Charles Darwin's Four Postulates
By: Maria Garza
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin was a scientist and biologist in the 1800s. He is, in fact, one of the most important biologists as he developed the theory of evolution and found edge-breaking information about genetics and adaptation. He uses the four postulates to explain the biological change, and now 200 years after his death his work is still true and reliable. If it were not for him biology would not be what it is today. Even himself was bright enough to say there were holes in his theory but given the base of what he had found, biologist later on were able to fill in the parts that were missing and understand that his theory was undoubtedly right. He made a few different works but the most important one is : On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Although he didn’t know exactly how evolution happened he has able to realise after is trip to the galapagos that species change and adapt for a better chance of survival.
Postulate #1 : Variation
Postulate #2 : Heritability
The second postulate states that “some of the trait differences are heritable, meaning that they are passed on to an offspring.” There means that the traits the offspring of an organism has are parts of the heritable variability within the species.
Postulate #3 : Survival
The third postulates says that “In each generation, more offsprings are being produced than can possibly survive. Most of the time, some individuals in a population can survive long enough to produce offsprings. Among the individuals that can produce offsprings, some will produce more than the other individuals.” The differential survival is more commonly known as natural selection, which states that the best fitted organisms for survival will live the longest lives and be able to reproduce making a new generation. This is also known as the survival of the fittest, where only the best adapted can survive.
Postulate #4 : Extinction
Finally, the fourth and last postulates states that ''Organisms that have the best variations survive and produce.'' This means that there is extinction of some organisms because their traits were not suited for a likely survival.
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