What is evolution by natural selection?
Do it mean changes.
It means there are factors in the species that nature (food, breeding, etc) gives preference to, and others fall by the wayside. This is what natural selection means.
Since this is not my area of expertise, I searched Google under the key words "evolution 'natural selection'" to get these possible sources:
http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange1/current/lectures/selection/selection.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_selection
http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evosite/evo101/IIIENaturalSelection.shtml
http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/futuyma.html
(Broken Link Removed)
In the future, you can find the information you desire more quickly, if you use appropriate key words to do your own search. Also see http://hanlib.sou.edu/searchtools/.
I hope this helps a little more. Thanks for asking.
Evolution by natural selection is a fundamental concept in biology that explains how species change over time. It involves two main components: "evolution," which refers to the process of heritable changes in organisms over successive generations, and "natural selection," which is the mechanism by which these changes occur.
In a nutshell, natural selection is the process by which certain traits become more or less common in a population over time, based on their impact on an organism's survival and reproductive success. It works like this:
1. Variation: Individuals within a population exhibit variations in their traits, such as size, color, or behavior. This variation is due to genetic differences (mutations or recombination) and environmental influences.
2. Inheritance: Some of these variations are heritable, meaning they can be passed on to offspring. This allows traits to be shared across generations.
3. Differential survival and reproduction: Certain traits provide advantages or disadvantages for individuals in their particular environment. Individuals with beneficial traits are more likely to survive and reproduce, passing on their favorable traits to the next generation. This leads to an increase in the frequency of those traits within the population.
4. Accumulation of favorable traits: Over time, through repeated cycles of selection and reproduction, the population accumulates more individuals with beneficial traits and fewer with less advantageous traits. This leads to a gradual change in the characteristics of the population, resulting in its evolution.
So, to answer your question, evolution by natural selection does indeed involve changes. It describes the process by which species change and adapt to their environment over time, through the mechanism of natural selection. These changes occur as certain heritable traits become more or less common within a population based on their impact on survival and reproductive success.