Evolution is a change in the inherited characteristics of populations across generations. Individuals develop and respond to their environment; populations evolve as inherited variants change in frequency.
Build your understanding
Variation and inheritance
Mutation creates new genetic variants. Recombination reshuffles existing variants. An environmental effect on phenotype is not automatically an inherited genetic change.
Population genetics
Connect allele frequencies to evolutionary mechanisms. Natural selection, genetic drift and gene flow can change frequencies; the Hardy–Weinberg model provides a comparison under explicit assumptions.
Classification and relationships
Classification organizes biological diversity. A similarity is evidence to investigate, not proof by itself that two organisms are the closest relatives.
Apply the idea
A beneficial allele increases in frequency after an environmental change. Explain how differential survival and reproduction can produce this pattern without individuals choosing to mutate.
Study with a purpose
Read a lesson, sketch its process from memory, then explain why each step matters. Use the questions within the linked lessons to check the explanation. A correct option is more useful when you can also reject the alternatives.
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