What part of the body determines what should change through evolution?

Question

Trying to get a clearer picture of evolution. How does the body know it should evolve and how does it go about doing that?

Answer 1

It doesn't.

Its random.

Every generation changes a little bit, take height for example. Some offspring are taller, and some are shorter.

Now imagine that the only food available is in tall bushes. The tall animals will get more food, and the short animals will get less.

The tall animals, being better nourished, will have more babies, which will tend to be taller.

The shorter animals being malnourished will have fewer babies.

After several generations, the population of animals will tend to be taller than before.

That's evolution.

Answer 2

CHRIS S and kk2 don't quite understand evolution. All the other answers are right. For some reason the DNA does not copy right and a fertilized egg has a change in it's genes. The environment the animal is born into determines if that change in the DNA survives or not. If it does, that animal and it's offspring will have that trait and evolution will have occurred.

Note that the rest of the members of that species will stay the same and continue to exist. This is where the religious people get lost when they ask if man evolved from monkeys, why do monkeys still exist? Nothing changed monkeys as a whole, just that one individual monkey and any offspring of it.

Answer 3

Evolution is a relatively random process. It happens because of errors in the DNA. The only controls are basic chemical controls about which molecules can fit into which other molecules.

Mutations are happening in your DNA at all times. In order for that mutation to be transmissable to the next generation it must happen in your sperm or ova cells (depending on whether you are a man or a woman) as they are developing. That particular sperm or ovum must be used during copulation, fertilization using that particular sperm or ovum must occur, and the resulting zygote mature to birth and survive to reproduce.

Most mutations that are transmitted are evolution-neutral. It doesn't matter if your child's toes are 1/4" longer than anyone else's for example. In the past, that might have helped you hold onto rocks as you climbed around barefoot. These days, it's not something that aids survival.

Some mutations are evolution-negative. If your child's eyes don't function properly because of a badly coded protein, your child will have a lower chance of reproducing.

Some mutations are evolution-positive. If your child is born with a natural immunity to H5N1 influenza, that could well ensure that your child is more likely to survive an influenza epidemic. Your child will therefore be more likely to reproduce and have children, and little by little your descendents will outnumber everyone else.

People have this idea that an entire population evolves into another population, like all Homo habilises evolving into Homo erectuses and then into Homo sapienses. But what really happened is that ONE Homo habilis was mutated into something a little bit more like a Homo erectus, and one of his or her descendants mutated a bit more until all of their descendents were very different from the Homo habilises had been, and because they were better adapted, they survived while Homo habilis died out.

Answer 4

No part of the body determines what should change. Bodies don't figure out that they need to change. Evolution mainly occurs from mutation. A species will have offspring and some of that offspring might have a certain characteristic or feature that helps it survive better. If it survives better, it has more of an opportunity to reproduce and continue the species. Its survival of the fittest (or the most able to survive and reproduce). Evolution usually happens by accident, but it takes so much time. It doesn't just occur right in front of your eyes. If you really want to place a thing on evolution it would occur in your dna and genes because thats what determines the certain traits and characteristics in a organism.

Answer 5

evolution




concept that embodies the belief that existing animals and plants developed by a process of gradual, continuous change from previously existing forms. This theory, also known as descent with modification, constitutes organic evolution. Inorganic evolution, on the other hand, is concerned with the development of the physical universe from unorganized matter. Organic evolution, as opposed to belief in the special creation of each individual species as an immutable form, conceives of life as having had its beginnings in a simple primordial protoplasmic mass (probably originating in the sea) from which, through the long eras of time, arose all subsequent living forms

Answer 6

Your body doesn't "know" it should evolove, it adapts. However, humans don't really "adapt" to temperature or other seletive pressures as much anymore, they just put more clothes on to stay warm, wear sunscreen to prevent burning, etc. Our bodies aren't really adapting, but our technology is...

Answer 7

I would say the brain.