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Natural Selection - Fact or Fiction
by Groff Schroeder
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Some religious leaders oppose teaching the scientific
principles of natural selection and evolution in the public schools. Scientific principles (also known as
laws) model physical realities such as conservation, gravitation,
thermodynamics and countless others that appear to be inviolate properties
of nature. Unlike the hypothesis (an
educated guess that can be tested by experiment), or the theory (a
hypothesis demonstrated correct by countless competitive experiments over
100 years or so), a scientific law is a hypothesis observed to be true so
many times over so many years that it is always assumed to be true. Kind of like two plus two equals four. Scientific laws are often associated with
equations which provide the accurate, precise and
predictive calculation that is critical to modern engineering, medicine and
agriculture. The knowledge and
exploitation of scientific principles underlie all human technology from
aerodynamics to zinc/nickel batteries – even artificial selection.
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Through artificial selection, humans can select and
preserve biological traits over generations. Plant breeders can create high-yield
crops through careful interbreeding of successful strains. Animal breeders use similar techniques to
obtain desired livestock traits.
Humans might even choose marriage partners based on the traits they
would like to see in their children.
Because humans intervene in the life and reproduction of
domesticated plants and animals over time, the organisms controlled by
humans constantly change (evolve), eventually becoming adapted to the needs
of those in control of the population.
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No one denies that biology works this way in plant
breeding or animal husbandry.
Virtually no one would reject the idea that for an animal to pass a
trait to its offspring, the animal first has to have offspring. Very few would deny that in order to have
offspring, the animal must first survive.
Most would agree that these common sense ideas describe everyday biological
reality.
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In 1865, German monk Gregor
Mendel employed artificial selection to elucidate the mathematical
relationships that model the genetic traits in pea plants, publishing his
findings in a paper called “Experiments in Plant Hybridization.” Mendel’s experiments with
artificial selection revealed how the dominant and recessive genes produced
biological traits in repeatable, verifiable and predictable ratios. These mathematical ratios are but a tiny
fraction of the evidence supporting natural selection and evolution as
principles of biology.
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Natural selection occurs when an environment selects
which animals survive to breed.
Organisms that have traits making them more likely to survive in
their environment (such as minimal water needs in time of drought) survive
longer and have more offspring that also are more likely to survive. Organisms without the successful traits
die or reproduce in lesser numbers.
Over many generations, organisms evolve, adapting to their
environments. Genes that improve an
individual’s chances of survival remain in the gene pool, while
unsuccessful genes do not. Evidence
for natural selection and evolution appears in every area of biology. Studies in prebiotic chemistry suggest
that even the biomolecules of life probably evolved through natural
selection in concert with their environments.
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Despite the widely accessible, common sense realities of
artificial selection in agriculture and animal husbandry, some continue to
reject the scientific principle of natural selection even while they
embrace virtually every other scientific principle in their use of
engineering, telecommunications and medicine.
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If natural selection is wrong, why does artificial
selection work?
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P.O. Box 62946
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80962-2946
Phone: 719-594-4506
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