Which of the following was not a major component of Darwin’s “On The Origin of Species?”?
8. Which of the following was not a major component of Darwin’s “On The Origin of Species?”
a. Organisms display variation among themselves.
b. Much of the variation displayed by organisms is genetic.
c. Only a fraction of the offspring produced by organisms survive to reproduce themselves.
d. Only traits that aid in survival and reproduction are passed from parent to offspring.
e. All of the above are major components of “On The Origin of Species.”
More Questions From This User See All
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
The answer is d.
First, with respect to (b), stephizzal is correct that Darwin would not have used the word "genetic" (as genes were not discovered yet) ... but he would have used the word "hereditary", which is what the modern word "genetic" means. So this idea of *heritable variation* is a major component of Darwin's book.
d is the correct answer because it is NOT a major component of Darwin's book that *ONLY* traits that aid in survival and reproduction are passed on. For example, green eyes can be passed on from parent to offspring, even if green eye color does not aid in survival or reproduction in any way.
Such traits (called neutral traits, because they are neither beneficial nor harmful) were of little interest to Darwin's theory ... but Darwin did not consider it a major part of his theory the ONLY beneficial traits are passed on.
b)- the genetic basis wasn't discovered til later