Paper 2 style question on topic 5.2 Natural Selection

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Summary list for topic 5.2 Natural selection

  • Natural selection requires;
    • variation in adaptations within a species.
    • overproduction of offspring.
    • best adapted individuals have better survival rates.
    • so they reproduce more and pass on successful adaptations to offspring.
  • Variation within a species can be caused by Mutation, meiosis and sexual reproduction.
  • Adaptations are advantageous characteristics of an individual for it's way of life.
  • More offspring are produced by the best adapted individuals while less well adapted individuals die or produce fewer offspring.
  • Adaptations / characteristics are passed on to offspring (inheritance).
  • Natural selection increases the frequency of the better adaptations and decreases the frequency of other characteristics. This leads to changes in characteristics within the species.

Skills (can you ....)

  • Analyse data about the changes in beak lengths of finches on Daphne Major.
  • Understand how the evolution of antibiotic resistance in bacteria occurs by natural selection.