Biology

Thinking Evolution Is Driven by an Organism's Effort

Students write that an organism evolves a trait because it tries hard to get one during its lifetime.

Quick check

Why students make it

This mistake comes from the idea that need or effort directly changes inherited traits. It feels natural because practice can change an individual body, but those changes usually are not passed to offspring through genes.

The rule done right

Evolution happens when heritable genetic variation affects survival and reproduction in a population over generations. Individuals do not evolve during their lifetimes, but populations can change as allele frequencies change.

Related resources

evolutionnatural-selectioninheritance