WEEK 1 - RELEVANCE, MECHANISMS, EVIDENCE/BASES,

AND THEORIES OF EVOLUTION

Dr. Lee M. Spetner, an American and Israeli creationist author, once said “To understand
Darwin’s work, you have to understand between his theory of Descent and his theory of Natural
Selection. The full name of the first is the Theory of Descent with Modification. Some call it the fact
of evolution, and some call it the doctrine of evolution ”.

While Charles Darwin is considered as the Father of Evolution, he did not necessarily discover
“evolution” nor own all the facts related to evolution. Darwin used the term Descent with Modification
in his studies rather than evolution.

For him, evolution is defined as descent with modification where species are changing
over time, carrying the desirable traits, giving rise to newer and better species that share a common
ancestor. The mechanism that he proposed for evolution is Natural Selection. Natural selection is
nature’s way of selecting which organisms to survive and normally, these are the organisms that
descended with a modification suited to their environment. These desirable modifications allow
organisms to survive and reproduce adaptable offspring overtime.

 Biological Evolution

- all life on earth share a common ancestor.

-Through Descent with modification, the common ancestor of life on earth give rise to the
diversity as documented in the fossil records.

-Evolution means that we are all distant cousins.

The evidence for evolution

The evidence for evolution is compelling and extensive. Looking at every level of organization
in every living systems, biology see the signature of past and present evolution. DArwin dedicted a
large portion of his book “ origin of species” to identify patterns in nature that were consistent with
evolution.

Before we look at the evidence, let's make sure we are on the same page about what evolution
is. Broadly speaking, evolution is a change in the genetic makeup (and often, the heritable features) of
a population over time. Biologists sometimes define two types of evolution based on scale:

     Macroevolution, which refers to large-scale changes that occur over extended time
periods, such as the formation of new species and groups.
     Microevolution, which refers to small-scale changes that affect just one or a few
genes and happen in populations over shorter timescales.

Microevolution and macroevolution aren’t really two different processes. They’re the same process
– evolution – occurring on different timescales. Microevolutionary processes occurring over
thousands or millions of years can add up to large-scale changes that define new species or groups.

How Do We Know That Evolution Has Occurred?

The evidence for evolution has primarily come from four sources:

1.    the fossil record of change in earlier species

 
1. Biogeography

Biogeography- the modern field of biogeography revolve around the study of species distribution
across the planet and why such a distribution has exist. The geographic distribution of organisms on
organisms on the planet follows pattern that best explained by evolution and conjunction with the
movement of tectonic plates over geological time.

Biogeography is the study of the distribution of plants and animals on Earth. The distribution
of organisms in an environment can be used as an important tool for explaining evolution.

As observed by Charles Darwin in the Galapagos Islands, there were finches with different
shapes of beaks depending on their geographical locations. Each species was slightly different from
the others. Using this observation, Darwin was able to infer that these finches could have descended
with modification from a common mainland ancestor. Because different locations have different
natural conditions, different animals ended up developing certain striking features.

The different Galapagos finches observed by Darwin were almost similar to the South
American finch, yet they have different shapes of beaks. The beaks were modified so they can get food
easily.

2. Fossil Record

A fossil contains preserved remains or evidence of ancient organisms. Scientists

Archaeopteryx fossil- intermediary specie between modern birds and dinosaurs.

A fossil contains preserved remains or evidence of ancient organisms. Fossil records provide
strong evidence of the history of life on Earth. They also show how different groups of organisms have
changed over time.

Hal Hartley  once said that, “We discover and invent new ways of finding out the same old
things”. This quotation is a manifestation that through the use of fossils, we can find new things and
use as evidence to something.  One interesting fact about fossils is that they reveal how life on Earth
changed from one period of time to the next because they appear in a particular order. Fossils of
ancient organisms appear on older rocks. Also, some fossils appear on a certain rock layer only. By
studying fossil records, paleontologists have found out that almost 99 percent of all species that have
lived before became extinct. This means that we should know how to protect the organisms that exist
today.
3.Homologous Structures or divergent evolution(pattern is very similar)

 The presence of structures in organisms that share the same basic form. For example, the bones in the
appendages of a human, bird, and whale all share the same overall construction.

If two or more species share a unique physical feature such as a complex body plan, they may have
inherited it from a common ancestor.

Another evidence of evolution can be found by studying and comparing certain body parts of
different animals. For example, as seen in the illustration, the limbs of modern vertebrates, including
humans, frogs, bats, horses, and porpoises(a dolphin-like aquatic mammal), have bone
structures that are quite similar. These are called homologous structures.

Such structures may have different mature forms, but they all came from the same set of
embryonic tissues. Some of the limbs shown in the picture are arms, legs, and wings. Even though
they may have different functions among these animals, they are all constructed from the same basic
features.

The color markers represent the homologous structures among different organisms. This
means that each of the limbs has adapted in ways that enable each organism to survive in different
environments.

4,Analogous Structures or convergent evolution

  Are structures that are similar in unrelated organisms. The structure is similar because they
evolve to do the same job, and not because they inherited it from a common ancestor. For example,
the wings of bat and bird. They are similar in the outside, they have the same function. However, the
wings evolve independently in the two groups of animals.

Analogous structures are adaptations that possess similar features and functionality as a result of
exposure to a common selective pressure but have different underlying anatomies due to having
unrelated evolutionary origins.  An example is the formation of a streamlined body shape in aquatic
animals, regardless of ancestral origin (e.g. sharks are fish, dolphins are mammals, penguins are
birds, etc.)  This illustrates convergent evolution as unrelated species have become structurally more
alike due to exposure to shared selection pressures.

5.Vestigial Organs

In here, we can include the theory of use and disuse by Lamarck in the occurence
of vestigial organs.

Some organisms show the presence of functionless and reduced remnants of organs that were
once present and functional in their ancestors.  Changes to the environment have rendered these
organs redundant and so over time, they have lost their functionality. These structures are called
vestigial organs and demonstrate the evolutionary divergence of a species from past behavior or
activity. An example of a vestigial organ is the pelvic bone in a whale - this bone serves no current
purpose and is a remnant of a time when whales were terrestrial mammals. Other examples include
the human appendix, pelvic bone of a snake and wings of flightless ostrich, etc.

6.Embryology

Explains the series of changes in body structure that an organisms goes through from egg to
adult. Example, fish, reptile, bird and human that are very look different in appearance. However,
their embryo undergo through similar developmental changes. For instance, all vertebrate embryos,
including human, have gill slits in a tail during early development.

Another piece of evidence involves the similarities in the early development of various
organisms. Different organisms have similar structures during their early embryological development.
On the right are four different types of organisms, which almost have the same early stages of
development. Comparative embryology suggests that there is common ancestry because all the
embryos have similar early developmental stages.
 7. DNA/Protein Sequences

Two species have the same gene because they inherit it from a common ancestor.

The study of DNA and protein sequences is important for identifying the evolution of
organisms on Earth. DNA sequencing is the most advanced tool or evidence for evolution. Similarities
in DNA sequences among organisms indicate their close relation with one another.

By studying DNA sequences, scientists were able to discover that chimpanzees have DNA
sequences that are identical to humans. About one-third of the genes of chimpanzees code for
proteins that are the same as humans. This strongly suggests that humans and chimps share a
common ancestor. Another example can be observed in the DNA sequences of dogs and wolves,
which share many similarities. However, if you compare their DNA sequences to that of the mouse,
you would observe fewer similarities. Note that dogs and mice have backbones and are mammals.
This means that dogs and mice, although distant in relation, may also share a common ancestry.

By comparing DNA sequences, scientists can determine how closely related one .species is with
another. Studying DNA and other molecular pieces of evidence makes it easier to trace the
evolutionary history of organisms. So, these are the different evidences to show how evolution exists.

GENERALIZATION

There are multiples types of evidence supporting the theory of descent with modification as we
commonly know as evolution and the variety of similar organisms proves just that.

Homologous structures provide evidence for common ancestry, while analogous structures
show that similar selective pressures can produce similar adaptations (beneficial features).

Similarities and differences among biological molecules (e.g., in the DNA sequence of genes)
can be used to determine species' relatedness.

Biogeographical patterns provide clues about how species are related to each other. The fossil
record, though incomplete, provides information about what species existed at particular times of
Earth’s history.

Some populations, like those of microbes and some insects, evolve over relatively short periods
and can be observed directly while most organisms like animals can take a long time to evolve and can
be observed only through a collection of evidence dated for many years that passed.

Evolution is always happening, though often rates far to observe.

“To understand Darwin’s work, you have to understand between his theory of
Descent and his theory of Natural Selection. The full name of the first is
the Theory of Descent with Modification. Some call it the fact of
evolution, and some call it the doctrine of evolution ”

Lee Spetner