15 Free Evolution Benefits That Everyone Should Be Able To

What is Free Evolution?

Free evolution is the notion that natural processes can cause organisms to evolve over time. This includes the development of new species and alteration of the appearance of existing species.

Numerous examples have been offered of this, such as different kinds of stickleback fish that can be found in salt or fresh water, and walking stick insect varieties that are attracted to specific host plants. These typically reversible traits do not explain the fundamental changes in the body's basic plans.

Evolution by Natural Selection

The development of the myriad of living creatures on Earth is a mystery that has fascinated scientists for many centuries. Charles Darwin's natural selection theory is the most well-known explanation. This happens when those who are better adapted survive and reproduce more than those who are less well-adapted. Over time, the population of well-adapted individuals becomes larger and eventually forms a new species.

Natural selection is a process that is cyclical and involves the interaction of three factors that are: reproduction, variation and inheritance. Variation is caused by mutations and sexual reproduction both of which enhance the genetic diversity within a species. Inheritance is the passing of a person's genetic traits to his or her offspring, which includes both dominant and recessive alleles. Reproduction is the process of producing fertile, viable offspring. This can be achieved through sexual or asexual methods.

Natural selection only occurs when all of these factors are in equilibrium. If, for instance the dominant gene allele causes an organism reproduce and last longer than the recessive allele then the dominant allele becomes more common in a population. However, if the allele confers a disadvantage in survival or reduces fertility, it will disappear from the population. The process is self-reinforcing, meaning that an organism with a beneficial trait can reproduce and survive longer than an individual with an inadaptive characteristic. The more fit an organism is, measured by its ability reproduce and survive, is the greater number of offspring it can produce. People with desirable traits, such as longer necks in giraffes and bright white colors in male peacocks are more likely to survive and produce offspring, so they will eventually make up the majority of the population over time.

Natural selection only acts on populations, not individual organisms. This is an important distinction from the Lamarckian theory of evolution which argues that animals acquire characteristics through use or disuse. For instance, if a animal's neck is lengthened by stretching to reach for prey and its offspring will inherit a larger neck. The differences in neck length between generations will persist until the neck of the giraffe becomes so long that it can no longer breed with other giraffes.

Evolution by Genetic Drift

In the process of genetic drift, alleles at a gene may reach different frequencies in a group due to random events. Eventually, one of them will reach fixation (become so widespread that it can no longer be removed by natural selection) and the other alleles drop to lower frequency. In the extreme, this leads to a single allele dominance. The other alleles are essentially eliminated, and heterozygosity decreases to zero. In a small number of people this could lead to the complete elimination the recessive gene. This scenario is known as a bottleneck effect and it is typical of evolutionary process when a large number of people migrate to form a new group.

A phenotypic  bottleneck may also occur when survivors of a disaster such as an outbreak or mass hunting incident are concentrated in an area of a limited size. The survivors will have an allele that is dominant and will share the same phenotype. This situation could be caused by war, earthquakes, or even plagues. The genetically distinct population, if it is left, could be susceptible to genetic drift.

Walsh Lewens, Walsh, and Ariew define drift as a departure from expected values due to differences in fitness. They cite the famous example of twins who are genetically identical and have exactly the same phenotype. However one is struck by lightning and dies, while the other continues to reproduce.

This kind of drift could be very important in the evolution of an entire species. It's not the only method of evolution. Natural selection is the primary alternative, where mutations and migration keep the phenotypic diversity of the population.

Stephens argues there is a vast difference between treating drift like an agent or cause and considering other causes, such as selection mutation and migration as forces and causes. He argues that a causal process account of drift permits us to differentiate it from the other forces, and that this distinction is vital. He also argues that drift has a direction: that is it tends to reduce heterozygosity. He also claims that it also has a size, that is determined by the size of population.

Evolution by Lamarckism

In high school, students study biology they are often introduced to the work of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744 - 1829). His theory of evolution is often referred to as "Lamarckism" and it asserts that simple organisms evolve into more complex organisms via the inheritance of traits that result from an organism's natural activities use and misuse. Lamarckism is usually illustrated with a picture of a giraffe extending its neck to reach leaves higher up in the trees. This would cause giraffes' longer necks to be passed on to their offspring who would then become taller.

Lamarck was a French zoologist and, in his opening lecture for his course on invertebrate zoology held at the Museum of Natural History in Paris on the 17th May 1802, he introduced an original idea that fundamentally challenged the conventional wisdom about organic transformation. According to him living things had evolved from inanimate matter via the gradual progression of events. Lamarck was not the first to suggest that this could be the case but his reputation is widely regarded as having given the subject his first comprehensive and comprehensive analysis.

The most popular story is that Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection and Lamarckism fought during the 19th century. Darwinism eventually won and led to the creation of what biologists today refer to as the Modern Synthesis. The theory denies that acquired characteristics can be passed down through generations and instead argues that organisms evolve through the influence of environment factors, such as Natural Selection.

Although Lamarck believed in the concept of inheritance by acquired characters, and his contemporaries also offered a few words about this idea however, it was not a major feature in any of their evolutionary theorizing. This is due to the fact that it was never tested scientifically.

However, it has been more than 200 years since Lamarck was born and in the age genomics there is a huge amount of evidence that supports the heritability of acquired traits. It is sometimes referred to as "neo-Lamarckism" or more often, epigenetic inheritance. It is a form of evolution that is just as relevant as the more popular neo-Darwinian model.

Evolution through Adaptation

One of the most popular misconceptions about evolution is its being driven by a struggle to survive. This notion is not true and ignores other forces driving evolution. The fight for survival can be more effectively described as a struggle to survive within a particular environment, which may be a struggle that involves not only other organisms but also the physical environment itself.

To understand how evolution functions it is important to think about what adaptation is. It is a feature that allows a living organism to live in its environment and reproduce. It could be a physiological structure like feathers or fur or a behavior such as a tendency to move to the shade during the heat or leaving at night to avoid cold.

The ability of a living thing to extract energy from its environment and interact with other organisms as well as their physical environment is essential to its survival. The organism must possess the right genes to produce offspring, and be able to find enough food and resources. Furthermore, the organism needs to be capable of reproducing itself at an optimal rate within its niche.

These factors, along with gene flow and mutation, lead to changes in the ratio of alleles (different forms of a gene) in the population's gene pool.  무료 에볼루션  in the frequency of alleles can result in the emergence of new traits, and eventually new species over time.

Many of the characteristics we admire about animals and plants are adaptations, for example, lung or gills for removing oxygen from the air, feathers or fur for insulation and long legs for running away from predators, and camouflage to hide. However, a proper understanding of adaptation requires attention to the distinction between physiological and behavioral characteristics.

Physiological adaptations like thick fur or gills, are physical characteristics, whereas behavioral adaptations, like the desire to find friends or to move to the shade during hot weather, are not. Furthermore, it is important to note that a lack of forethought does not mean that something is an adaptation. A failure to consider the consequences of a decision even if it appears to be rational, could make it unadaptive.