Organisms have to adapt to their environment or they will become extinct. Organisms also have to adapt to their environment or become prey to predators. If they become prey and are eaten they can’t reproduce and pass on their traits. Some organisms adapt to their environment by reproducing a lot. Also, organisms adapt to their environment by staying in an environment where the color of their surroundings are the same color of their body. They do this to blend in and so predator can’t attack them. Organisms also try to conserve their energy by staying in one place and moving only when it is ecessary.
For example when chasing prey or running away from predators. Early scientists like Lamarck believed that acquired traits were passed on to the organism’s offspring. Lamarck also believed that giraffes’ necks became longer from stretching to reach high for food and the long neck could be inherited by offspring. According to Lamarck, evolution occurs as structures develop through use, or disappear because of disuse. As these ” acquired characteristics ” are passed to offspring. Lamarck couldn’t support his theory of evolution with actual data.
Lamarck also didn’t know anything about genetics. A test can easily be designed to show how hereditary traits can change a population. There were many materials needed for this experiment. They are as follows: mice, owls, environment, food for mice, water, and shelter. Our procedures for this experiment were, first there were one-hundred mice that we started with and there were ten different colors of mice. Next each owl ate seventy-five mice per a generation. Then each mouse reproduced three offsprings to make it back to one-hundred mice.
Then the nformation was written on a data table. Next repeat procedures 1-4 for the second generation. Last repeat procedures 1-4 again for the third generation. RESULTS: In the second generation red, purple, white, black, green, pink, and brown are the only colors of the mice that survived. The colors of the mice that became extinct are orange, blue, and yellow. In the third generation purple, red, black, green, pink, and brown are the only colors of the mice that survived. The colors of the mice that became extinct are orange, blue, yellow, and white.
See appendix A for graph (backside) I found out that the mice that didn’t adapt to their environment became extinct. I came to this conclusion because all the mice who became extinct were bright and they didn’t blend into their environment. All of Lamarck’s ideas were wrong because only traits in our genes are hereditary. Lets say that somebody got into a car accident and their whole face is damaged. Then that person has children. This won’t mean that the children are also going to have a damaged face because none of the traits in the genes were changed.
Lamarck ideas were also wrong because if something is changed by artificial selection it doesn’t mean that the genes were changed so it can’t be hereditary. The results indicate that organisms adapt to their environment by the color of their body. All the mice that were not camouflaged became extinct and the mice that were camouflaged stayed alive. The mice that were not able to camouflage didn’t have enough time to reproduce. There are five principles of natural selection, the first one is variation must exist and the second one is there must be a struggle for survival.
The third one is only some individuals survive to reproduce and the forth one is organisms produce more so some can survive. The last one is natural selection causes genetic change. Other people like Darwin thought that organisms adapt by natural selection. Darwin saw that by surviving, individuals have the opportunity to reproduce and pass on their favorable characteristics to offspring. These characteristics will increase in population and will gradually change. Other mechanisms are geographical isolation, ecological isolation, temporal isolation, behavioral isolation, and mechanical isolation.
