Indicate what is correct and incorrect about this statement: If lizards want to survive during climate change, they can evolve new life-history traits.

Verified step by step guidance

1. Step 1: Understand the statement. The statement suggests that lizards can evolve new life-history traits to survive during climate change.
2. Step 2: Identify the correct part of the statement. It is true that organisms, including lizards, can evolve new traits over time in response to environmental changes. This is a fundamental concept in evolutionary biology.
3. Step 3: Identify the incorrect part of the statement. The incorrect part is the implication that lizards, or any organisms, can 'want' to evolve or consciously control their evolution. Evolution is a natural process driven by genetic variation and natural selection, not by the desires or intentions of organisms.
4. Step 4: Understand the concept of evolution. Evolution is a process that occurs over many generations, and it's not something that an individual organism can do during its lifetime. It's a population-level phenomenon.
5. Step 5: Understand the concept of life-history traits. Life-history traits are characteristics that affect an organism's schedule and manner of reproduction. These traits can evolve over time in response to environmental pressures, but again, this is not a process that individual organisms can consciously control.

Key Concepts

Evolution

Evolution is the process through which species change over time through variations in traits that are passed down through generations. Natural selection plays a crucial role, as individuals with advantageous traits are more likely to survive and reproduce. However, evolution occurs over long timescales, making immediate adaptation to rapid environmental changes, like climate change, challenging.

Life-history Traits

Life-history traits refer to the biological characteristics of an organism that influence its reproductive success and survival, such as age at first reproduction, number of offspring, and lifespan. These traits are shaped by evolutionary pressures and can vary significantly among species. Changes in life-history traits can be a response to environmental factors, but such changes typically require multiple generations.

Phenotypic Plasticity

Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of an organism to change its phenotype in response to environmental conditions. This adaptability allows species to survive in varying environments without genetic changes. For lizards facing climate change, phenotypic plasticity may enable them to adjust behaviors or physiological traits quickly, but it does not equate to evolutionary changes in life-history traits.