Topic Summaries

Evidence for evolution

GCSE > Biology > WJEC > GCSE Biology Topic Summaries > Evolution and natural selection > Evidence for evolution
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Science skills: Measuring results

  • Evidence for Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection includes fossil records, inheritable characteristics in humans, and antibiotic resistance in bacteria.
  • Fossils are the ‘remains’ of organisms from millions of years ago, which are found in rocks and show us how much or how little different organisms have changed as life developed on Earth, providing evidence for Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. Fossils may be formed from parts of organisms that have not decayed because one or more of the conditions needed for decay are absent (e.g. warmth, air, and moisture), or when parts of the organism are replaced by minerals as they decay. They can also be preserved traces of organisms (e.g. footprints, burrows).
  • Scientists cannot be certain about how life began on Earth as many early forms of life were soft-bodied, meaning that they have left few traces behind. Other traces that have been left behind have mainly been destroyed by geological activity.

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