AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -If an organism has a mutation that increases its chances of survival, it’s more likely to reproduce and have offspring with that mutation. Organisms that fail to survive, obviously, will not pass on their traits. Whether or not an organism survives to reproduce depends on their surrounding environment.

Detailed explanation-2: -Organisms produce more offspring than actually survive. Organisms can die from many causes: disease, starvation, and being eaten, among other things. The environment can’t support every organism that is born. Many die before they are able to reproduce.

Detailed explanation-3: -Because resources are limited, more organisms are born than can survive: some individuals will be more successful at finding food, mating or avoiding predators and will have a better chance to thrive, reproduce, and pass on, their DNA. Small variations can influence whether or not an individual lives and reproduces.

Detailed explanation-4: -Individuals with adaptive traits-traits that give them some advantage-are more likely to survive and reproduce. These individuals then pass the adaptive traits on to their offspring. Over time, these advantageous traits become more common in the population.

Detailed explanation-5: -According to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection, organisms that possess heritable traits that enable them to better adapt to their environment compared with other members of their species will be more likely to survive, reproduce, and pass more of their genes on to the next generation.