Natural Selection

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Summary: Natural Selection also known as Survival of the Fittest. When you hear the phrase Survival of the fittest you probably think of the strongest,fastest,the greatest. Well that is not quite the case. Survival of the Fittest is when the organisms most fit for the environment will live long enough to reproduce. This is why in the photo above there are more long necked giraffes when short necked. Since the long necked giraffes can eat the green better than the short necked giraffes they can eat and live a long life. Natural Selection is nature's way of picking the best traits in a population.


S&EP: Analyzing Data: We did a simulation of the different finches that Darwin observed. Each one having a different beak. These beaks each had a skill in eating different types of foods. Once all the "finches"of each beak type got together and got the average of how much they eat of each type of food we determined two things. One we figured out of all the finches which ones were most skilled in eating certain foods. The "Scissor Beaked Finches" were the most successful , being skilled in three different food types. Then we looked at what each group was eating. For example the "Toothpick Beaked Finches" were not skilled at eating beans. With a large chart of averages you could easily compare the different skills of each bird. The importance of making these comparisons is to see how nature's reason for variety. If all the finches ate one food then there would be competition for this one thing. Yet when there is a variety they all usually have one thing they will eat each. This means that the playing field is even and Natural Selection will do the selecting.

XCC: Cause and Effect: The passing of traits may feel very random. Yet it had simple process that has quite a bit of variables. First you start of we need a male and female of the species. Yet before reproduction happens you must question how these two organisms got to the place they are in. First they needed to be able to support themselves through collecting food and fending of predators. Next they would have to be able to attract a mate. Like with crickets how they will do a song to attract mates. If there traits are desirable then everything is set. Then these two organisms now are set to reproduce. The variables that it takes there is Natural Selection. Pretty interesting right?