Charles Darwin And Russel Wallace's Theory Of Natural Selection

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Natural Selection is a theory of evolution developed by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace. This theory is the main mechanism of evolutionary change, and states that organisms with suitable characteristics to their environment, will survive and reproduce successfully. Evolution does not occur overnight and is a very long process. There certain requirements for this evolutionary process to take place, these requirements include:
1. Reproduction- Entities must reproduce for a new generation to form.
2. Heredity- The offspring must tend to resemble their parents in order for new characteristics to be ‘passed on’.
3. Variation among organisms within a population.
4. Variation in the ‘fitness’ of organisms.

Natural selection is impossible …show more content…
Therefore, these organisms could eventually die out due to factors such as predation pressures, lack of suitable mates and shelter, and competition for food, among other factors. A species that has undergone the evolutionary process of natural selection is the Peppered Moth or (Biston betularia).

The Peppered Moth’s appearance was most commonly white with black speckles across its wings. The appearance of the moths allowed them to camouflage against lichen-covered tree trunks which they very commonly rested on during the day.
Due to a natural genetic mutation, some moths were black in colour. These moths are known as melanic moths (carbonaria variety). The colour of the mutated moth made them very noticeable against lichen-covered trees and therefore they were more likely to be preyed upon by birds and other predators. As the light coloured, Peppered Moths were very difficult to spot against the lichen-covered tree, they were unnoticeable to predators and therefore they were not commonly preyed upon, meaning that the light-coloured Peppered Moths were in higher abundance then the black coloured
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