why can't an individual organism evolve?

Answer 1

because the common definition of evolution is a change in the frequency of allelles in a population over time....

When individuals have genetic changes, it is mutation, when populations have changes, it is evolution.

One thing changes=mutation
A whole community changes=evolution (in general.)

That is why the Xmen are mutants, not evolvants.

Answer 2

Dawn Woods has got it right.

To perceive (and eventually measure) evolution, one must look at an entire population. For instance, you select a given trait, measure its possible states, calculate the frequency of these states (which ultimately correspond to frequencies, or proportions, of alleles) at a given moment, and measure the changes of these frequencies over time.
This is a statistical analysis (proportions are relative amounts of the elements that are being measured), and requires a population (one individual is not enough).
So, in an evolving population, each individual will have fixed characteristics; it is the proportion of individuals with given features that will vary under the influence of evolutionary forces.

It's not that individuals don't change, but those changes are of a different nature. As part of ontogeny (=development), each individual grows, changes its shape and proportions, matures, produces or ceases to produce given elements/substances, etc. Many organisms undergo periodical changes that prepare them to resist harsh environmental conditions: this process is called acclimatization, and involves reversible changes that are not passed down directly to their offspring.

Answer 3

Evolution is based on reproduction. The most fit individuals reproduce the fastest or most, and thus their genes make up a larger percentage of the next generation. Even organisms that reproduce asexually need lots of other individuals with the same genotype to affect evolutionary change.

Answer 4

"evolution" is a process not an event. individual organisms may possess mutations or expressions of genes that confer a survival and hence reproductive advantage that propagates their genotype through the species and affects it as a whole. Also, selective pressures can change that maximize certain traits over others, meaning that a trend can reverse itself or changes can occur that take "evolution" in a different direction.

Answer 5

Evolution is a series of genetic mistakes or changes that make for favorable survival adaptations. These DNA changes may happen at random, in replication, from a virus or other influences. DNA does not change (functionally) in an individual.

Answer 6

Because individual organisms weren't made to evolve!

Answer 7

Because evolution takes a long, long time. Species with certain traits come together and reproduce eventually leading to a change within an entire species. One organism cannot experience a significant physical change on its own within its own lifetime.

Answer 8

there's no counter point to evoke an evolution evolutions are made when a species has a need to achive somthing for some reason if it's an indivdal orginsim there is nothing for it to evolve into

Answer 9

change in an entire gene pool must occur