Question

Which statement below describes one of the reasons scientists were initially slow to accept natural selection as a major mechanism of evolutionary change:

a) many scientists assumed inheritance worked through a blending mechanism, so variation required for natural selection would be rapidly lost from populations

(b) many scientists assumed inheritance was particulate (as described by Mendel), so variation required for natural selection would be rapidly lost from populations

(c) Many scientists assumed differences in fitness among individuals in a population would be too small for natural selection to drive evolutionary change

(d) All of the above

Answer 1

Their are many theories in early days proposed by many scientists based on following assumptions  -

Variation. Organisms exhibit individual variation in appearance and behavior.

Inheritance. Some traits are consistently passed on from parent to offspring.

High rate of population growth.

Differential survival and reproduction

Due to which scientists were initially slow to accept natural selection as a major mechanism of evolutionary change

with all the above reasons in question.

ans = all of the above