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Mechanisms: the processes of evolution – Selection, mutation, migration, and more; Microevolution – Evolution within a population; Speciation – How new species arise; Macroevolution – Evolution above the species level; The big issues – Pacing, diversity, complexity, and trends; Teach Evolution. Lessons and teaching tools. Teaching ...
Problems with evolution. Darwin ideas were documented in the book On the Origin of Species, which was published in 1859. The naturalist's ideas created controversy in Victorian society. The...
- Overview
- Correct: How natural selection works within species
- Correct: How natural selection creates new species, generally speaking
- Correct: Darwin’s lines of evidence to support the theory
- Incorrect: Earth’s age
- Incorrect: The mechanisms of variation among individuals
(Read T. H. Huxley’s 1875 Britannica essay on evolution & biology.)
Anagenesis is the technical term for an evolutionary change in a group in which one species replaces another but branching into separate species does not take place. It can be argued that as a species travels through time, it continually adapts to its environment. The traits of individuals that do not survive long enough to reproduce fade from the ...
Speciation, the creation of new and distinct species in the course of evolution, is simply an extension of anagenesis, but with branching allowed. Speciation also involves natural selection, but it is most easily seen in populations. If one or more populations are isolated from the rest of a species over many generations (and members of each isolat...
One of the hallmarks of good theory construction is the use of separate lines of evidence as proof. To lend support to his theory of natural selection, Darwin took examples from biogeography, paleontology, embryology, and morphology. He noted several examples of “closely-allied species” (that is, closely related species that likely descended or branched off from a common parent species) inhabiting the same territory or adjacent territories. He noted that different zebra species were found together on the plains of East Africa and, in perhaps his most famous example, that several living species of Galapagos finches co-occurred in the Galapagos Islands—a cluster of isolated islands in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The pattern of such closely related species in space supported the idea that these species had a similar origin. Darwin also noticed patterns of closely related species clustering in time. The fossil record showed several examples of similar-looking species occurring next to one another in the same layer or in successive layers of rock. Evidence of the influence of natural selection also appeared in developing embryos, where structures observed during the early stages of development of the higher vertebrates (fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) resembled the structures of more-primitive animals.
Darwin also leveraged morphology (that is, the general aspects of biological form and arrangement of the parts of a plant or an animal) to support his theory. Taxonomy, the classification of different forms of life, is rooted in the observable traits that group individual living things into species, genus, family, and so on. Generally speaking, the more traits different forms of life share, the closer their evolutionary relationship is. Through the process of taxonomy (which involves comparing the observable traits of living forms with the same kinds of traits in fossils), one can develop a decent understanding of the ways different lines of plants, animals, and other forms of life emerged across time.
During the 19th century the Bible (not the fossil record) was widely considered the primary authority on Earth’s age. It held that Earth was only about 6,000 years old. Most scientists of the time, however, acknowledged that Earth was certainly older. By the early 1860s, just a few years after On the Origin of Species was published, Scottish engine...
Although Darwin’s theory of natural selection was basically correct, in the late 1860s he proposed a theory that was very wrong. That theory—”pangenesis”—was an attempt to explain variation among individuals in a species. Offspring in sexual species display a mix of traits from both of their parents. Siblings look different from one another, but th...
- John P. Rafferty
Learn about the theory of evolution and how it is supported by instances of direct observation, the existence of homologies and fossils, and certain biogeographical patterns. Key points: Evidence for large-scale evolution ( macroevolution ) comes from anatomy and embryology, molecular biology, biogeography, and fossils.
- There are multiple possible explanations for those examples you cite. The fossils or their age could have been misidentified. It is also possible t...
- Scientific theories are never proven, proofs are for mathematics. The theory of gravity and quantum mechanics are not proven but but you do not que...
- The identified age is counted as evidence for evolution. In the pictures showing the evolution of horses, there are dates shown. Why do you think t...
The evidence for evolution. In this article, we'll examine the evidence for evolution on both macro and micro scales. First, we'll look at several types of evidence (including physical and molecular features, geographical information, and fossils) that provide evidence for, and can allow us to reconstruct, macroevolutionary events.
- Yes, they share 'form' during embryonal development. But there is when the evolution of life becomes really interesting. Embryonic stages of all ch...
- you can think for you that a designer is guiding evolution. we will just not speak in terms of a god/creator or something because there is no mater...
- Probably yes. But offspring has to inherit at least some genes from some ancestor.
- Protein structure is crucial evidence in Bioinformatics because based on protein structures we can predict protein functions! It is believed that p...
- Evolution is the explanation for why the various species developed.
- Based on my limited knowledge, DNA sequencing is better evidence for Universal Common Descent (UCD) than fossil evidence. This is mostly because in...
- No, evolution is continuously occurring. If a population is reproducing, it is evolving.
Feb 9, 2024 · Evolution is the process by which species adapt over time in response to their changing environment. Use these ideas to teach about the water cycle in your classroom.
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Mechanisms: the processes of evolution – Selection, mutation, migration, and more; Microevolution – Evolution within a population; Speciation – How new species arise; Macroevolution – Evolution above the species level; The big issues – Pacing, diversity, complexity, and trends; Teach Evolution. Lessons and teaching tools. Teaching ...
