Questions 1-5 of 5 | Page 1 of 1 Question 1 (1 point)
In this series of lessons, you will be learning about natural selection, one mechanism that explains how life evolves.
An introduction to evolution
The definition
Blological evolution, simply put, is descent with modification. This definition encompasses small-scale evolution (changes in
gene - or more precisely and technically, allele - frequency in a population from one generation to the next) and large-
scale evolution (the descent of different species from a common ancestor over many generations), Evolution helps us to
understand the history of life.
The explanation
Blological evolution is not simply a matter of change over time. Lots of things change over time: trees lose their leaves,
mountain ranges rise and erode, but they aren't examples of biological evolution because they don't involve descent through
genetic Inheritance.
The central idea of blological evolution is that all life on Earth shares a common ancestor, just as you and your cousins share
a common grandmother
Through the process of descent with modification, the common ancestor of life on Earth gave rise to the fantastic diversity
that we see documented in the fossil record and around us today. Evolution means that we're all distant cousins: humans
and oak trees, hummingbirds and whales,
Question: What does it mean when it says that you are a "distant cousin" to oak trees?