AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -Darwin proposed that species can change over time, that new species come from pre-existing species, and that all species share a common ancestor. In this model, each species has its own unique set of heritable (genetic) differences from the common ancestor, which have accumulated gradually over very long time periods.

Detailed explanation-2: -Darwin noticed three distinctive patterns of biological diversity: (1) Species vary globally, (2) species vary locally, and (3) species vary over time.-different, yet similar, animal species inhabited separated, but similar, habitats around the globe. example: rheas, ostriches, & the emu.

Detailed explanation-3: -"Variation is a feature of natural populations and every population produces more progeny than its environment can manage. The consequences of this overproduction is that those individuals with the best genetic fitness for the environment will produce offspring that can more successfully compete in that environment.

Detailed explanation-4: -Darwin came to understand that any population consists of individuals that are all slightly different from one another. Those individuals having a variation that gives them an advantage in staying alive long enough to successfully reproduce are the ones that pass on their traits more frequently to the next generation.

Detailed explanation-5: -Darwin indicated that species could form by the evolution of one species splitting into two, or via a population diverging from its extant ancestor to the point it was a new species. Darwin’s insights into evolution were brilliant, especially in light of their being made in the absence of genetics.