Final Exam: Natural Selection 2

Construct an explanation based on evidence for Natural selection leads to adaption. 

Natural selection, according to Clinton Community College is "one of several different mechanisms that cause evolutionary change in populations. Natural selection produces changes in the genetic composition of a population from one generation to the next. As a result, organisms become better adapted to their environment."  A perfect example of a natural selection is a duck, It has webbed feet to be able to live near the water and to live their life by the water. The webbed foot of a duck allows the duck to swim better than a foot that isn't webbed. Natural selection occurs because a species within a population differ, they are never the same, Some may have more reproductive success than others, and lastly the traits of the species are inherited down to the next generation of that species. If the area/ water where a duck is living is dirty and nasty then the ducks wont live a healthy life, or they will end up leaving that area, this is an example of how species population decreases. An example of how a species population would increase is if the duck family like a place and keep reproducing and coming back to that area, because other ducks will find this area as well that is also another way the population of that area will grow. Speculation, or the emergence of a new species over a period of time is "a very gradual mechanism of change within populations, and postulated that new species could be the product of this very same process, but over longer periods of time" An example of this is how over periods of time a birds beak changes over time like in the picture below of the two drawings of a bird. The Reasons why extinction occurs is because of us humans. We destroy an animals environment just to benefit ourselves for new buildings or food crops. Another big issue with extinction is because the climate is changing, we have colder winters and hotter summers and an animal cant adapt like they are supposed too.

A picture of a zebra/ horse that is now extinct.
http://listverse.com/2009/07/25/10-recently-extinct-animals/

A Ducks webbed feet is easier for them to swim then it is for them to walk. http://angelinaanthro.blogspot.com/2011_09_01_archive.html

http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/speciation-the-origin-of-new-species-26230527

• • Extinction - Causes. (n.d.). Extinction - Causes. Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://www.uwec.edu/jolhm/eh4/extinction/CausesLink.html
  • Natural selection. (n.d.). Clinton Community College. Retrieved June 16, 2014, from http://faculty.clintoncc.suny.edu/faculty/michael.gregory/files/bio%20101/bio%20101%20lectures/Natural%20Selection/natural.htm
    
    
  • Speculation: The origin of new speices. (n.d.). Nature.com. Retrieved June 15, 2014, from http://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/speciation-the-origin-of-new-species-26230527