What Free Evolution Experts Would Like You To Learn

What is Free Evolution?

Free evolution is the idea that the natural processes of organisms can lead to their development over time. This includes the development of new species and the transformation of the appearance of existing ones.

A variety of examples have been provided of this, including various kinds of stickleback fish that can be found in salt or fresh water, as well as walking stick insect varieties that are attracted to specific host plants. These typically reversible traits are not able to explain fundamental changes to basic body plans.

Evolution through Natural Selection

The development of the myriad living creatures on Earth is a mystery that has intrigued scientists for decades. The best-established explanation is that of Charles Darwin's natural selection process, a process that occurs when better-adapted individuals survive and reproduce more successfully than those less well adapted. Over time, a population of well-adapted individuals increases and eventually becomes a new species.

Natural selection is an ongoing process that is characterized by the interaction of three elements including inheritance, variation, and reproduction. Variation is caused by mutation and sexual reproduction both of which increase the genetic diversity within a species. Inheritance is the term used to describe the transmission of a person’s genetic traits, which include both dominant and recessive genes, to their offspring. Reproduction is the generation of fertile, viable offspring, which includes both asexual and sexual methods.

Natural selection is only possible when all the factors are in harmony. If, for instance an allele of a dominant gene makes an organism reproduce and live longer than the recessive allele The dominant allele is more prevalent in a group. However, if the allele confers a disadvantage in survival or decreases fertility, it will be eliminated from the population. This process is self-reinforcing which means that an organism with a beneficial trait is more likely to survive and reproduce than an individual with an unadaptive characteristic. The more offspring that an organism has, the greater its fitness, which is measured by its ability to reproduce itself and survive. Individuals with favorable characteristics, such as a long neck in giraffes, or bright white color patterns on male peacocks are more likely than others to live and reproduce, which will eventually lead to them becoming the majority.

Natural selection is an element in the population and not on individuals. This is a major distinction from the Lamarckian evolution theory which holds that animals acquire traits either through the use or absence of use. If a giraffe extends its neck in order to catch prey and the neck grows longer, then its children will inherit this characteristic. The difference in neck size between generations will increase until the giraffe is unable to reproduce with other giraffes.

Evolution through Genetic Drift

Genetic drift occurs when the alleles of one gene are distributed randomly within a population. Eventually, one of them will reach fixation (become so widespread that it is unable to be removed by natural selection), while the other alleles drop to lower frequency. In extreme cases, this leads to a single allele dominance. The other alleles have been basically eliminated and heterozygosity has been reduced to zero. In  see this  could lead to the total elimination of the recessive allele. Such a scenario would be known as a bottleneck effect and it is typical of evolutionary process that occurs when a large amount of people migrate to form a new group.

A phenotypic  bottleneck can also occur when the survivors of a disaster such as an outbreak or mass hunting incident are concentrated in a small area. The survivors will share an allele that is dominant and will have the same phenotype. This situation could be caused by war, earthquakes or even plagues. Whatever the reason, the genetically distinct population that remains could be prone to genetic drift.

Walsh, Lewens and Ariew define drift as a deviation from the expected values due to differences in fitness. They give a famous example of twins that are genetically identical and have identical phenotypes and yet one is struck by lightening and dies while the other lives and reproduces.

This type of drift is very important in the evolution of a species. However, it's not the only way to progress. Natural selection is the most common alternative, where mutations and migration keep phenotypic diversity within a population.

Stephens claims that there is a major distinction between treating drift as a force or an underlying cause, and considering other causes of evolution like selection, mutation and migration as forces or causes. He argues that a causal-process model of drift allows us to distinguish it from other forces, and this distinction is essential. He also argues that drift has a direction, that is it tends to eliminate heterozygosity. It also has a magnitude, that is determined by the size of the population.

Evolution through Lamarckism

Students of biology in high school are frequently exposed to Jean-Baptiste lamarck's (1744-1829) work. His theory of evolution, often called "Lamarckism which means that simple organisms transform into more complex organisms by taking on traits that are a product of an organism's use and disuse. Lamarckism is illustrated through an giraffe's neck stretching to reach higher branches in the trees. This would cause the longer necks of giraffes to be passed on to their offspring who would grow taller.

Lamarck Lamarck, a French Zoologist from France, presented an innovative idea in his opening lecture at the Museum of Natural History of Paris. He challenged the previous thinking on organic transformation. According to Lamarck, living creatures evolved from inanimate material through a series gradual steps. Lamarck was not the first to suggest that this might be the case, but the general consensus is that he was the one having given the subject its first broad and thorough treatment.

The most popular story is that Lamarckism was a rival to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection and that the two theories fought it out in the 19th century. Darwinism eventually won, leading to the development of what biologists today call the Modern Synthesis. The Modern Synthesis theory denies that acquired characteristics can be acquired through inheritance and instead suggests that organisms evolve through the action of environmental factors, such as natural selection.

Lamarck and his contemporaries endorsed the notion that acquired characters could be passed down to the next generation. However, this notion was never a central part of any of their evolutionary theories. This is largely due to the fact that it was never validated scientifically.

It's been over 200 years since the birth of Lamarck and in the field of age genomics there is a growing evidence base that supports the heritability of acquired traits. This is referred to as "neo Lamarckism", or more generally epigenetic inheritance. This is a version that is just as valid as the popular neodarwinian model.

Evolution by adaptation

One of the most widespread misconceptions about evolution is that it is driven by a type of struggle for survival. This view is inaccurate and overlooks other forces that drive evolution. The struggle for survival is more accurately described as a struggle to survive within a particular environment, which can be a struggle that involves not only other organisms but also the physical environment itself.

To understand how evolution operates, it is helpful to think about what adaptation is. The term "adaptation" refers to any characteristic that allows a living organism to survive in its environment and reproduce. It could be a physical structure like feathers or fur. Or it can be a trait of behavior, like moving to the shade during hot weather, or escaping the cold at night.

The survival of an organism is dependent on its ability to extract energy from the environment and interact with other organisms and their physical environments. The organism must possess the right genes to produce offspring and to be able to access enough food and resources. The organism should also be able reproduce itself at a rate that is optimal for its specific niche.

These elements, along with mutations and gene flow can cause changes in the proportion of different alleles within the gene pool of a population. This shift in the frequency of alleles can lead to the emergence of new traits, and eventually new species over time.

Many of the characteristics we admire about animals and plants are adaptations, like the lungs or gills that extract oxygen from the air, feathers or fur for insulation, long legs for running away from predators and camouflage to hide. However, a proper understanding of adaptation requires attention to the distinction between physiological and behavioral characteristics.

Physical characteristics like large gills and thick fur are physical traits. Behavioral adaptations are not like the tendency of animals to seek out companionship or to retreat into the shade in hot weather. Furthermore it is important to understand that a lack of thought does not mean that something is an adaptation. Inability to think about the implications of a choice even if it seems to be logical, can make it inflexible.