48
edits
Changes
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
mLine 18:
Line 18: − +
clarification of the origins of the term "survival of the fittest"
==Role in Life Sciences==
==Role in Life Sciences==
Natural selection is a principle that was popularized by [[Charles Darwin]] and Alfred Russel Wallace, who noted that organisms which were better adapted to their environment tended to survive longer and reproduce more than less well-adapted organisms. They used the term "natural" to mean that it occurred in nature, as opposed to selection performed by animal breeders or by a deity. The term "survival of the fittest" is often attributed to Darwin but was in fact coined by the philosopher and "social Herbert Spencer.
Natural selection is a principle that was popularized by [[Charles Darwin]] and Alfred Russel Wallace, who noted that organisms which were better adapted to their environment tended to survive longer and reproduce more than less well-adapted organisms. They used the term "natural" to mean that it occurred in nature, as opposed to selection performed by animal breeders or by a deity. The term "survival of the fittest" is often attributed to Darwin but was in fact coined by the philosopher and sociologist Herbert Spencer.
Together with [[mutation]] (an altogether distinct phenomenon that should not be confused with natural selection), natural selection forms the basis of evolutionary theory. As stated above, in any system where selection combines with random variation, successive generations will become better adapted to reproduce. [[Evolution]] is the theory that this combination of genetic variation (which may be either mutation of the parent or, in most cases, sexual reproduction) and natural selection leads to [[speciation]].
Together with [[mutation]] (an altogether distinct phenomenon that should not be confused with natural selection), natural selection forms the basis of evolutionary theory. As stated above, in any system where selection combines with random variation, successive generations will become better adapted to reproduce. [[Evolution]] is the theory that this combination of genetic variation (which may be either mutation of the parent or, in most cases, sexual reproduction) and natural selection leads to [[speciation]].