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  2. Devolution (biology) - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devolution_(biology)

    Devolution, de-evolution, or backward evolution (not to be confused with dysgenics) is the notion that species can revert to supposedly more primitive forms over time. The concept relates to the idea that evolution has a divine purpose ( teleology ) and is thus progressive ( orthogenesis ), for example that feet might be better than hooves , or ...

  3. Evolution - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution

    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]

  4. Objections to evolution - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objections_to_evolution

    Objections to evolution have been raised since evolutionary ideas came to prominence in the 19th century. When Charles Darwin published his 1859 book On the Origin of Species, his theory of evolution (the idea that species arose through descent with modification from a single common ancestor in a process driven by natural selection) initially met opposition from scientists with different ...

  5. Glossary of genetics and evolutionary biology - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_genetics_and...

    Also called functionalism. The Darwinian view that many or most physiological and behavioral traits of organisms are adaptations that have evolved for specific functions or for specific reasons (as opposed to being byproducts of the evolution of other traits, consequences of biological constraints, or the result of random variation). adaptive radiation The simultaneous or near-simultaneous ...

  6. Alternatives to Darwinian evolution - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternatives_to_Darwinian...

    The mediaeval great chain of being as a staircase, implying the possibility of progress: [1] Ramon Lull's Ladder of Ascent and Descent of the Mind, 1305. Alternatives to Darwinian evolution have been proposed by scholars investigating biology to explain signs of evolution and the relatedness of different groups of living things.

  7. Plesiomorphy and symplesiomorphy - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plesiomorphy_and_symplesio...

    In phylogenetics, a plesiomorphy ("near form") and symplesiomorphy are synonyms for an ancestral character shared by all members of a clade, which does not distinguish the clade from other clades. Plesiomorphy, symplesiomorphy, apomorphy, and synapomorphy, all mean a trait shared between species because they share an ancestral species. [a]

  8. Evolution as fact and theory - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution_as_fact_and_theory

    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.

  9. Introduction to evolution - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Introduction_to_evolution

    In biology, evolution is the process of change in all forms of life over generations, and evolutionary biology is the study of how evolution occurs. Biological populations evolve through genetic changes that correspond to changes in the organisms ' observable traits .