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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.
Other evolutionary forces outside of mutation and natural selection can also play a role or be incorporated into experimental evolution studies, such as genetic drift and gene flow. [3] The organism used is decided by the experimenter, based on the hypothesis to be tested.
Darwinian evolution by natural selection is pervasive in literature, whether taken optimistically in terms of how humanity may evolve towards perfection, or pessimistically in terms of the dire consequences of the interaction of human nature and the struggle for survival.
This study was an example of a natural experiment, called a case-crossover experiment, where the exposure is removed for a time and then returned. The study also noted its own weaknesses which potentially suggest that the inability to control variables in natural experiments can impede investigators from drawing firm conclusions.' [12]
It defines evolution as the change in allelic frequencies within a population caused by genetic drift, gene flow between sub populations, and natural selection. Natural selection is emphasised as the most important mechanism of evolution; large changes are the result of the gradual accumulation of small changes over long periods of time. [39] [40]
Neo-Darwinism – Used to describe the combination of natural selection and genetics; The eclipse of Darwinism – Period when evolution was widely accepted, but natural selection was not; Evolutionary progress – Hypothesis that organisms have an innate tendency to evolve towards some goal
Some who came to accept evolution, but disliked natural selection, raised religious objections. Others felt that evolution was an inherently progressive process that natural selection alone was insufficient to explain. Still others felt that nature, including the development of life, followed orderly patterns that natural selection could not ...
It is pertinent specifically to the connections between energy expenditure and brain development. These finding are of specific utility in studies on maternal energy expenditure. [6] Comparative study of nonhuman primates, fossils and modern humans to study patterns of brain growth to correlate human life history and brain growth. [6]