Eli5: why do some species adapt faster than others?
In: 3
Well since species adapt to their environment through evolution and evolution occurs within species and not individuals this means that new offspring have to occur for evolution to occur. Every offspring is genetically different to both of its parents due to mutations. Offspring also change the allele frequency (the frequency of the different versions of genes) in a population. If the pressure is there then individuals who are not as “fit” for their environment will be weeded out (natural selection) as they won’t pass on their genes or won’t pass them on as much as the more “fit” individuals. A lot of people misunderstand fit in evolution and think it means big, strong, etc. It just means outproduce. If being shorter and weaker increases your chances of producing successful offspring then that’s fit.
So, the shorter period of time a species generations are then the more the above occurs.
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