Animals have been pitted against each other in an endless struggle to survive and to reproduce since they first

appeared on Earth. Nature is a battlefield to survive and reproduce; as long as there is competition, the capability of mating between individuals, and variation between individuals, the process of natural selection will take place. The geology of the land, as Darwin realized long ago, can be changed by geologic processes such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Consequently, new habitats would be created, which would force the organisms which lived in the particular habitat to adapt in order to survive. Adaptations, or genetic variations within the population which allowed the species to make the most of their environment and outcompete others would be subject to natural selection; individuals with these favourable adaptations would therefore be able to mate more successfully and the trait would then be passed down to their offspring. Natural selection is the leading agent of change since it is the one that is the most capable of disrupting genetic equilibrium, thus allowing evolution to take place. Certain members with traits that allow them to be successful in their environment will have a higher rate of reproduction; this disrupts genetic equilibrium as allele frequencies will change when the trait spreads throughout the population and allows evolution to happen. Natural selection is the most important process of evolutionary change since it describes how the weak, who aren t adapted well enough to be successful in their environment, die, and how the strong, who are most well adapted, survive. Mutations allow genetic variation within the population to exist, and because of this, natural selection and mutation are linked in the ways they affect evolution. Natural selection and mutation have changed numerous species in the history of the world; however, three classic examples include the giraffe, the peppered moth, and the Galapagos finches. Giraffes did not always look as they do now. Long ago, the creatures we call giraffes today were short-necked animals that resembled the horses of today. At some point, however, vegetation on lower reaches of shorter trees grew scarce as the population outgrew the supply of food available. Nonetheless, the food supply higher up the trees was still in abundance. An individual may have been born with a longer neck than usual due to a genetic mutation, therefore granting it access to that supply of food. This would allow the individual to outcompete the others for food as it no longer had to limit itself to the lower reaches of the tree; this would allow it to reproduce at a higher rate and pass the trait of a long neck to its offspring. The allele frequency for the gene would then be increased in following generations, until the characteristic becomes common throughout the population. Competition for food led to the trait of the long neck being selected, since those with that trait were easily able to out compete their neighbours for food. Those without the trait were less successful in comparison, and the fact that giraffes today have long necks demonstrates this. The case of the peppered moth is unique in the way that it is an example of natural selection that took place rather recently and very quickly. The peppered moth, typically light in colour with dark spots, was quite successful in blending in with the light coloured bark of many trees in England. However, during the Industrial Revolution, massive quantities of pollution from the factories enveloped the land; the usual light coloured trees were blanketed with soot and ash from the industrialization. Against the contrasting colour of the bark, the light coloured moths were then easily picked off by predators. However, a dark variety of the moth began to appear (first seen in 1848), which was much more capable of remaining unseen against the soot-covered trees than the lighter variety. As a result, they became

more commonly seen in proximation to cities in comparison to light moth. The survival of the peppered moth lies in the fact that the trait for a dark colourization was selected. The sudden change in their environment caused by the large amounts of pollution affected trees near the cities, which became covered with soot. The most commonly observed colourization of the peppered moth before the revolution was light with dark spots. This functioned well to camouflage them until the Industrial Revolution, when their colourization failed to hide them against the sooty bark. The trait of a dark colourization is an adaptation that the moths used to their advantage in increasing their chances of survivability, therefore allowing the trait to be passed on. Natural selection was evident in the case of the peppered moths as the trait of a darker colour allowed them to avoid predation by birds, survive, and reproduce. The adaptation of colour increased the moths chances of surviving and reproducing, while the moths without the adaptation were either picked off by predators or forced to move farther away from the cities. The dark moths in this case were the most well suited in that environment and therefore were much more successful than the light moths. The Galapagos Islands are home to at least 13 different species of finch, which Darwin had discovered back in 1836. The main difference between the 13 species is their beaks: some are small and some are large. On different islands, the finches beaks have different appearances which are adapted for particular types of food. For example, the thin, pointed beak of the Warbler finch is well adapted for sifting through moss, leaves and foliage to find spiders and insects. On the other hand, the tough beak of the Large Ground finch is best suited for the niche it occupies. The Large Ground finch feeds mainly on seeds it finds on the ground (granivorous); its large beak grants it an advantage over the smaller species as it can eat bigger and tougher seeds that they cannot. However, since all of the finches were similar in many ways, Darwin inferred that the finches of the Galapagos all descended from a common ancestor. Adaptive radiation followed as there were niches to be filled, and the variety of finch species diversified. Mutations caused beaks in some individuals to become more suited for a certain type of food in their particular environment, which gave them an advantage over their fellow finches. They would then be able to reproduce more frequently so that they can pass the mutation throughout the population in that area. The 13 different beak types present on the Galapagos Islands describe natural selection at its finest: in each case, individuals with mutations that provided them with a beak that was more suited for a certain food source became successful in their environment (assuming it was available), and therefore were able to produce more offspring with that trait. Competition for limited resources meant that whoever had an adaptation that allowed it to feed on a certain food source more efficiently than others meant that would have a huge advantage over the other finches, which could not compete for the same food source. Over time, successful characteristics would spread throughout the population of an area until each area s finches are distinctly different. Natural selection is the driving force behind evolution since it describes how those who are most suited for their environment will be successful while those who aren t well adapted enough will fail. The long-necked trait of the giraffe, the dark colourization of the peppered moth, and the different beaks of the Galapagos finches all started as simple mutations in an individual s DNA. However, these mutations turned out to be beneficial and gave them an edge over their peers, letting the trait spread

throughout the population in following generations. In the case of the giraffe, a long neck granted them access to higher reaches of a tree, which not many others could reach. For the peppered moths, their dark colourization allowed them to stay hidden from the eyes of predators against the soot-covered trees, allowing them to survive in their environment. The distinct beaks of the Galapagos finches gave each an advantage as each beak was specialized for a specific food source, which let them outcompete other finches for that food.