who lived from 1809-1882 was a naturalist - someone who studies
nature. At the start of his career he traveled the world by ship, collecting and
documenting plants and animals.

During his travels, Darwin became very interested in the idea of common descent. He
noticed that Islands contain species of plants and animals unique to those islands - they
cant be found anyplace else on earth - but they often look and behave surprisingly
similar to creatures found on nearby continents.

Tortoises on the Galapagos Islands can be distinguished from those of Africa,

meanwhile, with the exception of size, theyre almost identical to a species found nearby
in South America.

Darwin believed these similarities could be best explained through common descent.
Long ago a tortoise from the mainland may have drifted to the islands, possibly on a raft
of storm debris, and once arriving, laid her eggs. Random changes caused by descent
with modification over thousands of years eventually transformed the island creatures
and the mainland creatures so much, that they could no longer be considered the same
species.

This idea made good sense to Darwin except for one thing. The island creatures he
found werent just randomly different from their mainland cousins, they were specially
adapted for island life.

The Galapagos is a collection of 18 main islands; many of which are home to tortoises.
The larger islands have lots of grass and vegetation. Tortoises there grow extra heavy
and have dome like shells. Some of the smaller islands have very little grass, forcing
tortoises to feed on island cactus. The best cactus pads grow on the tops of these
plants. Fortunately, tortoises on these islands are equipped with expanded front legs
and saddle like shells allowing them to stretch their necks extra long to reach their food.

Its almost as if these island creatures have been perfectly sculpted to survive within
their unique environments.

How did this sculpting take place? Random descent with modification alone could never
do such a thing.

Darwin drew upon his knowledge of selective breeding to answer this question. For
thousands of years, farmers have been taking wild plants and animals, and through the
process of selective breeding, have sculpted the original wild forms into new domestic
forms much better suited for human use and consumption.

The process is slow but simple: If a single plant produces 100 seeds, most will grow to
be nearly identical to the parent plant, but a few will be slightly different. Some
variations will be undesirable - smaller size, bitter taste, vulnerability to disease and so
on. Other variations will be highly valued - thicker sweeter leaves for for example.

If a farmer only allows the best plants to reproduce and create seeds for the next crop,
small positive changes will add up over multiple generations, eventually producing a
dramatically superior vegetable.

You might be surprised to hear that broccoli, cauliflower, kale, brussel sprouts, and
cabbage are all just different breeds of a single type of weed commonly found along the
shores of the English Channel. The evolution of this original plant into all the varieties
we see today, was carefully guided by different farmers around the world, who simply
selected for different traits.

Its important to note that the farmer doesnt actually create anything. Random descent
with modification creates new traits. The farmer simply chooses which of the new
creations are allowed to reproduce, and which are not.

Darwin proposed that nature itself is also capable of selection. It may not have an
intelligent brain like a farmer, but nature is an extremely dangerous place in which to
live. There are germs which can kill you, animals that can eat you. You could die of heat
exhaustion, you could die of exposure to the cold.

When parents produce a variety of offspring, nature, simply by being difficult to survive
in, decides which of those variations get to live and reproduce, and which do not. Over
multiple generations, creatures become more and more fit for survival and reproduction
within their specific environments. Darwin called this process: natural selection.

Since Darwin first put forth his idea in the mid 1800s, natural selection has been
studied and witnessed numerous times in nature and in the science lab. What started as
an idea is now officially an observable fact.

Darwin's discovery has greatly expanded our understanding of the natural world. Its led
to countless new breakthroughs and it finally allowed scientists to seriously consider the
idea of common descent.

So to sum things up, what exactly is natural selection?

Natural selection is the process by which random evolutionary changes are selected for
by nature in a consistent, orderly, non-random way.

Through the process of descent with modification, new traits are randomly produced.
Nature then carefully decides which of those new traits to keep. Positive changes add
up over multiple generations, negative traits are quickly discarded.

Through this process, nature, even though it does not have a thinking mind, is capable
of producing incredibly complex and orderly creations.