Angel Lopez
05-15-14
1st Hour
Evolution Essay
There are many people that have different views and beliefs on evolution. Some tend to reply with the simple line of “ I believe in science” while others say “ I believe in god” but what some people don’t understand that there are points on both sides.
The term evolution means the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of earth. The ways that species adapt to specific habitats and ways of life can also be explained by evolution. There were many different theories from Lamarck, Darwin,
Early Theories
Some of Charles Darwin ideas now might not make sense in our eyes but in his eyes at the time made all the sense in the world. His grandfather was Erasmus Darwin, he was one of the leading intellectuals of eighteenth century England. Darwin was only when he set out on a five year voyage in the ocean to study many diverse life forms.This is when he started to discover the changes in the different animals, one of them being the mockingjay. Darwin had come to the conclusion that the world was very old and species arise and change which was the method by biological evolution. Darwin believed that an animal's environment resulted in the way they changed over time, they adapted to the way of life. Once they are able to adapt they pass along the trait and the generation so forth will change slightly. An example being the Patagonian hare, Dolichotis patagonum. This animal had no native to rabbits, but it has the face of a guinea pig and is native to South America.
Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck had another theory which at the time was quite different that of what Darwins was. He was the first biologist to believe that evolution did occur, being older and having more experience; Lamarck had be the first to also link diversity with adaptation to the environment. Although during his lifetime his theories were often ignored or attacked. The study of invertebrates had been what Lamarck specialized in. His first theory of evolution had been that life just sort of appeared without coming from nonliving matter. The more research he obtained the more he had to offer information. Lamarck had strongly supported the idea of inheritance of acquired characteristics, which was when the environment can bring about inherited change. An example is that a giraffe had started off with a short neck and with time it was longer because it had to constantly stretch to reach and eat food. They passed along their long necks to their offspring. This was his most famous example.
There is microevolution is an evolution a small scale within a single population. There are different types of microevolution. An example is when brown beetles could have migrated with population of green beetles making the genes for brown beetles more frequent in green beetle population. Mutation could cause parents with genes for bright green coloration to have offspring with a gene for brown coloration, making the genes for brown coloration more frequent in the green population.Genetic Drift is the different chances you have in order to have offsprings, and the chances change from generation to generation. Natural Selection is when a selection of beetles (green) are easier to be seen by predators and they are eaten which lead to more brown beetles and the generation next with more brown beetles that before.
A fossil skeleton can tell us a lot about our past. Ardipithecus (Ardi) is the name of a fossil skeleton found in Africa. It is 4.4 million year and lived well before the famous 3.2 million year old Lucy. They had suspected that it was an adult female who weighed about 120 pounds and stood four feet tall. A lot of the body of Ardi had resembled the proportions of a distinct ape. Her feet had not developed the arch like humans, her arms were long with short legs, and her hands were more like an apes. With this skeleton they were able to examine the changes that have taken place along the human lineage.
There is a ton of information on evolution along with other information involving it. At the beginning I didn't know or understand much of what evolution was so I really hadn't believed in it but now I can say that I do in many ways. Over a period of time I have read quite a bit on fossil skeletons found and how they compared them to one another. Then they went on to compare them to apes, now I believe we did come from apes and over time we have changed. A human body has changed dramatically over time and with the new discoveries every so often we are learning more and more about our past. This can be quite interesting and convincing on my side. In the end though I do believe in the religious views, I don't believe in just science in all of it.
My Sources
MaderSylviaS.Biology.NewYork:McGraw-Hill.2007.
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/evothought.html
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