How "novel" features evolve

idscience raised the old creationist question - how does macroevolution explain the development of novel features.The big problem with this question is that macroevolution does not cause any evolutionary change.All evolution occurs at the breeding population level by the process of microevolution - or just plain evolution: This is a feedback response system that is repeated in each generation: What separates (micro) evolution from the macro view of evolution (macroevolution) is the process of speciation, as evolution occurs within the breeding population, and nested hierarchies are formed by speciation events, and macroevolution is just a macro view of what occurs over several generations via evolution and speciation.If we look at the continued effects of evolution over many generations, the accumulation of changes from generation to generation may become sufficient for individuals to develop traits that are observably different from the ancestral parent population. This lineal change within species is sometimes called phyletic change in species. This is also sometimes called arbitrary speciation in that the place to draw the line between linearly evolved geneological populations is subjective and because the definition of species in general is tentative and sometimes arbitrary.If phyletic change in species was all that occurred, then all life would be one species, readily sharing DNA via horizontal transfer (asexual) and interbreeding (sexual) and various combinations. This is not the case, however, because there is a second process that results in multiple species and increases the diversity of life. Over generations phyletic change occurs in these populations, the responses to different ecologies accumulate into differences between the hereditary traits available within each of the daughter populations, and when these differences have reached a critical level, such that interbreeding no longer occurs, then the formation of new species is deemed to have occurred. After this has occurred each daughter population microevolves independently of the other/s. These are often called speciation events because the development of species is not arbitrary in this process. So is divergent speciation necessary to explain novel features?Short answer: no.Longer answer: it could occur during the process of the evolution of the feature, and it may even result in a speciation event, but it isn't necessary to explain the evolutionary process for developing a novel feature.Thus we really only need look at phyletic change within species, or evolution occurring over several generations.How many generations?The next question is: what is a novel feature? So a novel feature would be one that did not appear in the ancestral population.We can look at dogs and ask couple of questions:

1. would a dog with short legs and an elongated body compared to wolves show a novel feature?
2. would a dog with webbed feet show a novel feature?

quote:

---

Newfoundland (dog)
The Newfoundland is a breed of large dog. ... Newfoundland dogs excel at water rescue/lifesaving due to their muscular build, thick double coat, webbed feet, and innate swimming abilities.[3]

​

The Newfoundland's extremely large bones give it mass, while its large musculature gives it the power it needs to take on rough ocean waves and powerful tides. These dogs have great lung capacity for swimming extremely long distances, and a thick, oily and waterproof double coat which protects them from the chill of icy waters. The droopy lips and jowls make the dog drool.[2]

​

In the water, the dog's massive webbed paws give it maximum propulsion. The swimming stroke is not an ordinary dog paddle. Unlike other dogs, the Newfoundland moves its limbs in a down-and-out motion, which can be seen as a modified breaststroke. This gives it more power with every stroke.[2]

---

bold added.I could not find any examples of wolves with these characteristics, so are they novel features?Creationists like to argue (pointlessly) that descendants of dogs will always be dogs (while evolution says the descendants will always be members of the dog clade), but what happens when these dog descendants develop novel features, like webbed feet?We know that our dog breeds occurred by standard evolutionary processes, with artificial selection of traits that appear in the dog populations chosen by the breeders. The breeders do not cause mutations to occur, just select those they want in the breed from the ones that occur.Is that enough?Enjoy.Edited by RAZD, : clrty

this could also be added to Introduction to EvolutionEnjoy

Thread copied to the How do "novel" features evolve? thread in the Biological Evolution forum, this copy of the thread has been closed.