Change Over Time: How Animals Adapt To The Environment

• Be able to use the terms variation, adaptation, natural selection, and evolution as they apply to this and

Evolution is “the process by which organisms have changed over time” (Biology 450). Charles Darwin is responsible

Although I'm not sure what documentary I saw this on, but a great example of an organism surviving when there was a change in their environment are polar bears. The way polar bears came to be was that one day way back when, a group of brown bears were wandered out of the forest and into the North Pole in search of food. Since their surroundings were all white, and the brown bears all had brown fur, it was hard for them to hunt since their prey like seals spotted them a mile away. Although many of these brown bears died out because their fur couldn't adapt to the environment, some bears started to develop whiter fur. The bears with whiter fur lived and the ones with darker fur died out. The whiter furred bears continued to pass down their

He finally observed that overtime these birds developed different physical characteristics to help them be able to survive and adapt to their surroundings. Darwin developed the “Natural Selection” theory that stated that plants and animals adapt to their surroundings and environments in order to survive. He also stated that older generations of these species would eventually die out, because they do not have the newer characteristics that needed to be developed in order to live.

Adaptationism is the belief that the traits seen in organisms are the results of evolution by natural selection. There are different forms of adaptationism and many different definitions as to what an adaptation is, with some believing it is impossible to test a hypothesis about an adaptation at all. This essay will look at a) how to define adaptation b) different forms of adaptationism and c) consider the different methods of testing whether a phenotype is an adaptation.

Every human being, every animal, every plant has had to adapt in their life in order to survive. Adaptation relates to everything, there is no life without adapting. The word adaptation means modification of an organism or its parts that makes it more fit for existence under the conditions of its environment: a heritable physical or behavioral trait that serves a specific function. One way that someone might show adaptation in their life is when someone is born into a religious family. They adapt to going to religious celebrations and don’t think anything of it after they have been doing it through their childhood. They have adapted to that certain schedule. There are also different ways adaptation can be shown. Adaptation is important

We as humans have evolved over time for the sake of survival. The theory of evolution is a prime example of this. Charles Darwin created the concept that we came from simpler ancestors and became more complex over time. We kept the beneficial mutations that aided us in our survival, which is the reasoning being natural

Changes that allow an organism to better adapt to its environment will help it survive and have more offspring. The two main points of the theory are “All life on earth is connected and related to each other” and this diversity of life is a product of “modifications of populations by natural selection, where some traits were favored in and environment over others.” For those that believe in evolution, if we “evolved” from ape like ancestors how did they get here? Why aren’t the ape like ancestors around? Why is there no evidence of them ever existing? The answer, because humans did not evolve from ape like creatures but were created just as all living things were. Evolution proposes that only a small group of individuals that were genetically isolated from the others, evolved, leaving the others to remain the same. The only way we know to acquire new genes is to alter existing genes through random mutation. “The best alteration science has observed has produced only novel re-combinations, most deteriorate the genetic information and thus harm the offspring. Many mutations are fatal. Evolution requires trillions of innovative mutations to produce man from lower forms, and at least millions to produce man or apes from an ape-like ancestor.” None have been observed. Therefore evolution is just a bunch of nonsense that

In result of climate change, the increased heat, melting ice, shifting precipitation, lack of fresh water and food are causing animals to find more livable conditions. Animals migrate for many reasons, some of them being, to find food, a new home, or to breed. As it becomes warmer the biological cycles of many animals shift, such as, frogs, butterflies, birds and other amphibians. As each decade passes, animals will start to breed earlier and earlier than they should (“Half of All Species Are on the Move-And We're Feeling It”). Humans play a generous role in migration as we have destroyed many natural migration routes due to industrialization, civilization, cities and communities, “Only 41 percent of natural lands in the U.S. connected enough for animals to move through. On the East Coast in particular, just 2 percent of natural lands are sufficiently connected” (“Mapping How Climate Change Will Affect Animal Migration”). Humans have made it challenging for some species to migrate as urban development is disrupting their migration routes. On the fringe of Africa’s sahara, the longest elephant migration on earth takes place, where these rare desert elephants make a 300 mile loop. They lead their herds to food and water and return home. Growing human settlements make it more complicated for the elephants to get to their destination. Rapid increases of greenhouse gases has warmed the earth significantly. Warmer temperatures also make the weather more extreme, which leads to more frequent storms, snowfall, floods and droughts, “Nearly 3,000 species of animals in the Western Hemisphere alone will have to find new habitats with more preferable climate conditions by the end of this century, according to a stunning new map by cartographer Dan Majka for the nature conservancy” (“Mapping How Climate Change Will Affect Animal Migration”). Over the years, animals that travel by sea and land are tremendously feeling the consequences of climate change, due to the fact that their pathways for movement have been extremely limited.

Evolution is a change in the characteristic of living organism through time. Modern synthesis, one of the greatest intellectual achievements of biology, could explain how mutations and natural selection could produced large-scale evolutionary change. There are 4 mechanisms for evolution to occur; mutation, gene flow, genetic drift and natural selection.
Although, there are a number of misconceptions about evolution; it does not explain the origins of life, it is not progressive, natural selection is not about the survival of the fittest individuals in a population, humans are not currently evolving, it does not make organism better designed nor does it gives organism what they need to survive. This essay will describe further, 3 common misconceptions

Initially animals used to have very long time span in that goats or even cattle could stay for years and yet they are still very productive. This has certainly changed as result of climatic changes. The animals used to live longer as a result of cold temperatures that used to slow down their rates of metabolism hence the longer life span. Temperatures today are very high as a result of climatic changes. The increased temperatures have actually led to increase in the metabolic rate of the animals hence the reduction in the life span. This explains why animals today cannot even live for more than five years and then remain productive all along as animals could live for a whole decade but still remain very productive. It is believed that the presence of favorable climatic conditions usually increase the life span of animals or even plants by more than 20 percent. This is very reason the people back in the 1700s all the way to the late 1800s used to live long and they were not really exposed to the kind of diseases that people are currently exposed to (Letcher, T. M, 49).

"We call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words” (Anna Sewell). There is undeniable evidence that animals are being affected by climate change. Even though the effects are difficult to measure, there are many different ways animals are being affected. With the loss of predator and prey species it affects the life cycles in the food chain. The earth’s climate change causes habitats such as snow, ice, or forest areas to alter, resulting in loss of habitat and food accessibility as well as causing extinction.

Closing Statement 2 minutes: Although humans have an effect on climate change animals as well as nature’s contribution to climate change. It is a myth that climate change occurs from glaciers receding. Animals are the main production of CO2. The rate of global warming has slowed over the last decade. Our sources include national geographic, nasa, and ucsusa-a union of scientists, and others. Furthermore Earth always has and will change temperature on its own with the factors of natural causes. I think that we won because we had many graphs to show evidence. Also

Animals and plants had to change or evolve due to environmental pressures. Over millions of years the conditions on the Earth have changed tremendously, the environmental conditions we have now are very

Do you ever think about why itś important to adapt to the environment in order to survive ? Everyone needs to adapt to their environment in order to survive for many reasons. People should know their surroundings. Knowing their surroundings will keep them safe. Itś a fact that knowing the surroundings can keep people safer.