Explain Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection.

In an animal population most organisms produce more offspring than can survive to adulthood. For this reason, there is competition with each other for resources, such as food, shelter and mates, in order to survive. Each population has individuals that differ from one another and some individuals have more advantageous characteristics than others. Those are the ones who are going to survive and reproduce passing this way their advantageous characteristics to the next generation. Those that are not as well adapted end up dying without producing any offspring. As a result of the above, there will be a gradual change in the animal population and more organisms will express the alleles with the more advantageous characteristics and the alleles that result in less well-adapted characteristics will get lost. This is how species evolve over time. 

SP
Answered by Sevastiani-Zoi P. Biology tutor

2180 Views

See similar Biology IB tutors

Related Biology IB answers

All answers ▸

How does the oxygenated and deoxygenated blood travel throughout the heart?


How does the xylem structure of the plant help transpiration?


Explain why an athlete, who has just run a marathon on a summers day, would have higher concentration of ADH (anti-diuretic hormone) in their blood.


Explain the process of translation of proteins in a ribosome.


We're here to help

contact us iconContact ustelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo

MyTutor is part of the IXL family of brands:

© 2025 by IXL Learning