Chapter 7

Evolution

7.1 Lesson 7.1: Evolution by Natural Selection

Lesson Objectives

• Understand that inherited traits, such as the basic color of skin or a person’s bone
  structure, are passed on to future generations.


• Understand that acquired traits, such as a tan or being good at soccer, are not passed
  on to future generations (they are not inherited).


• Understand that evolution is change of an inherited trait in a population over many
  generations, such as the change of the color of moths living on an island over many
  generations.


• Understand that natural selection means that organisms with traits that help them
  survive in their environment are more likely to survive than organisms without that
  beneficial trait.


• Understand how evolution explains:
  
  
  • Why populations change.
  
  
  • Why there are so many different kinds of organisms on Earth.
  
  
  • Why some organisms that look alike only distantly related.
  
  
  • Why some organisms that look very different actually closely related?
  
  
  
  


• Know that both Darwin and Wallace developed the theory of evolution by natural
  selection at the same time.

Check Your Understanding

• What does the word evolution refer to when used in day to day conversations?


• What does biological evolution mean?