Natural Selection in Modern Populations: Adaptation on Prevailing Conditions

Examples of Natural Selection in Modern Populations
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Examples of Natural Selection in Modern Populations
Introduction
In his definitive book, “On the Origin of Species” published in 1859 and later became the international bestseller, Charles Darwin, an English naturalist outlined the concept of natural selection recording his study observations during a voyage in the Pacific Islands and South America. Natural selection refers to a process that makes species become adapted to their surroundings or environment. This process is also known as the engine that powers the evolution of all species on the planet Earth. While some people might be opposed to the theory of evolution, natural selection that drives evolution supports the theory because there are countless examples of this process in everyday life. For instance, the fact that a select population develops lactose intolerance and is unable to digest lactose, also known as milk sugar, is an example of natural selection. The ability of some people to digest lactose past infancy dates back to 10,000 years ago following the agricultural revolution and dairy farming (Silanikove et al., 2015). As humans, Homo sapiens, transitioned from being hunters and gatherers to become farmers, a select population that comprised of dairy farmers became adapted to digest lactose that served as a source of energy. Therefore, it is likely that individuals that do not develop lactose intolerance today are great descendants of dairy farmers. In another observation, H. sapiens readily find mates and reproduce many children when they are slightly taller compared to the average but excessively tall and short men are disadvantaged during mate selection and having children (Stulp et al., 2015). Stulp et al (2015) have also observed that taller Dutch women experience higher child survival and this trait contributes to increased population success. Besides environmental conditions, natural selection can account for the success of different species observed in the modern context. This paper explores the topic of natural selection and explains how the process powers evolution of species, a concept first proposed by Charles Darwin, by describing that lactose intolerance, antibiotic resistance, leukemia adaptation, melanin in tropical populations, HIV susceptibility, and menstruation among women, as seen in modern populations, are events that have resulted from natural selection to make individuals better adapted to life.
Lactose Intolerance and Persistence
Dairy farming is one of the booming agricultural sectors not only in the United States but also globally, providing humans with proteins, calcium, and other nutrients derived from milk and milk products such as ghee, yogurt, cream, dried milk, condensed milk, and other derivatives. However, not every individual can digest the milk sugar, lactose due to lack of a genetic trait known as lactase persistence (LP) where the activity of intestinal lactase persists beyond childhood into adulthood. This trait of lactase persistence has been seen to vary in frequencies among different human populations and is most common among the Africans, northern Europeans, and Arabian nomadic tribes with a history of consuming ...