Key points of Evolution

It is getting close to the 300 post limit, and there are still some unresolved questions for Wumpini and others about evolution. I would like to take this time to summarize what I feel are the key points of evolution:

1. Evolution is simple. There are a few basic principles that are sufficient for a basic understanding of real evolution (not creationist mythology).
   

   Evolution is the change in hereditary traits in populations from generation to generation.

   
   This can easily be observed in the world around us. No two individual organisms are identical, every breeding population is composed of individuals with different mixtures of variations in traits. Some of those individuals will be more successful at surviving and breeding than other individuals. This results in their being able to pass on genes to more of the next generation than others, thus changing the mixture of traits from one generation to the next. Their relative success or failure to survive and breed are related to the phenotype of each individual organism and to the ecology in which they are living. Different phenotypes will have different relative success or failure in different ecologies.
   ​
2. Diversity is inevitable. Every subpopulation of every species inhabits a different ecology, although differences may seem relatively minor. Traits that are advantageous in one ecology can be disadvantageous or neutral in others, thus the relative success or failure of different phenotypes will be different results in different ecologies. Without sharing of the genepools between subpopulations inhabiting different ecologies, the subpopulations will inevitably diverge based on the different relative success or failure of different phenotypes to survive and reproduce in the different ecologies. Because the earth ecology is constantly changing, the relative success or failure of different phenotypes to survive and breed will be changing from generation to generation. Because catastrophic change to ecologies do occur, isolation of subpopulations will occur that will prevent sharing of the genepools between the subpopulations.
   ​
3. Time only increases the effect. Once subpopulations have become non-mixing daughter species from their respective common ancestor parent population there is no mechanism to remix, reintegrate, rejoin two species into one. It is inevitable that they will become increasingly diversified from each other and that they too will have subpopulations living in different ecologies that will accumulate different traits with different success and failure in survival and breeding for the various phenotypes in each subpopulation. It is inevitable that isolation will occur, it is inevitable that as time passes the process will repeat time after time.
   ​
4. The Theory of Evolution can be briefly stated as the theory that these simple, ongoing, inevitable, processes are sufficient to have caused all the diversity of life we know, from the world around us, from history, from the natural history of geology and paleontology, and from the genetic record embedded in the DNA of all living (and many dead) organisms.

The evolution has been observed, both in the changes in traits from generation to generation, and in the separation of subpopulations where gene mixing ceases, and in the different results in different ecologies. In this regard we have factual evidence that all these processes of evolution have occurred and will continue to occur. We also see exactly the same trends in the fossil record. We also see exactly the same trends in relationships between different populations of organisms in the fossil record and in the genetic record, thus confirming the relationships of organisms to common ancestor populations.

We can say that evolution is a fact of life, and that as a result, diversity is inevitable.

The only remaining real question, then, that creationists can have is not whether evolution occurs, but how far back can we go to determine how many common ancestor populations were involved at the start of the process.Enjoy.

---

we are limited in our ability to understand
by our ability to understand
RebelAAmericanOZen[Deist
... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ...
to share.

---

• • • Join the effort to solve medical problems, AIDS/HIV, Cancer and more with Team EvC! (click) • • •

This thread will close soon, and a lot of comments have passed since you replied to my post, so I will suggest continuing on another threadhttp://EvC Forum: Dogs will be Dogs will be ??? -->EvC Forum: Dogs will be Dogs will be ??? This is called "punctuated equilibrium" and there is some debate over how different the different rates can or need to be. There are no wild wolves that are like dogs. There are no wild foxes like the "domesticated" ones. These subpopulation have become genetically as well as behaviorally different from their ancestor populations. This demonstrates that a fair degree of diversity and variation is available for evolution over fairly short periods of time, while still only involving the change in hereditary traits in populations from one generation to the next.This is the heart of the argument in the Dogs will be dogs thread.Enjoy.

---

we are limited in our ability to understand
by our ability to understand
RebelAAmericanOZen[Deist
... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ...
to share.

---

• • • Join the effort to solve medical problems, AIDS/HIV, Cancer and more with Team EvC! (click) • • •

Hi alaninont, welcome to the fray Selection. Because not all organisms can survive and breed at will, some will and some won't. Just as artificial selection - your guidance provided by humans within breeding programs - does not create new features, it just selects those that are preferred by the breeder/s, so does selection occur naturally because there are differences between organisms. These differences result in different ability to survive and breed.Differential survival and reproduction of organisms within a population, when not all members can survive and breed, results in selection of traits that favor survival and breeding: some organisms will be better able to survive, some will be better able to breed, some will be better at both.Obviously any organism that dies before it reproduces will not pass on their hereditary traits to the next generation.Obviously an organims that has many offspring will pass on their hereditary traits in a higher proportion than those that only have a few offspring.Enjoy.Edited by RAZD, : t

---

we are limited in our ability to understand
by our ability to understand
Rebel American Zen Deist
... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ...
to share.

---

• • • Join the effort to solve medical problems, AIDS/HIV, Cancer and more with Team EvC! (click) • • •