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The most notable piece of evidence comes from analysis of the genes involved in establishing the DV axis in these two groups. [2] In the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, as well as in other protostomes, the β-type transforming growth factor family member decapentaplegic (dpp) is expressed dorsally and is thought to suppress neural fate.
[1] [2] [3] The earliest undisputed evidence of life on Earth dates from at least 3.5 billion years ago. [4] [5] [6] Evolution does not attempt to explain the origin of life (covered instead by abiogenesis), but it does explain how early lifeforms evolved into the complex ecosystem that we see today. [7]
Charles Darwin's 1859 book, On the Origin of Species, convinced most biologists that evolution had occurred, but not that natural selection was its primary mechanism. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, variations of Lamarckism (inheritance of acquired characteristics), orthogenesis (progressive evolution), saltationism (evolution by jumps) and mutationism (evolution driven by mutations ...
Evidence of common descent – Common ancestor evolutionary evidence; Evolutionary grade – Non-monophyletic grouping of organisms united by morphological or physiological characteristics; Lineage (evolution) – Sequence of populations, organisms, cells, or genes that form a line of descent
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution. Daniel Dennett (1995). Darwin's Dangerous Idea. Daniel Dennett (2003). Freedom Evolves. Jared Diamond (1991). The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal ; Theodosius Dobzhansky (1937; 2nd ed 1941; 3rd ed 1951). Genetics and the Origin of Species.
Evolution is the change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. [1] [2] It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, resulting in certain characteristics becoming more or less common within a population over successive generations. [3]
Mutationism is one of several alternatives to evolution by natural selection that have existed both before and after the publication of Charles Darwin's 1859 book On the Origin of Species. In the theory, mutation was the source of novelty, creating new forms and new species, potentially instantaneously, in sudden jumps.
Professor of biology Jerry Coyne sums up biological evolution succinctly: [3]. Life on Earth evolved gradually beginning with one primitive species – perhaps a self-replicating molecule – that lived more than 3.5 billion years ago; it then branched out over time, throwing off many new and diverse species; and the mechanism for most (but not all) of evolutionary change is natural selection.