Being Darwin

When my classes ended Wednesday, I observed the lake in the center of our campus with Darwin's ideas on evolution in mind. I saw the many plants, the people, and the geese. I witnessed how they interacted. I saw that the geese were very defensive of their young. Whenever someone walked by one of the ducks it tilted its beak up at them. This is probably a defense mechanism that evolved over time. The offspring of certain ducks probably only survived if their parents were very defensive of them. The gene for being defensive probably was passed on from generation to generation. People and other animals probably ate the geese in the past. They probably see us as a predator and that is why they tilt their beak up at us to scare us. This is an example of Natural Selection in this ecosystem.

People interact differently. They do not need to worry about their basic survival. People near the lake and at the library rushed to class and worried about their assignments. The people were in competition with one another. Those who get the best grades will get the best job. In turn, those who get the best jobs will have stable incomes; this is very attractive for a mate because it is conducive to having a stable family. This is an example of the law of Competition.

The plants seemed to be very diverse especially around the lake. There were various kinds of trees. Some of these trees may have been brought to the lake by man and others have grown naturally. As I write this, the different kinds of foliage are probably competing with one another in order to be the dominant species.