What is Free Evolution?

Free evolution is the concept that natural processes can lead to the development of organisms over time. This includes the evolution of new species as well as the alteration of the appearance of existing species.

This is evident in numerous examples of stickleback fish species that can live in saltwater or fresh water and walking stick insect types that have a preference for specific host plants. These are mostly reversible traits can't, however, be the reason for 에볼루션 무료체험 fundamental changes in body plans.

Evolution by Natural Selection

Scientists have been fascinated by the evolution of all the living creatures that inhabit our planet for ages. The most widely accepted explanation is that of Charles Darwin's natural selection process, an evolutionary process that occurs when individuals that are better adapted survive and reproduce more effectively than those less well-adapted. As time passes, a group of well-adapted individuals increases and eventually creates a new species.

Natural selection is a cyclical process that involves the interaction of three elements that are inheritance, variation and reproduction. Mutation and sexual reproduction increase genetic diversity in the species. Inheritance refers the transmission of a person’s genetic characteristics, which includes recessive and dominant genes and their offspring. Reproduction is the process of producing fertile, viable offspring. This can be done by both asexual or sexual methods.

Natural selection only occurs when all of these factors are in equilibrium. For example when an allele that is dominant at a gene can cause an organism to live and reproduce more often than the recessive allele, the dominant allele will become more prevalent in the population. However, if the allele confers a disadvantage in survival or decreases fertility, it will disappear from the population. The process is self reinforcing which means that an organism with an adaptive characteristic will live and reproduce far more effectively than one with a maladaptive characteristic. The more fit an organism is which is measured by its ability to reproduce and survive, is the more offspring it can produce. People with desirable traits, like having a long neck in giraffes, or bright white patterns on male peacocks are more likely than others to live and reproduce which eventually leads to them becoming the majority.

Natural selection is only a force for populations, not on individual organisms. This is a crucial distinction from the Lamarckian evolution theory, which states that animals acquire traits due to use or lack of use. If a giraffe stretches its neck in order to catch prey and the neck grows longer, then its children will inherit this characteristic. The differences in neck length between generations will continue until the neck of the giraffe becomes too long to not breed with other giraffes.

Evolution through Genetic Drift

Genetic drift occurs when alleles of the same gene are randomly distributed in a group. In the end, only one will be fixed (become common enough to no longer be eliminated through natural selection) and the other alleles will diminish in frequency. This can result in a dominant allele in extreme. The other alleles have been essentially eliminated and heterozygosity has been reduced to a minimum. In a small population it could lead to the total elimination of recessive alleles. This is known as a bottleneck effect and it is typical of the kind of evolutionary process that takes place when a large number of individuals move to form a new group.

A phenotypic bottleneck could occur when the survivors of a catastrophe, such as an epidemic or a massive hunt, are confined within a narrow area. The remaining individuals will be largely homozygous for the dominant allele, which means they will all have the same phenotype and consequently have the same fitness characteristics. This can be caused by earthquakes, war or even a plague. The genetically distinct population, if left, could be susceptible to genetic drift.

Walsh Lewens and Ariew employ a "purely outcome-oriented" definition of drift as any deviation from the expected values of differences in fitness. They cite the famous example of twins who are genetically identical and have exactly the same phenotype. However, 에볼루션 바카라 무료체험 (cool training) one is struck by lightning and dies, but the other continues to reproduce.

This kind of drift could play a very important part in the evolution of an organism. This isn't the only method for evolution. Natural selection is the main alternative, in which mutations and migration maintain phenotypic diversity within the population.

Stephens asserts that there is a major difference between treating drift as a force or as a cause and considering other causes of evolution, such as selection, mutation, and migration as forces or causes. He argues that a causal-process account of drift allows us separate it from other forces, and this distinction is essential. He further argues that drift has a direction, i.e., it tends to reduce heterozygosity. It also has a size that is determined by population size.

Evolution by Lamarckism

Students of biology in high school are often introduced to Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's (1744-1829) work. His theory of evolution is often called "Lamarckism" and it states that simple organisms grow into more complex organisms via the inherited characteristics that are a result of the natural activities of an organism, use and disuse. Lamarckism is illustrated through a giraffe extending its neck to reach higher branches in the trees. This could result in giraffes passing on their longer necks to offspring, who then become taller.

Lamarck, a French Zoologist from France, presented a revolutionary concept in his 17 May 1802 opening lecture at the Museum of Natural History of Paris. He challenged the traditional thinking about organic transformation. According Lamarck, living organisms evolved from inanimate materials through a series of gradual steps. Lamarck wasn't the only one to propose this, but he was widely regarded as the first to give the subject a comprehensive and general explanation.

The most popular story is that Lamarckism grew into a rival to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection, and that the two theories battled each other in the 19th century. Darwinism eventually prevailed and led to the development of what biologists refer to as the Modern Synthesis. The theory argues that acquired traits can be passed down through generations and instead argues organisms evolve by the influence of environment factors, including Natural Selection.

Lamarck and his contemporaries supported the notion that acquired characters could be passed down to the next generation. However, this idea was never a key element of any of their evolutionary theories. This is largely due to the fact that it was never tested scientifically.

It's been more than 200 years since Lamarck was born and in the age of genomics there is a huge amount of evidence to support the heritability of acquired traits. This is often referred to as "neo-Lamarckism" or, more commonly, epigenetic inheritance. This is a model that is as reliable as the popular Neodarwinian model.

Evolution by adaptation

One of the most popular misconceptions about evolution is that it is a result of a kind of struggle for survival. This notion is not true and ignores other forces driving evolution. The fight for survival is better described as a fight to survive in a particular environment. This could include not just other organisms as well as the physical surroundings themselves.

Understanding adaptation is important to comprehend evolution. The term "adaptation" refers to any characteristic that allows a living thing to live in its environment and reproduce. It can be a physiological structure such as fur or feathers, or a behavioral trait like moving into shade in the heat or leaving at night to avoid the cold.

The ability of a living thing to extract energy from its surroundings and interact with other organisms, as well as their physical environments, 에볼루션 바카라 무료 is crucial to its survival. The organism should possess the right genes to produce offspring and be able find enough food and resources. In addition, the organism should be capable of reproducing at an optimal rate within its environment.

These factors, in conjunction with mutations and gene flow, can lead to changes in the proportion of different alleles in the population's gene pool. Over time, this change in allele frequencies could lead to the emergence of new traits and eventually new species.

Many of the characteristics we admire in animals and plants are adaptations. For instance the lungs or 에볼루션 코리아 gills which extract oxygen from air, fur and feathers as insulation, long legs to run away from predators, and camouflage to hide. To understand adaptation it is essential to discern between physiological and behavioral traits.

Physiological adaptations, like the thick fur or gills are physical traits, whereas behavioral adaptations, like the tendency to seek out companions or to retreat to the shade during hot weather, aren't. Additionally it is important to remember that a lack of thought does not make something an adaptation. In fact, failing to think about the consequences of a decision can render it unadaptable despite the fact that it appears to be reasonable or even essential.