Darwin

“Natural Selection”
 Natural Selection:
• The process by which individuals
that are better adapted to their
environment are more likely to
survive and reproduce than other
members of the same species.
• AKA: “Survival of the Fittest”
 Darwin’s Theory
• 1. Organisms have changed over time.

• 2. There was a variation in a population

• 3. Certain traits helped organisms survive and

reproduce better than other organisms with
out those traits.
• 4. The environment had something to do with
why organisms change.
• 5. Parents are able to pass on at least some of
their traits to their offspring
• 6. Parents are only able to pass on traits they
were born with.
• 7. Organisms are still changing.
 Lamarck
“Acquired Characteristics”
Acquired Characteristics:
• Desired changes that occurred
during a parents lifetime were
passed onto offspring
• Example: Parents that developed
large muscles through exercise
were thought to pass on large
muscles to offspring.
 Lamarck’s Theory:
• 1. Organisms changed because they wanted to
survive
• 2. Organisms have change over time

• 3. Organisms can never become extinct

• 4. The environment had something to do with

why organisms changed
• 5. Parents are able to pass on at least some of
their traits to their offspring.
• 6. Organisms could decide to change
something about their body and pass on that
change to their offspring.
• 7. Organisms are still changing.