In three to five sentences, construct an argument for the claim that natural selection leads to evolution. Provide evidence for this claim, and be sure to explain how an organism shows the four parts of the process of natural selection.
You may use any organism with the exception of bacteria and antibiotic resistance.
Natural selection refers to the process by which organisms that are better adapted to their environment are more likely to survive and reproduce. This leads to the passing on of advantageous traits to their offspring, resulting in evolution over time. One example of this is the peppered moth, which showed adaptation to its environment during the Industrial Revolution. Before factories produced large amounts of pollution, the lighter-colored moths blended in with the trees and had greater survival rates. However, as pollution darkened the trees, the darker-colored moths became better camouflaged and their populations increased. This shows the four parts of natural selection: variation in coloration, differential survival rates based on the environment, heritability of traits, and an increase in frequency of advantageous traits over time. Therefore, natural selection is a driving force behind the evolution of organisms.
