Question

A marine biologist explains that the salmon adapts to its environment through descent with modification. What is "descent with modification"?
A heritable trait can be changed from one generation to another.
A learned behavior can be modified by each generation of fish in a population.
An offspring is similar to its parents but has unique features that distinguish it.
A useful adaptation is always passed down from a parent to its offspring.

Answer 1

Answer: A heritable trait can be changed from one generation to another.

Explanation:

• The concept of descent with modification was given by Darwin which simply states that the traits are passed on from the parents to the offsprings.
• The traits that can be passed on are known as heritable traits.
• These traits are passed on with the help of the genes.
• So this passing on of traits explains the term descent in this concept. However, there are always chances that these heritable traits can be changed due to environmental factors or due to the process of recombination and thus the term modification.
• So descent with modification means that a heritable trait is passed from parents to offspring but it can be changed from one generation to another.