Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
However, the punctuational equilibrium model may still be inferred from both the observation of stasis and examples of rapid and episodic speciation events documented in the fossil record. [70] Dawkins also emphasizes that punctuated equilibrium has been "oversold by some journalists", [71] but partly due to Eldredge and Gould's "later writings ...
The Bak–Sneppen model is a simple model of co-evolution between interacting species. It was developed to show how self-organized criticality may explain key features of the fossil record, such as the distribution of sizes of extinction events and the phenomenon of punctuated equilibrium. It is named after Per Bak and Kim Sneppen.
Punctuated gradualism is considered to be a variation of these models, lying somewhere in between the phyletic gradualism model and the punctuated equilibrium model. It states that speciation is not needed for a lineage to rapidly evolve from one equilibrium to another but may show rapid transitions between long-stable states.
Eldredge and Stephen Jay Gould proposed punctuated equilibria in 1972. Punctuated equilibrium is a refinement to evolutionary theory. It describes patterns of descent taking place in "fits and starts" separated by long periods of stability. Eldredge went on to develop a hierarchical vision of evolutionary and ecological systems. Around this ...
The theory of punctuated equilibrium developed by Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge and first presented in 1972 [61] is often mistakenly drawn into the discussion of transitional fossils. [62] This theory, however, pertains only to well-documented transitions within taxa or between closely related taxa over a geologically short period of time.
Gould's most significant contribution to evolutionary biology was the theory of punctuated equilibrium [2] developed with Niles Eldredge in 1972. [3] The theory proposes that most evolution is characterized by long periods of evolutionary stability, infrequently punctuated by swift periods of branching speciation.
For example, Denis Noble says that using terms and categories of the modern synthesis distorts the picture of biology that modern experimentation has discovered. [91] Proponents therefore claim that the extended synthesis is necessary to help expand the conceptions and framework of how evolution is considered throughout the biological disciplines.
Gould's initial work on punctuated equilibrium was coauthored with Niles Eldredge. [20] Gould's model of punctuated equilibrium drew attention to episodic bursts of evolutionary change followed by periods of morphological stability. He challenged the conventional model of gradual, continuous change - called phyletic gradualism. [21]