Why Free Evolution Is Your Next Big Obsession

What is Free Evolution?

Free evolution is the concept that natural processes can lead to the development of organisms 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 be found in fresh or salt water and walking stick insect varieties that favor particular host plants. These are mostly reversible traits however, are not able to explain fundamental changes in body plans.

Evolution by Natural Selection

Scientists have been fascinated by the evolution of all living organisms that inhabit our planet for centuries. Charles Darwin's natural selectivity 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. As time passes, the number of well-adapted individuals becomes larger and eventually creates a new species.

Natural selection is a process that is cyclical and involves the interaction of three factors that are: reproduction, variation and inheritance. Variation is caused by mutations and sexual reproduction both of which enhance the genetic diversity of the species. Inheritance refers the transmission of a person’s genetic traits, including recessive and dominant genes and their offspring. Reproduction is the production of fertile, viable offspring which includes both asexual and sexual methods.

All of these variables must be in harmony for natural selection to occur. If, for instance an allele of a dominant gene makes an organism reproduce and survive more than the recessive gene then the dominant allele will become more prevalent in a population. But if the allele confers a disadvantage in survival or decreases fertility, it will disappear from the population. The process is self-reinforced, meaning that a species with a beneficial trait is more likely to survive and reproduce than an individual with an unadaptive trait. The more fit an organism is which is measured by its ability to reproduce and survive, is the greater number of offspring it produces. People with good characteristics, such as having a long neck in Giraffes, or the bright white color 에볼루션 바카라사이트 무료 에볼루션 바카라 (you could check here) patterns on male peacocks are more likely than others to reproduce and survive and eventually lead to them becoming the majority.

Natural selection is a factor in populations and not on individuals. This is a major distinction from the Lamarckian evolution theory, which states that animals acquire traits either through the use or absence of use. If a giraffe stretches its neck in order to catch prey and its neck gets longer, then the children will inherit this characteristic. The difference in neck length between generations will continue until the giraffe's neck gets too long to not breed with other giraffes.

Evolution by Genetic Drift

Genetic drift occurs when alleles of one gene are distributed randomly within a population. In the end, one will reach fixation (become so common that it is unable to be eliminated through natural selection) and other alleles fall to lower frequency. In the extreme it can lead to dominance of a single allele. Other alleles have been basically eliminated and heterozygosity has decreased to a minimum. In a small group this could lead to the complete elimination of the recessive gene. This scenario is called the bottleneck effect and is typical of the evolution process that occurs when a large number individuals migrate to form a population.

A phenotypic bottleneck could occur when survivors of a catastrophe such as an epidemic or mass hunting event, are condensed into a small area. The survivors will carry an allele that is dominant and will have the same phenotype. This can be caused by earthquakes, war, or even plagues. Regardless of the cause the genetically distinct population that remains is susceptible to genetic drift.

Walsh Lewens, Walsh and Ariew define drift as a deviation from the expected values due to differences in fitness. They cite a famous example of twins that are genetically identical, have identical phenotypes, but one is struck by lightning and dies, whereas the other lives and reproduces.

This type of drift can play a crucial part in the evolution of an organism. However, it's not the only method to develop. The main alternative is to use a process known as natural selection, where the phenotypic diversity of an individual is maintained through mutation and migration.

Stephens asserts that there is a major difference between treating the phenomenon of drift as a force, or an underlying cause, and treating other causes of evolution, such as selection, mutation and migration as causes or causes. He argues that a causal process explanation of drift allows us to distinguish it from these other forces, and that this distinction is essential. He further argues that drift has both an orientation, 에볼루션 코리아 i.e., it tends to eliminate heterozygosity. It also has a size, which is determined by the size of the population.

Evolution through Lamarckism

When high school students study biology they are often introduced to the work of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744 - 1829). His theory of evolution, commonly referred to as "Lamarckism" which means that simple organisms transform into more complex organisms adopting traits that are a product of the use and abuse of an organism. Lamarckism is typically illustrated with the image of a giraffe extending its neck further to reach leaves higher up in the trees. This causes giraffes' longer necks to be passed on to their offspring who would then grow even taller.

Lamarck was a French zoologist and, in his lecture to begin his course on invertebrate zoology at the Museum of Natural History in Paris on the 17th May 1802, he introduced an original idea that fundamentally challenged previous thinking about organic transformation. In his opinion living things had evolved from inanimate matter through an escalating series of steps. Lamarck was not the first to suggest that this could be the case, but his reputation is widely regarded as having given the subject its first broad and comprehensive treatment.

The most popular story is that Lamarckism was a rival to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection and that the two theories fought out in the 19th century. Darwinism eventually prevailed and led to what biologists call the Modern Synthesis. This theory denies acquired characteristics can be passed down and instead, it claims that organisms evolve through the selective action of environment factors, such as Natural Selection.

Lamarck and his contemporaries believed in the notion that acquired characters could be passed on to the next generation. However, this concept was never a major part of any of their theories on evolution. 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 genomics, there is a large amount of evidence that supports the heritability of acquired characteristics. This is often referred to as "neo-Lamarckism" or more commonly epigenetic inheritance. This is a variant that is as valid as the popular Neodarwinian model.

Evolution through adaptation

One of the most commonly-held misconceptions about evolution is that it is being driven by a struggle to survive. This view misrepresents natural selection and ignores the other forces that are driving evolution. The fight for survival can be more precisely described as a fight to survive in a specific environment, which may be a struggle that involves not only other organisms but also the physical environment itself.

To understand how evolution works it is beneficial to think about what adaptation is. It refers to a specific characteristic that allows an organism to live and reproduce in its environment. It could be a physiological structure, such as feathers or fur or a behavioral characteristic like moving into the shade in the heat or leaving at night to avoid cold.

The ability of an organism to draw energy from its environment and interact with other organisms, as well as their physical environment is essential to its survival. The organism should possess the right genes for producing offspring and be able find sufficient food and resources. The organism should also be able to reproduce itself at a rate that is optimal for its niche.

These elements, in conjunction with mutation and gene flow, lead to a change in the proportion of alleles (different types of a gene) in the population's gene pool. This change in allele frequency can lead to the emergence of novel traits and eventually new species in the course of time.

Many of the features we find appealing in animals and plants are adaptations. For example the lungs or gills which extract oxygen from the air, fur and 에볼루션바카라사이트 feathers as insulation long legs to run away from predators and camouflage for hiding. To comprehend adaptation it is crucial to differentiate between physiological and behavioral traits.

Physiological traits like large gills and thick fur are physical traits. Behavior adaptations aren't like the tendency of animals to seek companionship or retreat into shade during hot temperatures. It is important to keep in mind that lack of planning does not make an adaptation. Failure to consider the implications of a choice even if it seems to be rational, may make it unadaptive.