The evidence for Evolution | How we know that we evolved

 

Evolution Evidence by Jane Partsch

We know that evolution occurred in earth history. But how and why do we know this? There are 5 things that show us that evolution occurred and that it is happening. This is morphology, the fossil record, Comparative Anatomy, Homologous Structures, and Embryology. Morphology is the change in physical characteristics. The fossil record is observation seen in preserved organisms from the past. Comparative Anatomy is the comparison of living organisms. Differences and similarities in living things. Homologous Structures are structures that have different mature forms in different organisms but develop from similar embryo's. Embryology is the study of embryos. This all tells us that thing have evolved. This is because they show that some characteristics have changed over time. Which is basically the definition of evolution. They compare different things to find out how things are similar and different from each other, showing us ways that certain organisms evolve.

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SP1: Asking Questions, Defining Solutions

Have you ever wondered how evolution works, why it works and how we know that it happened? How do people know that we didn't just land on earth by unknown means, and just look somewhat like animals? I have. But it turns out that there is a ton of evidence on this subject. This evidence supports evolution and not some weird space landing. Evolution does happen, it uses different methods to drive it and evolves life. We will always have questions, and the only way to get rid of them is to define its solution,

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XCC: Patterns

Patterns are seen everywhere every day. Some are small, others are big. Some change your life and some are just part of it. But every day the patterns keep going. Evolution is a huge pattern. Always repeating itself. Changing organisms, then going and changing them again. All in a never-ending cycle, all in a never-ending pattern. Not only does evolution show a pattern, but our evidence of evolution also shows one. The evidence is like a pattern. When you compare human arms to those of other animals, you find that it looks similar, this happens no matter what you compare. Pattern. No matter what kind of pattern it is, humans tend to miss them. But if we took a moment to look around, life's patterns might just give us a clue on how to live ours.

Darwin's Finches | Darwin's Revolutionary Breakthrough On Evolution

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin%27s_finches

Charles Darwin is one of the most widely known scientists around the globe. Charles Darwin made a major step in the realization of evolution and helped us get to where we are, right now, in our studies of it. Without him, we wouldn't know a lot about evolution. Darwin started to come up with the theory of evolution, whilst on his stay in the Galapagos islands. Darwin discovered different species of finches, all very similar, but with different beaks and adaptations. They were different shapes, sizes and differently adapted, but all could have shared a common ancestor. So, why were they so different. The more that Charles Darwin looked into this, the more he found. Darwin used his finches to come with yet another amazing discovery. For Darwin also came up with the basics of the process of natural selection. Darwin found that each beak was different from the other. On islands with lots of rainfall, islands that produced a lot of new soft seeds, smaller beaks were the popular trait. The dominant trait. But on islands that were drier, and produced less, older and harder nuts, the larger beaks were more common. This has to cause some wonder on why, if they were all from the same common ancestor, did they have different beaks. This is because of natural selection. This meant that the finches, all on different islands, started to see changes. For instance, one island gets a ton of rain for ten straight years. Many of the smaller-beaked birds are finding it easier to get food. This soon becomes the growing trait. Since the island can't hold millions of these birds, the birds with the trait that is not needed, starts to die off. Eventually, we are left with the smaller-beaked finches. Another example would be on an island with a drought. The seeds are too tough for the small beaks of the smaller-beaked finches, to break open and eat. But the larger-beaked finches find it easy to open the tough, large seeds. The smaller-beaked finches start to die of hunger, while the larger-beaked finches become more popular and continue to reproduce. Eventually, the smaller beaked trait, dies out and we are left with the big beaked trait. There is a lot of stuff that we can learn from the world around us, we just have to look. Charles Darwin looked in the right place at the right time and discovered something truly amazing, something groundbreaking. He discovered the beginnings of evolution.

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SP3: Conducting Investigations

Charles Darwin's theory was a very complex one. The theory of evolution has many different pieces and parts that must go together to make the picture whole. I conducted an experiment on the many pieces and parts that went into Darwin's discovery of such a life-changing cycle that happens in front of our eyes. I investigated the difference and evolution of Darwin's finches and came to the conclusion that the finches had adapted to become a better fit for their environment. This along with the process of natural selection made the finches what they are today, and gave us our knowledge of evolution.

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XCC: Stability and Change

Change happens all around you. leaves change color, people change age, seasons pass by and organisms grow. But somehow, our world stays stable. The change not being able to throw Earth off. Just like evolution. Evolution is a change in the gene pool after a long period of time. Change in the gene pool. This change helps the organism become more stable in their environment and situation. It helps to keep the organism from toppling off of its stand, into total chaos. Evolution is the change that allows stability of a species to be possible. We evolved from apes but were able to stay stable and alive. With the help of evolution, we are where we are today. We are who we are today. Without stability and change, our world would be plain and boring. Nothing new and a big old mess. We take change in different ways, depending on who we are, how big it is and how much it affects us, our lives and our feelings. But we always seem to let little things pass by, and not notice the things and cycles and process within them. Keeping them changing and stable.

Evolution, The Greatest Show on Earth

What is Evolution? by yourgenome.org

When life started, we had only single celled, simple, life forms like bacteria and algae. How did we get to a point where life is so diverse, different and complex? Evolution. Evolution is a change in heritable traits that can be seen across many generations. It is change that happens over time. Lots, of time. You have most likely changed and are different than your great grandparents. Over a long period of time, you changed. This change might be seen in your mother, and possibly, in your kids. This is evolution. You have a change in your heritable traits that can be seen across many generations. But why did change happen? What caused the evolution? There are five main driving forces of evolution. Natural selection, mutations, genetic drift, genetic flow and mating choice. Mating choice is when you mate with a person because they have the same trait as you or a trait that you like. This means that you are choosing to pass on a certain trait. If this happens for long enough, one trait starts dying off, and the other thrives. Evolution.

Genetic flow is when people, carrying a certain trait, enter a different population. It then introduces that gene into that population's gene pool, therefore causing people to get that trait. A black fly decides that it is going to go and live in a blue fly population. The black fly mates with a blue fly, and the black fly trait enters the gene pool. Overtime, more of the blue flies, start to turn black because of the black fly trait. Evolution.

Genetic drift is the gradual loss or increase in genes in a population. Therefore causing certain traits to become more or less common, making changes in the heritable traits that the population has. A green eyed person mates with a blue eyed person. The offspring has green eyes. The blue eyed trait starts to die out in the population until it is gone and people continue on with their lives and live without it, changing the way that the population looks. Evolution.

Mutations are random changes in the DNA of a person. These can be good, bad or neutral. These new changes in the DNA can be passed on through the population, eventually changing it. The cat population has pointy, straight, ears. One cat is born with floppy ears, it's offspring now has floppy ears. This new trait is added to the gene pool and becomes more common in the population, changing the way that the cats looked. Evolution.

Last, but not least, natural selection. Natural selection is where there are at least two traits in the gene pool and one helps the organism survive better than the other. The part of the species with the bad trait dies off before they can reproduce, the part of the species with the better trait reproduces more. Therefore, the trait that is more successful will become more common and be passed on more, making it dominate and change the population. An island is home to a species of birds. They come in two colors, green and blue. The blue birds get eaten more often because they stand out more. The green birds mate and their offspring are green. The blue bird trait eventually dies out because the environment can't support their reproduction, and they die too soon to reproduce often. The green bird trait lives on, making the population be all green. Evolution.

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SP1: Asking Questions, Defining Problems

What is Evolution? How does it happen? And why does it matter? These questions are shown through millions of years of history, and all throughout today. Evolution is a way that a population changes due to mating choice, genetic drift, genetic flow, mutations and natural selection. Without evolution, we and many other species, like dogs, whales and more, wouldn't be here. This planet has changed throughout time, and with it, we came. We may be a small bit of it, but we are in Earth's history because of evolution. By studying these questions, I have formulated my own opinions and definitions, about evolution and the beginning of life.

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XCC: Cause and Effect

Evolutions is one of the biggest examples of cause and effect in life. It show the basics of cause and effect. Mating selection, is the cause of a trait to become more or less common, driving evolution and effecting the way the population is. Genetic flow causes different traits to be added to the gene pool, driving evolution and effecting the population by adding diversity. Genetic drift causes certain traits to increase or decrease in size or number. Effecting the populations size, diversity and traits. Natural selection can cause whole traits and parts of populations to disappear, lost to evolution. Effecting whole parts and systems within a population. Evolution causes life to be the way that it is now and causes it to change going forward, making it better and diverse. Effecting the way that life is lived and populations grow. All we can say is that evolution, has taken us a very, long, way.

WAC | We are not part of a 6th mass extinction

              There have been 5 documented mass extinctions. But people are wondering, are we part of a 6th mass extinction? And if we are, is it because of us? No, as a matter of fact, we aren't part of a mass extinction. In the AEON article We are not edging up to a mass extinction by Stewart Brand it says, "Viewing every conservation issue through the lens of extinction threat is simplistic and usually irrelevant. Worse, it introduces an emotional charge that makes the problem seem cosmic and overwhelming rather than local and solvable. It’s as if the entire field of human medicine were treated solely as a matter of death prevention. Every session with a doctor would begin: ‘Well, you’re dying. Let’s see if we can do anything to slow that down a little.’” We aren't in a mass extinction, we have polluted the Earth, cut down animals habitats and just straight up killed animals and plants. But even with all of that, our actions are a fraction when compared to the events of mass extinctions in the past.

                 Over our time on Earth, species have gone extinct and their numbers have dropped. But these numbers are nothing compared to the numbers of the past. They are only a fraction of the destruction. In the Atlantic article, Paleo Expert: Earth is Not in the Midst of a Sixth Mass Extinction by Eric Worrall, it says, “‘So you can ask, ‘Okay, well, how many geographically widespread, abundant, durably skeletonized marine taxa have gone extinct thus far?’ And the answer is, pretty close to zero,’ Erwin pointed out. In fact, of the best-assessed groups of modern animals—like stony corals, amphibians, birds and mammals—somewhere between 0 and 1 percent of species have gone extinct in recent human history. By comparison, the hellscape of End-Permian mass extinction claimed upwards of 90 percent of all species on earth.” Also in the Newsy article, Scientists Can't Agree If We're Really In A Mass Extinction by Sarah Schlieder it says, “Stewart Brand, president of the Long Now Foundation, says current rates don't signal a mass extinction because the past five wiped out at least 70 percent of all species in a relatively short time. He says current rates are too slow for us to be in the middle of one.” We may have killed species and caused them to become ‘endangered’ or ‘threatened’, but our actions are a fraction of what happened in the other 5 mass extinctions.

                Many people are interested in conservation and keeping animals alive and well. Fortunately, we have enough time to do this. If we were in an actual mass extinction, by this time, when we are noticing it, it would be well on its way and irreversible. If we were in a mass extinction, conservation would not be as big as it is now, and things would be dying at a higher rate. In the Atlantic article, Paleo Expert: Earth is Not in the Midst of a Sixth Mass Extinction by Eric Worrall, it says, “‘People who claim we’re in the sixth mass extinction don’t understand enough about mass extinctions to understand the logical flaw in their argument,’ he said. ‘To a certain extent they’re claiming it as a way of frightening people into action, when in fact, if it’s actually true we’re in a sixth mass extinction, then there’s no point in conservation biology.’” Another thing is that in the AEON article We are not edging up to a mass extinction by Stewart Brand it says, “The five historic mass extinctions eliminated 70 percent or more of all species in a relatively short time. That is not going on now. ‘If all currently threatened species were to go extinct in a few centuries and that rate continued,’ began a recent Nature magazine introduction to a survey of wildlife losses, ‘the sixth mass extinction could come in a couple of centuries or a few millennia.’”The rate of extinction is simply not moving fast enough for us to be in a 6th mass extinction, we don’t have enough organisms gone in the amount of time since we evolved on this planet for us to be in a mass extinction.

                Some people say that our carbon dioxide levels and greenhouse gas emissions could and are causing a mass extinction. They believe that our carbon leaks and emissions are causing a sixth mass extinction. In the MIT News article, Mathematics predicts a sixth mass extinction by Jennifer Chu it says, “Taking this reasoning forward in time, Rothman predicts that, given the recent rise in carbon dioxide emissions over a relatively short timescale, a sixth extinction will depend on whether a critical amount of carbon is added to the oceans. That amount, he calculates, is about 310 gigatons, which he estimates to be roughly equivalent to the amount of carbon that human activities will have added to the world’s oceans by the year 2100.” Well, this evidence and prediction does seem good, the problem is that this would have already happened if we were in a mass extinction. He states that this could happen by 2100, but that is in almost a century and might not even happen until later on. His argument is good, but it does not show that we are currently in a mass extinction.

                Finally, we are not in a 6th mass extinction because of global warming. While we are in global warming, that doesn’t mean that animals will all die and we will go with them. In the AEON article, We are not edging up to a mass extinction by Stewart Brand he says, “But just because organisms are sensitive to change doesn’t mean they are threatened by it. Any creature or plant facing a shifting environment has three choices: move, adapt or die.” Also, “Evolution is far more rapid and pervasive than most people realize. The activity of all organisms all the time is summarized in the title Relentless Evolution (2013) by John Thompson. As Chris Tomas, a conservation biologist at York University in the UK, told New Scientist last year: ‘It is only recently we have come to realize quite how much evolutionary change is going on.’ What we might be seeing in response to climate change, he suggested, ‘is starting to look very much like a global acceleration of evolutionary rates’.” Global warming may be a big thing, and it is very important. But Global warming does not mean that we are in a 6th mass extinction, we are just going through a rough time.

                There has been 5 devastating mass extinction recorded in Earth’s history. They wiped out many species and organisms completely with only room for those who clung to life and struggled to survive. But we will not be made the 6th. While many people say that the evidence shows this, the evidence does the opposite. Life is lived happily when optimism is part of the equation, all the news about the 6th mass extinction is putting unnecessary fear into people. Global warming and animal conservation is an important topic and people should care about it, but not because it could cause a mass extinction because it is important to care. Many people think different things, we all have different views, but that is part of being human. So next time you think about the dinosaurs, be glad that you aren’t in their situation.