15 Great Documentaries About Free Evolution
What is Free Evolution?
Free evolution is the notion that natural processes can cause organisms to develop over time. This includes the emergence and development of new species.
Many examples have been given of this, such as different varieties of fish called sticklebacks that can live in salt or fresh water, and walking stick insect varieties that favor particular host plants. These mostly reversible trait permutations, however, cannot be the reason for fundamental changes in body plans.
Evolution through Natural Selection
The evolution of the myriad living creatures on Earth is a mystery that has fascinated scientists for many centuries. Charles Darwin's natural selection theory is the most well-known explanation. This happens when those who are better adapted have more success in reproduction and survival than those who are less well-adapted. Over time, the population of individuals who are well-adapted grows and eventually forms a new species.
Natural selection is an ongoing process and involves the interaction of three factors: variation, reproduction and inheritance. Sexual reproduction and 에볼루션 무료 바카라 사이트 (123.136.93.150) mutations increase the genetic diversity of the species. Inheritance is the transfer of a person's genetic traits to the offspring of that person, which includes both dominant and recessive alleles. Reproduction is the production of fertile, viable offspring, which includes both asexual and sexual methods.
Natural selection can only occur when all the factors are in equilibrium. For instance, if a dominant allele at a gene causes an organism to survive and reproduce more frequently than the recessive one, the dominant allele will be more prominent within the population. However, 에볼루션 바카라 게이밍 (a fantastic read) if the allele confers an unfavorable survival advantage or decreases fertility, it will be eliminated from the population. The process is self-reinforcing which means that an organism that has an adaptive characteristic will live and reproduce more quickly than those with a maladaptive feature. The more offspring an organism produces, the greater its fitness that is determined by its ability to reproduce itself and survive. Individuals with favorable characteristics, such as a long neck in Giraffes, 에볼루션카지노사이트 or the bright white color patterns on male peacocks, are more likely than others to live and reproduce and eventually lead to them becoming the majority.
Natural selection is only an element in the population and not on individuals. This is a significant distinction from the Lamarckian evolution theory that states that animals acquire traits due to use or lack of use. For instance, if a giraffe's neck gets longer through stretching to reach for prey and its offspring will inherit a larger neck. The difference in neck size between generations will continue to increase until the giraffe is no longer able to reproduce with other giraffes.
Evolution through Genetic Drift
Genetic drift occurs when alleles from a gene are randomly distributed within a population. At some point, only one of them will be fixed (become common enough that it can no more be eliminated through natural selection) and 에볼루션 사이트 the other alleles will drop in frequency. In the extreme, this leads to a single allele dominance. The other alleles are essentially eliminated, and heterozygosity falls to zero. In a small number of people, this could lead to the complete elimination of the recessive allele. This is known as a bottleneck effect and it is typical of evolutionary process when a large amount of individuals move to form a new population.
A phenotypic bottleneck may also occur when the survivors of a disaster like an outbreak or a mass hunting incident are concentrated in a small area. The remaining individuals will be mostly homozygous for the dominant allele, which means that they will all share the same phenotype, and therefore share the same fitness characteristics. This could be caused by earthquakes, war or even plagues. Whatever the reason the genetically distinct population that remains is susceptible to genetic drift.
Walsh Lewens, Walsh, and Ariew define drift as a departure from the expected values due to differences in fitness. They give a famous instance of twins who are genetically identical, share identical phenotypes, but one is struck by lightning and dies, whereas the other lives and reproduces.
This kind of drift can play a very important part in the evolution of an organism. However, it is not the only way to evolve. Natural selection is the most common alternative, where mutations and migration maintain the phenotypic diversity of a population.
Stephens asserts that there is a big difference between treating the phenomenon of drift as a force or as an underlying cause, and considering other causes of evolution like mutation, selection, and migration as forces or causes. He argues that a causal mechanism account of drift allows us to distinguish it from these other forces, and this distinction is essential. He argues further that drift is both direction, i.e., it tends to reduce heterozygosity. It also has a size which is determined based on population size.
Evolution through Lamarckism
When students in high school study biology, they are often introduced to the work of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744 - 1829). His theory of evolution is commonly called "Lamarckism" and it asserts that simple organisms evolve into more complex organisms through the inheritance of traits that are a result of the organism's natural actions usage, use and disuse. Lamarckism is usually illustrated with a picture of a giraffe stretching its neck longer to reach higher up in the trees. This process would cause giraffes to give their longer necks to offspring, who then grow even taller.
Lamarck, a French Zoologist from France, presented a revolutionary concept in his 17 May 1802 opening lecture at the Museum of Natural History of Paris. He challenged conventional wisdom on organic transformation. In his opinion, living things had evolved from inanimate matter via an escalating series of steps. Lamarck wasn't the first to suggest this, but he was widely thought of as the first to give the subject a thorough and general treatment.
The most popular story is that Lamarckism became an opponent to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection, and that the two theories fought each other in the 19th century. Darwinism ultimately prevailed and led to what biologists call the Modern Synthesis. This theory denies acquired characteristics are passed down from generation to generation and instead argues organisms evolve by the selective action of environment factors, including Natural Selection.
Although Lamarck supported the notion of inheritance through acquired characters and his contemporaries paid lip-service to this notion however, it was not a central element in any of their evolutionary theorizing. This is due to the fact that it was never scientifically validated.
But it is now more than 200 years since Lamarck was born and, in the age of genomics there is a vast amount of evidence to support the possibility of inheritance of acquired traits. This is also known as "neo Lamarckism", or more commonly epigenetic inheritance. It is a variant of evolution that is as valid as the more well-known Neo-Darwinian model.
Evolution by the process of adaptation
One of the most popular misconceptions about evolution is its being driven by a fight for survival. In reality, this notion misrepresents natural selection and ignores the other forces that determine the rate of evolution. The fight for survival can be more effectively described as a struggle to survive in a specific environment, which could include not just other organisms, but also the physical environment itself.
To understand how evolution works, it is helpful to understand what is adaptation. It is a feature that allows living organisms to live in its environment and reproduce. It could be a physiological structure such as fur or feathers or a behavioral characteristic such as a tendency to move into the shade in the heat or leaving at night to avoid the cold.
The capacity of an organism to extract energy from its environment and interact with other organisms and their physical environment, is crucial to its survival. The organism should possess the right genes to create offspring, and be able to find enough food and resources. In addition, the organism should be capable of reproducing in a way that is optimally within its niche.
These elements, along with mutations and gene flow can result in changes in the proportion of different alleles in the gene pool of a population. The change in frequency of alleles could lead to the development of new traits and eventually, new species in the course of time.
A lot of the traits we appreciate in animals and plants are adaptations. For example, lungs or gills that extract oxygen from the air feathers and fur for insulation and long legs to get away from predators and camouflage for hiding. To comprehend adaptation it is crucial to differentiate between physiological and behavioral characteristics.
Physiological adaptations, such as the thick fur or gills are physical characteristics, whereas behavioral adaptations, like the tendency to search for friends or to move into the shade in hot weather, aren't. Furthermore it is important to understand that a lack of forethought does not make something an adaptation. In fact, failing to think about the implications of a decision can render it ineffective, despite the fact that it appears to be sensible or even necessary.