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Evolution

The scientific theory according to which populations change gradually through a process of natural selection.

5,264 Questions

What is true of the amino acids that might have been delivered to Earth within carbonaceous chondrites?

The proportion of the amino acids are similar to those produced in the Miller-Urey experiment.

Natural selection is something described as survival of the fittest what most accurately measures an organism fitness?

Fitness in evolution means reproductive success. The fittest individuals are those which contribute the largest number of offspring to the next generation.

Why is it important for physicians to have a clear understanding of evolution by natural selection?

Physicians prescribe drugs to the patients.But the pathogens have the propensity to evolve and become "super bugs"(so called because they are drug resistant).This could lead to a bad condition of the disease or might develop some rare form of disease.The common cause of the development of drug resistance is inappropriate dosage of drugs.In that case these drugs act as natural selection agents and could not kill the entire population of pathogens this could lead to the increase in frequency of those resistant forms of pathogens.So if a physican has a clear understanding of evolution by natural selection he will not be careless about the dosage of drugs

What was the tallest extinct mammal ever?

The largest mammal that is ever known to have lived was Paraceratherium, also known as Indricotherium. This animal can be described as a large hornless rhino with an elongated neck and head relative to its body. Paraceratherium had a height of 5.5 m (18 ft), over 8 m (27 ft) in length without the tail, the ability to raise its head 7.5 m (25 ft) over the ground, and a skull length of 1.35 m (4.5 ft). In comparison, the largest land mammal today, the African Bush Elephant, has a height of only 3.5 m (11.5 ft). The tallest giraffes match the height of Paraceratherium, but it weighed 5-10 times more -- estimates range from 10 to 20 tons. Even though this mammal I just explained to you is over-all the largest mammal , the tallest was Megatherium, otherwise known as the Giant Ground Sloth, it stood 21 feet tall, and weighed 16 tons, it was the largest known ancestor of the Three-Toed Sloth.

What type of selection is shown when the bell curve narrows over time?

Stabilizing selection, which acts against both extreme phenotypes and favors intermediate variants. Hence the narrowing of the bell curve in the middle.

When does Evolution occur in a population?

Evolution occurs at a constant rate from one generation to the next due to small genetic variations cause by mutation. This is known as the molecular clock. Eventually, one species will become many because these small genetic variations allows organisms with the same mutation to live in a slightly different environment. The finches of the Galapagos Islands is a good example of this type of evolutionary event. However, there time in Earth history where evolution seems to have occurred much faster. These leaps in evolution occurred because of changes in Earth climate. During these changes in climate, only the organisms with genes that allowed them to live in the new environments created by these climate changes survived. The others died off. Here is an example to this type of evolutionary event. Say there is a field of corn and in the field of corn there are a few plants that have a mutation that allows them to live with less water. While the rain fall is good this doesn't give those plants any better odds of survival than the others. However, in this example a period of low rain falls occurs causing a drought. The plants with the mutation do just grow up and create seeds just fine. The other corn plants die without create seeds.

Which idea did lamarck propose that was rejected by his fellow scientists?

That organisms pass on traits acquired in their lifetimes. It was rejected in favour of Darwinian evolution, in which species and not individuals evolve, but Larmarckism is valid to a point where epigenetics is concerned.

What is evolutionary heritage?

Evolutionary heritage means the history of life before the species being studied. For example, what sort of life came before humans, horses, birds and even fish. The progression of one species into another until the species seen today.

What causes mutations in bacteria?

Pretty much the same process that causes mutations in any organism. The replication of the genetic code is not perfect and copying mistakes are made where one bases is substituted for another, or a whole string of bases is shifted in a frame shift. Google ' mutation. '

What change occurred in Earth's atmosphere after the evolution of photosynthesizing prokaryotes?

The rapid rise of atmospheric oxygen illustrated in the geological record by layers of iron oxides.

What evidence would you use to determine whether the evolution of a group was explained best by gradualism?

In earlier times, we might have been limited to fossil evidence. But in recent decades, some excellent genetic tests have been devised to show whether a certain genetic sequence is the result of rapid adaptation.

Humankind has assumed responsibility for its own evolution through?

Social structure? It's culture? Genetic engineering?

The trouble with any of these answers is a basic misunderstanding of what evolution is. Evolution is the change in allele frequency over time in a population of organisms. Humans are not nearly ready to assume any responsibility for this process yet. Perhaps influence it.

The mechanism by which evolution occurs is called?

Answer

Natural selection is the mechanism put forward by Darwin as one of the two essential mechanisms for evolution, the other being random mutation (which Darwin described as inheritable variation, not knowing about genes at the time).

The modern evolutionary synthesis includes genetic mutations as the mechanism which provides variations upon which natural selection can act.

Why are vestigial structures considered critical evidence of evolution?

Vestigial structures are considered evidence, but no more critical than any other line of evidence in Biology and palaeontology. They're considered evidence, not because of their function, but because of the way their morphologies follow the nested hierarchies of biology: the vestigial legs of whales, for instance, have exactly the kind of shape we would have expected them to have if whales had descended from land mammals. The same goes for human tailbones and embryonic branchial ridges, the wings of emus, and so on.

The three major categories of evidence provided by the fossil record are?

The three major categories of evidence provided by the fossil record are body fossils (actual remains of organisms), trace fossils (impressions or structures left by past organisms), and chemical fossils (organic molecules preserved in rocks). These categories help scientists understand past life forms, their environments, and evolution over time.

Evolutionists often make the distinction between evolution as a fact and evolutionary theory What does this mean?

Evolution is descent with modification. Or, change over time. And formally as the change in allele frequencies over time in a population of organisms. This is an observed and a observable fact. The theory is; the theory of evolution by natural selection, which explains the fact of evolution. Natural selection is the main mechanism ( there are others ) that drives the adaptive change in organism that can lead to speciation, or just simple evolution.

Explain Lamarck's idea about how animals change through use and disuse?

If an animal uses something they will keep that trait if not, it will die out. For instance, the giraffe's long neck was required for survival therefore they kept the trait (their ancestor's had shorter necks, which Lamarck explained was because they inherited traits gained by their parents "who had to increasingly stretch their necks for food"--this theory was incorrect). In the first snakes, which were basically lizards because they had legs, they no longer need the legs so they lost them.