Question

Which of the following postulates is related to Neo Darwinism?
A. Mutations are believed to form new species.
B. It incorporates isolation as an essential component of evolution.
C. It can explain the occurrence of unchanged forms over millions of years.
D. All of the above.

Answer 1

Hint: Neo-Darwinism is the term popularly used, even today, for the synthesis between Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. It involves two postulates; gene variability and natural selection.

Complete answer: Neo-Darwinism also called “the modern synthetic theory” is generally used to describe any integration of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection along with Mendel’s genetics. This theory states that mutations on DNA would lead to the formation of new species. A mutation is defined as the sudden change in the genetic makeup of an organism. Mutations can be either continuous or discontinuous. Continuous variations occur due to recombination, which is a slow process, whereas discontinuous variations occur due to sudden mutation and it is a fast process. Genotypic mutations are an integral component of the theory of evolution. Somatic mutations are non-inheritable, germ cell mutations are heritable in nature. Mutations are a major source of evolution according to the neo-Darwinism theory. According to the theory of natural selection, nature eliminates species which are less adapted to their surrounding environment. The species that get adapted to their surrounding environment continue to exist over millions of years. Changes that get accumulated are enough to account for the evolution of a new species.
Hence, the correct answer is option D.

Note: Darwinism states phenotypic inheritable variations as the basis of natural selection, while Neo Darwinism theory considers genotypic variations to be the major driving force behind speciation.