What inside an organisms body tells it to slowly evolve over time?

Question

Assuming evolution is correct, what "tells" an organism to adapt. Does genetic material do it, DNA, what? If you say nature, what do you mean by "nature"?

Thanks Crystal B

Answer 1

An individual organism ("an organism's body") does not evolve. A *species* evolves. Incidentally, both individuals and species 'adapt' (change in response to environment) ... the word 'evolution' is just a special case of 'adaptation' ... evolution is just slow adaptation at the species level, through the process of inheritance.

Also, when some people say "organism" they sometimes mean a species, sometimes an individual. That's why it's good to say either "individual" or "species" to be clear.

So other people are correct ... nothing "inside" the organism "tells" the organism (the species) to evolve. It evolves as a natural result of random mutations responding to the environment.

When people say "nature" they mean the environment in which the species lives ... its food, its predators, its terrain, the weather it is adapted for, the ratio of mates, events like floods, droughts, fires, migration events, bad winters, etc. All of that is "nature."

That's where the "natural" in "natural selection" comes from. All of those "natural" things "select" certain individuals for more reproduction ... those individuals that survive better in that natural environment, or are better at finding mates.

Answer 2

You misunderstand evolution and natural selection. Individual organisms do not evolve, except for cancer cells but that’s another issue. Evolution is as correct as saying the sky is blue or that the earth goes around the sun because evolution is simply the change in allele frequency (different variations of a gene) between generations. It happens. Anyone who wants to can measure it.

You and everyone else were born with a complement of genes and that is all you have to work with for the rest of your life. Unless you get hit with mutagens, your cells will have the same DNA so individuals do not evolve, only populations evolve.

The difficulty is in deciding what causes evolution. One camp will say, “Magic” or it’s the will of a god, take your pick. Sort of like answering why is the sky blue with, “It’s the way god created the universe.” It is entirely self-consistent but not very instructive. The vast, overwhelming majority of working scientists agree that natural selection provides an answer that is just as consistent but more useful and it goes like this…

There are variations of traits that are heritable. (Pretty self explanatory. If a trait can’t be passed on, it doesn’t matter.)
New variations enter the population from such causes as mutations during DNA replication, recombination, transposon activity, etc.
Different traits lead to differential reproductive success. Those with deleterious alleles will be less likely to survive and reproduce while those with advantageous traits will have a competitive advantage and be more likely to pass on their set of genes to the next generation.

There is a component of randomness. Mutations are random and just because you have a great set of genes doesn’t mean you can’t get hit by a tree. However, natural selection is anything but random. It is a brutal competition where the best competitors win and the losers are eliminated from the gene pool. The thing is, the rules of the competition are constantly changing so what constitutes an advantageous trait can change from generation to generation. That’s why variation and mutation are so essential for a species to survive.

Answer 3

this is a common misunderstanding
nothing in the organisms body TELLS it to evolve...evolution is the result of a random mutation..should this mutation be in a sex cell then only will it be passed down to the offspring and if the environment undergoes a change at the same time or the new feature is better adaptable to the already existing environment then the organism will survive and reproduce offsrping that have the same mutation

so nothing is telling it evolve..the reason that the original species may become extinct may be that the environment change favors the mutation. so the others due out and the nutated organisms survive...this is natural selection..sorry i couldnt explain it too well but i hope this helped a little..

Answer 4

Nothing "tells" an organism to evolve. A species evolves by some portion of the species having characteristics that are more successful in a changed environment whether that change is local or because the species changed location. Genetics, carrying the information that created the successful examples, allows them to be passed to the kiddos. The changes are introduced to the species by varying combinations of genetic information from different parents (long beak, short beak or somewhere in between) and non-harmful mutations that add new variations.
In a crude example, suppose a family had babies that "not even a mother could love." The family would soon disappear as no children would survive. In contrast, most babies are cute.

Answer 5

Adaptations are usually mutations in DNA. You hear the word "mutant" and you think...bad...but, in actuality most mutations becomne known as adaptations, when the individual with the mutaion outsurivies the individuals without the mutation, and the trait is passed on. It is in Darwin's basic "survival of the fittest" theory. If a bird has a mutation to make it's beak longer and it can get more worms, it is going to outlive the organisms with the smaller beaks. Then, when it reproduces, there is a chance that it's offspring will have the longer beaks, and they will then outsurvive the short-beaked birds. They will reproduce and BAM adaptation.

Answer 6

If all of lumber jack's answer is based on such
shaky information as his comment about Darwin's
observing what happened to birds' beaks during
a drought, there isn't much worth anything in his
answer.

Darwin never observed anything about the finches
beaks during a drought. He wan't in the Galapagos
long enough. He didn't even realize what the birds
he was seeing were at the time. Someone else
had to tell him that what became known as Darwin's
finches were related species.

Answer 7

The fact of the matter is that nothing evolves. God created the heavens and the earth and all that in them is. The only thing that ever happens is macro-changes. Variation within one of the original kinds. Dog kind, cat kind, hippo kind. Time has nothing to do with adaptation. Monkeys, apes, and chimps are still having babies today. Let me see one have a human, and only this time lets watch. You can add all the time you want and it is never going to happen. Science is things that are observable, testable, repeatable, and provible. No one has ever seen a dog have a non-dog. Animals and humans only bring forth after their own kind. I believe that the dog, wolf, fox and coyette could have had a common ancestor, but it was a dog. Not a fish. Micro-evolution, however, happens. The finches that Darwin observed during the drough, he noticed that their beeks got a little bigger and stronger. They were only able to do so because the information was already available in their gene code. During the drought, food was more scarce, and they have to eat more hard nuts and seeds. After the drought, their beeks went back to regular size. That is called inteligent design. God gave them are varied gene code to insure that no matter what, the kind would be able to survive.