NSES Content Standard C  Life Science: Biological evolution Grades 9-12, page 185 Species evolve over time. Evolution is the consequence of the interactions of (1) the potential for a species to increase its numbers, (2) the genetic variability of offspring due to mutation and recombination of genes, (3) a finite supply of the resources required for life, and (4) the ensuing selection by the environment of those offspring better able to survive and leave offspring.

 
Benchmark 5A The Living Environment: Diversity of Life
Grades 9-12, page 105
The variation of organisms within a species increases the likelihood that at least some members of the species will survive under changed environmental conditions, and a great diversity of species increases the chance that at least some living things will survive in the face of large changes in the environment.

Benchmark 5F The Living Environment: Evolution of Life
Grades 9-12, page 125
The basic idea of biological evolution is that the earth's present-day species developed from earlier, distinctly different species.

Benchmark 5F The Living Environment: Evolution of Life
Grades 9-12, page 125
Natural selection provides the following mechanism for evolution: Some variation in heritable characteristics exists within every species, some of these characteristics give individuals an advantage over others in surviving and reproducing, and the advantaged offspring, in turn, are more likely than others to survive and reproduce. The proportion of individuals that have advantageous characteristics will increase.

Benchmark 5F The Living Environment: Evolution of Life
Grades 9-12, page 125
New heritable characteristics can result from new combinations of existing genes or from mutations of genes in reproductive cells. Changes in other cells of an organism cannot be passed on to the next generation.