CHAPTER-HEREDITY AND EVOLUTION

ACCUMULATION OF VARIATION DURING REPRODUCTION

Inheritance of characters from the parents to the progeny (i.e. Heredity) ensures the passing of
the parental characters to the progeny.
The difference or change in the characteristics between the individuals is called Variation.
Human population shows a great deal of variation.
Inheritance from the previous generation provides both a common basic body design, and subtle
changes in it, for the next generation. The second generation will have differences that they
inherit from the first generation, as well as newly created differences.
It is required for the continuity of life on earth for the survivel of species.
The below figures shows Creation of diversity over succeeding generations. The original
organism at the top will give rise to, say, two individuals, similar in body design, but with subtle
differences. Each of them, in turn, will give rise to two individuals in the next generation. Each
of the four individuals in the bottom row will be different from each other. While some of these
differences will be unique, others will be inherited from their respective parents, who were
different from each other.
Significance of variations:
(i) It increases the chances of survivel in its changing environment
(ii) Variations are necessary for distinguishing among organism.
Q1. If a trait A exists in 10% of a population of an asexually reproducing species and a
trait B exists in 60% of the same population, which trait is likely to have arisen earlier?
Trait ‘B’. Percentage of any gene in a population increases from generation to generation.
Q2. How does the creation of variations in a species promote survival?
Ans:During reproduction (also inaccuracies in DNA replications), many variations occur in the
offspring. Some individuals have more favourable variations than the other. Such individual
survive and pass these variations on their progeny. For example, let us consider the population
of beetles. Due to certain conditions, a colour arised during reproduction so that one beetle is
green in colour (instead of red). This beetle can pass this colour to its progeny. Crows now cannot
see these green-coloured beetles on green leaves and hence, their population become more than
that of red-coloured beetle

HEREDITY
The progeny produced through the reproductive process is similar to its parents, in body
design, function etc., The rules of heredity determine the process by which the traits and
the characteristics are relatively inherited.
“The transmission of characteristics through generation is called heredity”
The inheritable characteristics may be morphological/anatomical/physiological/
reproductive and are also known as traits.

If we take a very close look at the rules of inheritance, both father and mother contribute equal
amount of genetic material to the child. This means that each trait can be influenced by both
paternal and maternal genetic material – i.e, DNA.

Chromosome is a thread like structure in the nucleus of cell formed of DNA which carries
genes.
Genes are the smallestunit of DNA of a chromosome which control a specific trait of an
organism and these are heredity unit which transfer traits from parents to their offspring.
Genes which decides the appearance of an organism even in the presence of an alternative gene
is known as a dominant gene.
Genes which decides the appearance of an organism even only in the presence of another
identical gene is known as a recessive gene.
The dominant gene is represented by capital letter and the corresponding recessive gene is
represented by corresponding small letter.
For example: Tallness (TT) is dominant to dwarfness (tt).
Phenotype: Expression of morphological characters as tall or dwarf plant, violet or white
flower is called Phenotype.
Genotype: The expression of gene (or Chromosomal make up) of an individual for a
particular trait is called Genotype.
F1 (First filial )Generation: when two parents cross to produce offspring is known as F1
generation.
F2 (Second filial)Generation: when F1 generation cross among themselves to produce F2
generation.

THE INHERITANCE OF TRAITS – MENDEL’S

CONTRIBUTIONS
Gregor John Mendel (1822-1884) was the first scientist to make a systematic study of patterns
of inheritance which involves the transfer of traits from parents to progeny.
Mendel, observed variations in the characteristics of garden pea plant (Pisum sativum) which he
had cultivated in his monastery garden. Mendel was curious to find out the results of crossing of
pea plants with the variation in traits. The visible contrasting characters that Mendel observed in
the garden pea plants were given below:

Seed shape - Round/Wrinkled

Seed colour - Yellow/Green

Flower colour - Violet / White

Pod shape - Full / Constricted

Pod colour - Green / Yellow

Flower position - Axillary / Terminal

Stem height - Tall / Dwarf

MENDEL’S MONOHYBRID CROSS

Mendel selected the garden pea plant, Pisum sativum for his experiments. He selected tall and
dwarf plants and allowed them to grow naturally. As pea plants produce seeds only by self
pollination, he observed that tall plants produced always tall plants generation after generation
under natural condition. Similarly, dwarf plants produced always dwarf plants generation after
generation. Hence, he termed the tall and dwarf plants as wild types or pure breeding varieties.

Then he crossed a tall plant with a dwarf plant, produced progeny and calculated the percentage
of tallness and dwarfness in subsequent generations. When a pure breeding tall plant was crossed
with a pure breeding dwarf plant, all plants were tall in the first filial generation (F1) i.e., there
was not any medium height plants or dwarf plants.
This means that only one of the parental traits were seen and not the mixture of the two. When
such a F1 tall plant was allowed to have self pollination, both the tall and dwarf plants appeared
in second filial generation (F2). in the ratio of 3:1.
This indicates that both tallness and dwarfness were inherited in the F1 plants but only
tallness trait was expressed.
This is known as law of dominance.
The first experiment of Mendel considering the inheritance of a single trait (Height of the
plant Tall/Dwarf) is called Monohybrid Cross.

Mendel crossed a pure tall pea plant (TT) with pure dwarf pea plant (tt) and observed that all the
progeny were hybrid tall (Tt), i.e., only one of the trait was able to express itself in the F1
generation, which is the dominant trait. The other trait called the recessive trait remain
suppressed.

MENDEL'S FIRST LAW

Law of Segregation: Every individual possesses a pair of alleles for a particular trait. During
gamete formation, a gamete receives only one trait from the alleles. A particular trait can be
dominant or recessive in a particular generation
However, when he self crossed plants of F1 generation, he observed that one fourth of the plants
were dwarf and three fourth were tall.
DIHYBRID CROSS
The cross in which two pairs of characters is called dihybrid cross. In his second experiment,
Mendel used dihybrid cross.

Let us take example between plants with round and yellow seeds with wrinkled and green seeds.
The genotype of round and yellow seeds is shown by RRYY and that of wrinkled and green
seeds is shown by rryy. In the F1 generation, all plants produced round and yellow seeds; which
means that wrinkled texture was the recessive character and so was the green colour of seeds.
When plants of F1 generation were allowed to self pollinate; it was observed that most of the
plants in F2 generation produced round and yellow seeds. Some plants produces round green
seeds, some produced wrinkled yellow seeds and some produced wrinkled green seeds. The ratio
was 9 : 3 : 3 : 1; as shown in the below figure.
MENDEL’S SECOND LAW:
Law of Independent Assortment: Alleles of different
characters separate independent from each other
during gamete formation.
In the above example; alleles of texture were assorted
independently from those of seed colour.

SEX DETERMINATION IN HUMANS:

Somatic cells in human beings contain 23 pairs of

chromosomes. Out of them the 23rd pair is composed
of different types of chromosomes which are named
as X and Y chromosomes. The 23rd pair contains one
X and one Y chromosome in a male. On the other
hand, the 23rd pair in a female contains X
chromosomes. This means that all the eggs would
have X chromosome as the 23rd chromosome, while
a sperm may have either X or Y chromosome as the
23rd chromosome. When a sperm with X
chromosome fertilizes the egg, the resulting zygote
would develop into a female child. When a sperm
with Y chromosome fertilizes the egg, the resulting
zygote would develop into a male child.

INHERITANCE OF BLOOD GROUPS:

A person has one of the four blood groups: A ,B , AB, and O.
These are controlled by a gene denoted by the symbols IA, IB, IO.
AB Universal Acceptor
O Universal donor

A man with blood group A marries a woman with blood group O and their daughter has
blood group O. Is this information enough to tell you which of the traits – blood group A
or O – is dominant? Why or why not? Ans:
This shows that blood group ‘O’ is dominant and ‘A’
is recessive because blood group ‘O’ was able to
express itself in heterozygous condition, due to which
the progeny had blood group ‘O’.

ACQUIRED AND INHERITED TRAITS:

The Trait of an organism which is not inherited but develops in response to the environment is
called an acquired trait.
If the weight of the beetles is reduced because of starvation, that will not change the DNA of the
germ cells. Therefore, low weight is not a trait that can be inherited by progeny of a starving
beetle. Therefore even if some generations of beetles lose their weight because of starvation, that
is not an example of evolution, since the change is not inherited over generations. Change in non
reproductive tissues cannot be passed on to the DNA of the germ cells. Therefore the experiences
of an individual during its lifetime cannot be passed on to its progeny, and cannot direct
evolution.
The Trait of an organism which can be transmitted to future generations are known as
inherited traits.
EVOLUTION
The change in inherited traits in biological population over subsequent generations is called
evolution. Scientists have proven that life evolved in the form of simple unicellular organisms
on this earth; and all the organisms which are present today have evolved from a common
ancestor. The idea of evolution is based on the premise of a common ancestry.

Let us consider a group of twelve beetles. They live in bushes on green leaves. Their population
will grow by sexual reproduction. So they were able to generate variations in population. Let us
assume crows eat these red beetles. If the crows eat more Red beetles their population slowly
reduced.
Let us think of different situations.

Situation-1:
In this situation a colour variation arises during reproduction. So that there appears one beetle
that is green in colour instead of red.

More over this green coloured beetle passes it’s colour to it’s off spring (Progeny). So that all its
progeny are green. Crows cannot see the green coloured beetles on green leaves of the bushes
and therefore crows cannot eat them. But crows can see the red beetles and eat them. As a result
there are more and more green beetles than red ones which decrease in their number.
The variation of colour in beetle ‘green’ gave a survival advantage to ‘green beetles’ than red
beetles. In other words it was naturally selected.
We can see that the ‘natural selection’ was exerted by the crows. The more crows there are, the
more red beetles would be eaten and the more number of green beetles in the population would
be. Thus the natural selection is directing evolution in the beetle population. It results in
adaptation in the beetle population to fit in their environment better.

Situation-2:
In this situation a colour variation occurs again in its progeny during reproduction, but now it
results in ‘Blue’ colour beetles instead of ‘red’ colour beetle. This blue colour beetle can pass its
colour to its progeny. So that all its progeny are blue.

Crows can see blue coloured beetles on the green leaves of the bushes and the red ones as well.
And therefore crows can eat both red and blue coloured beetles. In this case there is no survival
advantage for blue coloured beetles as we have seen in case of green coloured beetles.
What happens initially in the population, there are a few blue beetles, but most are red. Imagine
at this point an elephant comes by and stamps on the bushes where the beetles live. This kills
most of the beetles. By chance the few beetles survived are mostly blue. Again the beetle
population slowly increases. But in the beetle population most of them are in blue colour.
Thus sometimes accidents may also result in changes in certain characters of the a population.
Characters as we know are governed by genes. Thus there is change in the frequency of genes
in small populations. This is known as “Genetic drift’, which provides diversity in the population.

Situation-3:
In this case beetles population is increasing, but suddenly bushes were affected by a plant disease
in which leaf material were destroyed or in which leaves are affected by this beetles got less food
material. So beetles are poorly nourished. So the weight of beetles decrease but no changes take
place in their genetic material (DNA). After a few years the plant disease are eliminated. Bushes
are healthy with plenty of leaves.

ACQUIRED AND INHERITED CHARACTERS AND EVOLUTION

The germ cells of sexually reproducing population are formed in specialised reproductive tissue.
If the weight of the beetles is reduced because of starvation, that will not change the DNA of the
germ cells. Therefore, low weight is not a trait that can be inherited by progeny of a starving
beetle. Therefore even if some generations of beetles lose their weight because of starvation, that
is not an example of evolution, since the change is not inherited over generations. Change in non
reproductive tissues cannot be passed on to the DNA of the germ cells. Therefore the experiences
of an individual during its lifetime cannot be passed on to its progeny, and cannot direct
evolution.

DARWIN’S THEORY OF EVOLUTION:

Charles Darwin wrote his famous book ‘Origin of Species’. He threw new insights on evolution
of species. Some salient points of Darwin’s theory are as follows:

Organisms have unlimited capacity to reproduce:

Organisms can reproduce offspring at a fast pace. This is necessary for survival, because a higher
number of offspring ensures that at least some of them could survive. Each organism has to
struggle for its day to day survival. For example; a frog lays thousands of eggs at one go. The
spawn is released in water and it is left to fend for itself. Most of the eggs are either washed away
or are eaten by predators. However, some portion of eggs from the spawn develops into tadpoles.
Once again, many tadpoles are eaten up by predators; leaving a few which develop into adults.
It is evident, that a large number of eggs is needed to ensure that at least some of them develop
into adults.

Natural Selection:
Different individuals of a particular species have different traits. Those with more suitable traits
are selected by the nature. Each organism needs a particular trait for finding food and finding a
mate. Those with better traits are finally able to pass on their traits to the next generation.

Survival of the Fittest:

Those organisms which are the fittest are able to survive, while others perish. That is how many
species become extinct and some species continue to evolve over a period of time.
MOLECULAR ORIGIN OF LIFE:
Stanley L. Miller and Harold C. Urey, conducted the Miller-Urey experiment in 1953 to
demonstrate how the life would have originated on the earth. They created an environment in
laboratory which mimicked the environment of earth as it was during the time of origin of life.
Water, methane, ammonia and hydrogen were used in that experiment. The liquid was heated to
initiate evaporation and electrodes were used to create electric discharge. At the end of two
weeks, some organic molecules were formed in the setup. Some amino acids and sugar were also
formed. This proved the hypothesis of J. B. S. Haldane that life originated from inorganic raw
materials.

INTEXT QUESTIONS PAGE NO. 150

Q1. What are the different ways in which individuals with a particular trait may increase
in a population?
Ans:
There are different ways in which an individual with a particular trait may increase in a
population
When a colour variation arise during reproduction, it can pass the colour on to its
progenywhich may protect them from prey.
Accidents in small population can change the frequency of some genes in a
populationeven if they give no survival advantage.
Poor nourishment may reduce the population of individuals but when
nourishmentconditions improve the population starts increasing again.
Thus, the maturation, adaptation to environment and natural selection may increase a particular
trait in a population.

Q2. Why are traits acquired during the life-time of an individual not inherited?
Ans:
Traits acquired during the life-time of an individual just enable an individual to adapt itself to
the surrounding and do not change the genetic make up of the organism. Only those variations
are inherited, which come into the germ cell of the organism.

Q3. Why are the small numbers of surviving tigers a cause of worry from the point of
view of genetics?
Ans:
Small numbers of surviving tigers are a cause of worry from the point of genetics because their
loss would cause a loss of gene pool, i.e., many genes will be eliminated from a gene pool.

SPECIATION

The process of origin of a new species is called speciation. A species is a group of organisms in
which most of the characters are similar and members of a species are able to breed among
themselves. Speciation can happen if two groups of the same species are somehow prevented
from interbreeding for several generations. This can happen because of geographical segregation
or because of some genetic changes. Evolution of new species, because of geographical
segregation is called genetic drift.

What factors could lead to the rise of a new species?

Ans: Genetic drift and natural selection could lead to rise of a new species.
Will geographical isolation be a major factor in the speciation of a self pollinating
plant species? Why or why not?
Ans:No, geographical isolation is not a major factor in the formation of new species of self-
pollinated plants. This is because self-pollinated plants receive pollen grains from the same
flower or another flower on the same plant and its distance from other plants hardly affects its
reproduction. Moreover, self-pollinated plants rarely, show variations in characters.
Will geographical isolation be a major factor in the speciation of an organism that
reproduces asexually? Why or why not?
Ans:No, because asexual reproduction involves only a single parent. So, the geographical
isolation do not affect its reproduction cycle. Moreover, asexually reproducing organisms
rarely show any variations in characters.

EVOLUTION AND CLASSIFICATION

The modern system of classification is based on evolutionary relationship. Due to this, this is
also known as phylogenetic classification. The kingdom is the highest taxa, while the species is
the lowest taxa. Members of a species have a higher number of common characters, than
members of a kingdom. For example; all human beings belong to the species Homo sapiens.
Human beings can interbreed; irrespective of their race or skin colour. All human beings come
under the class mammalia; as do the monkeys, elephants and cows. Apparently, each species of
the class mammalian is quite different yet they have certain common characters; like hairs on the
body and mammary glands in females. Similarly, all animals are eukaryotes and cell wall is
absent in their cells. The degree of similarity or dissimilarity shows that all animals have evolved
from a common ancestor.
HOMOLOGOUS ORGANS
Organs which have common design but serve different functions in different animals are called
homologous organs. For example; the forelimbs of all tetrapods are composed of humerus, radio-
ulna, tarsals and metatarsals. Yet, the forelimbs of frogs are adapted to a jumping movement,
those of birds are used for flying and those of humans are used for handling tools. This shows
that frogs, birds and humans have evolved from a common ancestor.

ANALOGOUS ORGANS
Organs which have different design but serve a common function in different animals are called
analogous organs. Wings of birds and wings of bat are good examples of a pair of analogous
organs. Wings of birds are composed of all the bones of forelimb and are coveredwith feathers.
Wings of bats are mainly composed of the digital bones and a thin membrane covering the
structure. Yet wings in both the organisms are used for flying.

FOSSILS
The preserved remains of animals or plants or other organisms from the distant past are called
fossils. Fossils provide the evidence that the present animal have originated from previously
existing ones through the process of continuous evolution. Fossils can be used to reconstruct
evolutionary history of an organism. The distribution pattern of fossils shows that the ancient
fossils present in the bottom rocks are simple, while the most recent fossils found in the upper
strata are more highly evolved. It means fossils form and become more and more complex as we
proceed from earliest to recent rocks. It gives us an idea of time in history when different species
were formed or became extinct. Fossil also helps to trace the evolutionary history of some
animals. Fossils also indicate connecting link between the two groups of organisms. For example,
Archaeopteryx is a connecting link between reptiles and birds.

What are fossils? What do they tell us about the process of evolution?
Ans:The preserved remains of animals or plants or other organisms from the distant past are
called fossils.
Fossils provide the evidence that the present animal have originated from previously existing
ones through the process of continuous evolution.
Fossils can be used to reconstruct evolutionary history of an organism. The distributionpattern
of fossils shows that the ancient fossils present in the bottom rocks are simple, while the most
recent fossils found in the upper strata are more highly evolved. It means fossils form and
become more and more complex as we proceed from earliest to recent rocks.
It gives us an idea of time in history when different species were formed or became extinct.
Fossil also help to trace the evolutionary history of some animals.
Fossils also indicate connecting link between the two groups of organisms.
For example,Archaeopteryxis a connecting link between reptiles and birds.
EVOLUTION BY STAGES

Evolution of complex organs and thus of complex organisms has happened in stages. Let us take
the example of evolution of eyes. Planaria is the first animal which shows ‘eye’ like structure.
The dark spots on planaria are light sensitive spots but a planaria cannot distinguish between two
different objects. Eyes of insects are compound eyes which are made up of thousands of optical
surfaces. Eyes of higher animals are simple eyes which are composed of a single lens. Most of
the animals cannot differentiate among colours. Depth perception is also weak in many animals.
Human eyes are the most advanced; because humans can recognize colours and have very good
depth perception.
Most of the tetrapods have to use all the four limbs for locomotion. Some apes can walk up to
smaller distances by using just the hind limbs. Humans have finally evolved the bipedal walking.
EVOLUTION TREE
To understand evolution, a branching diagram
or “Tree” is used to show the inferred evolution,
relationships, among various biological species
or other entities based upon similarities and
differences in their physical and genetical characters.

EVOLUTION vs PROGRESS
Evolution does not mean progress in every case. This can be proved by example of bacteria.
Bacteria are the simplest and one of the oldest organisms on the earth. Their simple body design
does not make them weak from any angle. Bacteria are known to survive some of the harshest
climates; like craters of volcanoes and sulfur springs. Many animals have certain features which
hamper even their routine activities. For example; the branch-like horns of antelope are a
handicap for them. When an antelope runs for its life; there are times when its horns get entangled
in branches or bushes. This results in the death of the antelope. Colourful feathers of a male
peacock are very good when it comes to attract a female. But because of its conspicuous feathers,
it can be easily spotted by a predator. Because of its bulky feather it cannot fly away to safety.

HUMAN EVOLUTION
The modern humans are called Homo sapiens. Many scientific investigations have shown that
the modern humans evolved in Africa. They migrated towards north; in due course of time and
settled near what is known as the Mediterranean Sea. When the ice age ended, melting of ice
resulted in the in water level. The humans migrated in different directions from that area. One
branch went to the western Asia, then to the Indian Peninsula and finally to Australia. From the
Indian Peninsula, branch migrated towards China and subsequently to the North America. From
North America, the humans migrated to the South America. From the Mediterranean Sea, the
second branch migrated towards Europe; where they are believed to replace the Neanderthals.

Human evolution is the evolutionary process leading up to the appearance of a modern

human being. We the present human beings are also have an evolutionary history like
plant and other animals. Early man like forms appeared about 7 lakhs 50 thousand years
ago. The first sure fossil of our own species of man the Homosapiens, indicate that true
man appeared on the earth 2 lakhs 50 thousand years ago.

Evolution of man through ages:

Homo habilus lived between 1.6 - 2.5 million years ago.
Homo erectus lived between 1 - 1.8 million years ago.
Homo sapiens neanderthalensis lived between 2,30,000 - 3,00,000 thousands years ago.
Homo sapiens (present man) appeared about 40 thousand years ago.

There is a great diversity in human forms and features across the planet. So that for a long
time, people used to talk about human ‘races’. Skin colour used to be the commonest way
of identifying the so called races. Some were called black, some white or brown. Over
recent years, the evidence has become very clear. There is no biological basis to the
notion of human races. All humans are a single species with a common ancestor.

Q1. Why are human beings who look so different from each other in terms of size, colour
and looks said to belong to the same species?
Ans: All human beings, even though they have different size, colour and looks, belong to the
same species because they have similar DNA sequences and have descended from same
ancestors. Also, they are capable of reproducing among themselves. These variations may have
arisen due to environmental factors, mutation and mixing of characters during reproduction.

Q2. In evolutionary terms, can we say which among bacteria, spiders, fish and
chimpanzees have a ‘better’ body design? Why or why not? Ans:

Evolution is the generation of diversity due to environmental selection. More and more body
designs have emerged over time. Among bacteria, spiders, fish and chimpanzees, we can say that
the chimpanzees have a better body design because of a more complex body design. Various
organisms evolve in their own separate ways to give rise to the current forms and have a basic
difference in their body design because of specialization of all types and tissues. The
chimpanzees are best adapted to survive the present day conditions and have proper division of
labour in their body, i.e., they have different organs for performing different vital functions inside
the body.
For example, respiratory, excretory, circulatory and nervous system, etc

A study found that children with light-coloured eyes are likely to have parents with light-
coloured eyes. On this basis, can we say anything about whether the light eye colour trait
is dominant or recessive? Why or why not? Ans:
From this study, we cannot make any inference whether light eye colour trait is recessive or
dominant, because as both the parents have light colour eye, all the children will definitely have
light colour eye (though certain variations may occur.)

How are the areas of study – evolution and classification – interlinked?

Ans:The study of classification of various organisms give us idea about the evolutionary
history of an organisms. Organism which have certain similar characteristics are placed in one
group. It can be thus concluded that the organisms placed in one group may have evolved from
common ancestors and may have common evolutionary history.

Outline a project which aims to find the dominant coat colour in dogs.

Ans: Coat colour ‘T’ is a dominant factor and white colour ‘t’ is recessive.

What evidence do we have for the origin of life from inanimate matter?
Ans:Life must have developed from the simple inorganic molecules which were present on
Earth soon after it was formed. Conditions on Earth could have given rise to more complex
organic molecules that were necessary for life. The first primitive organism would have arisen
from further chemical synthesis. The organic molecules were assembled in an atmosphere
similar to that thought to exist on early Earth over water. This was maintained at a temperature
just below 100°C and sparks were passed through the mixture of gases to stimulate lightning.
At the end, carbon was converted to simple compounds of carbon including amino acids which
make up protein molecules. This experiment set up demonstrates that life originated from
inorganic molecules.
 Explain how sexual reproduction gives rise to more viable variations than asexual
reproduction. How does this affect the evolution of those organisms that reproduce
sexually?
Ans:
Sexual reproduction involves fusion of gametes. The offsprings show variations from their
parents due to crossing over and exchange of gene segments. They are not carbon copies of their
parents, due to recombination of parental genes and produce better offsprings. Also, due to
environmental factors certain favourable variations are also produced. Due to production of
variations, sexually reproducing animals show very quick evolution.
Whereas in asexual reproduction, organisms raised are the exact copies of parents. They rarely
show any variation.

Q11. How is the equal genetic contribution of male and female parents ensured in the
progeny?
Ans:
The male and female reproductive cells divide by meiosis to form haploid gametes. These
gametes have equal genetic material. The zygote is formed by the fusion of male and female
gamete, i.e., it has equal genetic contribution from male and female parents. The individual is
developed from the zygote these after.

Q12. Only variations that confer an advantage to an individual organism will survive in a
population. Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not? Ans:

All the variations in a species do not have equal chances of surviving in the environment.
Depending on the nature of variations different individuals would have different kinds of
advantages. Selection of variants by environmental factors forms the basis of evolutionary
process. The variations which confer disadvantages to an individual organism will not survive
because the environmental factor cannot support this.