Although your teacher may quiz you on some random facts about Darwin's life, for instance what was the name of the ship he sailed on (FYI she was called the Beagle), here are the fundamental principles of Darwin's Theory of Evolution you should know:
~ All life is related and we all descended from one common ancestor.
~ Organisms have evolved from this ancestor through a process called Natural Selection.
~ Natural Selection refers to the ability of some organisms to outcompete others within a specific environment due to their "possession" of a particular trait.
~ Because the organisms with a particular trait survived, they produce more offspring than those without. The organisms that survived and reproduced are said to have adapted to the environment their living in.
Natural Selection leads to adaptation to a specific environment by "selecting" organisms with specific traits suitable for a particular environment
~ In order for Natural Selection to occur, these 3 conditions must be met:
1) There must be genetic variation in a population (genetic variation creates different physical traits)
2) The variation must be heritable (can be passed on to the offspring)
3) There must be differential reproductive success ( those with specific traits favored by the environment produce more offspring than those without the favorable trait)
Lastly it's important to know that Natural Selection is NOT the only form of evolutionary change. 4 other mechanisms can also drive evolution. These are...
~ 1) Genetic Drift: causes traits within a population to change randomly.
2) Gene Flow: causes traits to enter or leave a population due to organisms entering or leaving a population (emigration and immigration)
3) Mutation: modifies traits within a population by introducing new alleles (an allele is a version of a gene --> remember that each "trait" is produced from a specific gene in our DNA)
4) Non-random mating.
Hope this helps!
Perfect valentine to give while studying evolution!
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