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20 Resources That Will Make You Better At Evolution Site
The Academy's Evolution Site

Biology is a key concept in biology. The Academies are committed to helping those interested in the sciences comprehend the evolution theory and how it is incorporated throughout all fields of scientific research.

This site provides students, teachers and general readers with a range of learning resources on evolution. It includes key video clip from NOVA and WGBH produced science programs on DVD.

Tree of Life

The Tree of Life is an ancient symbol that symbolizes the interconnectedness of all life. It is an emblem of love and harmony in a variety of cultures. It also has important practical applications, like providing a framework for understanding the history of species and how they respond to changes in the environment.


The earliest attempts to depict the world of biology focused on the classification of organisms into distinct categories that were distinguished by their physical and metabolic characteristics1. These methods are based on the collection of various parts of organisms or short DNA fragments have greatly increased the diversity of a Tree of Life2. The trees are mostly composed by eukaryotes, and bacterial diversity is vastly underrepresented3,4.

Genetic techniques have greatly broadened our ability to depict the Tree of Life by circumventing the requirement for direct observation and experimentation. We can construct trees using molecular techniques such as the small subunit ribosomal gene.

Despite the massive expansion of the Tree of Life through genome sequencing, a large amount of biodiversity remains to be discovered. This is especially relevant to microorganisms that are difficult to cultivate and are usually found in one sample5. A recent study of all known genomes has produced a rough draft of the Tree of Life, including numerous archaea and bacteria that have not been isolated and their diversity is not fully understood6.

The expanded Tree of Life is particularly useful for assessing the biodiversity of an area, assisting to determine if certain habitats require protection. This information can be utilized in a variety of ways, such as finding new drugs, fighting diseases and improving the quality of crops. This information is also extremely beneficial in conservation efforts. It can aid biologists in identifying the areas most likely to contain cryptic species that could have significant metabolic functions that could be at risk from anthropogenic change. While funding to protect biodiversity are important, the best method to preserve the biodiversity of the world is to equip more people in developing nations with the information they require to act locally and promote conservation.

Phylogeny

A phylogeny, also known as an evolutionary tree, shows the connections between various groups of organisms. Scientists can create a phylogenetic chart that shows the evolution of taxonomic categories using molecular information and morphological similarities or differences. 에볼루션 블랙잭 of phylogeny is crucial in understanding genetics, biodiversity and evolution.

에볼루션카지노 (see Figure PageIndex 10 ) is a method of identifying the relationships between organisms that share similar traits that have evolved from common ancestral. These shared traits may be homologous, or analogous. Homologous traits share their underlying evolutionary path and analogous traits appear similar but do not have the same ancestors. Scientists arrange similar traits into a grouping called a the clade. For instance, all of the organisms that make up a clade have the characteristic of having amniotic eggs and evolved from a common ancestor that had eggs. A phylogenetic tree is built by connecting the clades to identify the species who are the closest to one another.

To create a more thorough and accurate phylogenetic tree, scientists use molecular data from DNA or RNA to determine the relationships among organisms. This information is more precise than morphological information and provides evidence of the evolutionary background of an organism or group. Molecular data allows researchers to determine the number of species that have an ancestor common to them and estimate their evolutionary age.

The phylogenetic relationships of a species can be affected by a number of factors such as the phenotypic plasticity. This is a kind of behavior that alters due to unique environmental conditions. This can cause a trait to appear more similar to one species than another, clouding the phylogenetic signal. However, this problem can be solved through the use of techniques like cladistics, which include a mix of homologous and analogous features into the tree.

In addition, phylogenetics can help predict the length and speed of speciation. This information can aid conservation biologists in deciding which species to protect from extinction. In the end, it is the conservation of phylogenetic diversity which will create an ecosystem that is complete and balanced.

Evolutionary Theory

The central theme of evolution is that organisms acquire various characteristics over time based on their interactions with their environments. Many scientists have come up with theories of evolution, such as the Islamic naturalist Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201-274), who believed that an organism would evolve according to its individual needs, the Swedish taxonomist Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778), who created the modern taxonomy system that is hierarchical, as well as Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1844-1829), who believed that the use or absence of traits can lead to changes that can be passed on to future generations.

In the 1930s & 1940s, concepts from various fields, such as natural selection, genetics & particulate inheritance, came together to form a contemporary theorizing of evolution. This describes how evolution happens through the variation in genes within the population and how these variations change with time due to natural selection. This model, known as genetic drift, mutation, gene flow, and sexual selection, is a key element of the current evolutionary biology and can be mathematically explained.

Recent discoveries in the field of evolutionary developmental biology have revealed that variation can be introduced into a species through genetic drift, mutation, and reshuffling genes during sexual reproduction, and also through the movement of populations. These processes, along with other ones like directional selection and genetic erosion (changes in the frequency of a genotype over time), can lead to evolution which is defined by change in the genome of the species over time and also by changes in phenotype over time (the expression of that genotype in an individual).

Students can gain a better understanding of phylogeny by incorporating evolutionary thinking in all aspects of biology. In a recent study conducted by Grunspan and co., it was shown that teaching students about the evidence for evolution increased their understanding of evolution during the course of a college biology. For more information on how to teach evolution read The Evolutionary Potency in all Areas of Biology or Thinking Evolutionarily as a Framework for Infusing Evolution into Life Sciences Education.

Evolution in Action

Traditionally, scientists have studied evolution by looking back--analyzing fossils, comparing species, and studying living organisms. But evolution isn't a thing that happened in the past, it's an ongoing process, happening today. Bacteria mutate and resist antibiotics, viruses evolve and elude new medications and animals change their behavior in response to the changing environment. The resulting changes are often visible.

But it wasn't until the late 1980s that biologists understood that natural selection can be seen in action, as well. The key is that different characteristics result in different rates of survival and reproduction (differential fitness), and can be passed down from one generation to the next.

In the past, if one allele - the genetic sequence that determines colour appeared in a population of organisms that interbred, it might become more prevalent than any other allele. As time passes, this could mean that the number of moths that have black pigmentation in a population could increase. The same is true for many other characteristics--including morphology and behavior--that vary among populations of organisms.

Observing evolutionary change in action is much easier when a species has a rapid turnover of its generation such as bacteria. Since 1988, Richard Lenski, a biologist, has tracked twelve populations of E.coli that descend from a single strain. The samples of each population were taken regularly, and more than 500.000 generations of E.coli have been observed to have passed.

Lenski's research has demonstrated that mutations can alter the rate of change and the rate of a population's reproduction. It also proves that evolution takes time, a fact that many find hard to accept.

Microevolution can also be seen in the fact that mosquito genes that confer resistance to pesticides are more prevalent in areas that have used insecticides. This is due to pesticides causing an exclusive pressure that favors individuals who have resistant genotypes.

The rapidity of evolution has led to a greater recognition of its importance, especially in a world that is largely shaped by human activity. This includes the effects of climate change, pollution and habitat loss that hinders many species from adapting. Understanding evolution will assist you in making better choices about the future of the planet and its inhabitants.

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