Thursday, February 19, 2015

Evidence of Evolution

There are many different parts of evidence to the process of evolution. The anatomy of animals (cetaceans and land mammals are examples) have a very close relationship, which reinforces the fact of all living things being related. 

For this example, we will take whales. Whales seem as if they are simply just gigantic fish, however their anatomy and structure are a lot different than normal fish. For starters, they have placentas (give live birth), feed milk to their young, and have whiskers. Yup, whales have whiskers. Unlike many other organisms in the ocean, they are warm blooded. They also have completely developed lungs (LIKE US). Whales also use blowholes to breathe, like dolphins (however, dolphins only have one blowhole, which connects to two nostrils in the skull. They also contain arms, wrists, hands, and fingers all in their bodies. Surprisingly, they are most related to hippos. Embryos, which are used for almost all animals, are surprisingly closely related. Not only anatomy, but also embryos. One cannot really tell the difference between embryos in the beginning stage.
Basilosaurus Whale Skull












Fossils also prove evolution. Two types of Basilosaurus Whales used to live with each other around 40 million years ago. Their nostrils, which one can see when they look at the whale's skull, are placed in the middle of their head. Mammals have nostrils in the front of their skull, while other cetaceans have it on the top of their head. These nostrils are found in the middle. Maiacetus Inuus use to live millions of years ago, and was practically a walking whale.
Dolphin Skull
DNA Comparisons are a major part of evidence for evolution. Whales have the highest genetic match to hippopotamuses (previously explained).

Just for fun

What is Evolution?

Evolution is an explanation for how life has changed since it started. This can be defined as any change in the heritable traits or genepool within a population across generations. One of the main claims of evolution is that all species share a common ancestor. Through evolution, that organism’s offspring diversified into all species present on Earth today. Evolution takes place when there is a mutation in an individual’s genes. These mutations lead to certain traits, such as opposable thumbs in humans. If the individual has children, it may pass on its traits to them. Therefore, evolution has occurred. Over the history of life, enough mutations have occurred that one single species has evolved into millions of unique organisms.

Citations

www.nearingkolob.com

rbssbiology11ilos.wikispaces.com


www.exploringnature.org


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http://www.lucasbrouwers.nl/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Evo_large.gif

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How does it work?

Five Mechanisms
  1. Reduced Population
    1. The population can shrink, then chance can take over
  2. Mating
    1. Image result for adaptation picturesIf people mate because of looks or location then frequency can occur
    2. If two people mate because of a same trait they can start a new population
    3. If no one mates with a person because of a trait, that population will become extinct
  3. Mutation - can affect the frequency
    1. For example: If a mutation creates a new skin color then it can create a new gene in the gene pool
  4. Movement - gene flow
    1. People can immigrate and emigrate
    2. This changes the frequency of genes in its gene pool
  5. Adaptation - form of natural selection
    1. Animals or beings adapt to their environment in order to survive
    2. Image result for natural selection picturesFor example: People in the north have red hair, which is good for absorbing sunlight and getting more vitamin D


Natural Selection


  • Image result for evolution picturesNatural selection is the process in which nature “chooses” its offspring. This means that a trait that is less desirable than others will go extinct, and the other remaining animals that were more successful will continue to thrive and flourish.