Darwin proposed that all life forms descended from common ancestors under the concept of what?

Darwin proposed that all life forms descended from common ancestors under the concept of what?

• A. Natural selection
• B. Fitness
• C. Descent with modification
• D. Selective breeding

Answer: (C)

The concept being tested is that all living things share a common origin and change over generations as inherited traits accumulate differences. Darwin proposed that life forms descended from a common ancestor with modification spreading through populations over time. This idea, descent with modification, combines the unity of life with the diversification we see across species. Natural selection is the process that explains how certain traits become more common because they confer reproductive advantage; it’s the mechanism, not the statement about shared ancestry itself. Fitness is the measure of reproductive success used in that mechanism. Selective breeding is human-directed, artificial selection, not the natural descent concept Darwin proposed.

The concept being tested is that all living things share a common origin and change over generations as inherited traits accumulate differences. Darwin proposed that life forms descended from a common ancestor with modification spreading through populations over time. This idea, descent with modification, combines the unity of life with the diversification we see across species.

Natural selection is the process that explains how certain traits become more common because they confer reproductive advantage; it’s the mechanism, not the statement about shared ancestry itself. Fitness is the measure of reproductive success used in that mechanism. Selective breeding is human-directed, artificial selection, not the natural descent concept Darwin proposed.