“Things exist either because they have recently come into existence or because they have qualities that made them unlikely to be destroyed in the past.” - Richard Dawkins
Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin an English naturalist who studied a variety of animals and established that all species of life descended over time from common ancestors, proposing that the scientific theory of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection. Natural selection is basically the survival of the fittest where animals that can thrive in their biome will successfully breed and pass on their genes; while animals who struggle to survive will die out. Darwin believed that the desires of animals have nothing to do with how they evolve, and that changes in an organism during its life do not affect the evolution of the species. He said that organisms, even of the same species, are all different and that those which happen to have variations that help them to survive in their environments survive and have more offspring. The offspring are born with their parents' helpful traits, and as they reproduce, individuals with that trait make up more of the population. Other indeviduals, that are not so well adapted, die off. Charles Darwin would explain this unique adaption to the rose by saying that there are different kinds of roses, and the roses suitable to the condition of the specific environment will go onto to breed, and the roses that are not suitable to the environment will soon cease to exist.
A bee gathering nectar from a rose plant
The evolution of the rose is very interesting, because it is able to pollinate itself and change it's toughness through time. One main defense that the rose has are, modified leaves known as thorns which are located on the stem. They cause pain, but not a significant amount of damaged to hospitalize a homosapien. There is a phenotypic variation which exists among individuals and the variation is inheritable as bees carry the pollen to other plants creating pollination. The colour of the petals are not just for looks, but by having brightly coloured petals they attract bees to pollinate the plant. The attraction is not just the colour but a newly developed smell that the flower has evolved to use. It is one of few plants that has mutated to use wind in order to self pollinate and to pollinate other roses, through the work of insects. The plants with heritable traits are better suited to the change in environment meaning that they will survive. The most useful in my mind is that some of the flowers evolved to not need sunlight but total shade; which means that the rose population can prosper in many locations not just in one certain spot. When reproductive isolation occurs new species will form, meaning the mutations will be passed on. Allowing the rose species to survive over many years
