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What is Free Evolution?

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

This is evident in numerous examples such as the stickleback fish species that can live in fresh or saltwater and walking stick insect varieties that are apprehensive about particular host plants. These reversible traits cannot explain fundamental changes to the body's basic plans.

Evolution by Natural Selection

Scientists have been fascinated by the evolution of all the living creatures that live on our planet for ages. The most widely accepted explanation is Charles Darwin's natural selection, an evolutionary process that is triggered when more well-adapted individuals live longer and reproduce more successfully than those who are less well-adapted. Over time, the population of well-adapted individuals becomes larger and eventually forms a new species.

Natural selection is a process that is cyclical and involves the interaction of 3 factors: variation, reproduction and inheritance. Mutation and sexual reproduction increase genetic diversity in a species. Inheritance refers to the passing of a person's genetic traits to his or her offspring that includes recessive and dominant alleles. Reproduction is the process of producing fertile, viable offspring, which includes both sexual and asexual methods.

All of these variables have to be in equilibrium to allow natural selection to take place. If, for example an allele of a dominant gene allows an organism to reproduce and survive more than the recessive gene allele, then the dominant allele will become more prevalent in a population. If the allele confers a negative survival advantage or lowers the fertility of the population, it will disappear. This process is self-reinforcing which means that an organism that has an adaptive trait will survive and reproduce much more than those with a maladaptive feature. The higher the level of fitness an organism has which is measured by its ability to reproduce and endure, is the higher number of offspring it produces. People with desirable traits, like longer necks in giraffes and bright white colors in male peacocks are more likely survive and produce offspring, and thus will eventually make up the majority of the population in the future.

Natural selection is only a factor in populations and not on individuals. This is a major distinction from the Lamarckian evolution theory, which states that animals acquire traits either through use or lack of use. For instance, if the giraffe's neck gets longer through reaching out to catch prey and its offspring will inherit a larger neck. The difference in neck size between generations will increase until the giraffe is no longer able to reproduce with other giraffes.

Evolution through Genetic Drift

In genetic drift, alleles at a gene may be at different frequencies within a population through random events. In the end, only one will be fixed (become common enough to no more be eliminated through natural selection), and the other alleles will diminish in frequency. In the extreme, this leads to dominance of a single allele. The other alleles are eliminated, and heterozygosity decreases to zero. In a small number of people this could result in the complete elimination of recessive allele. This scenario is called a bottleneck effect, and it is typical of the kind of evolutionary process when a large number of individuals migrate to form a new group.

A phenotypic bottleneck could occur when survivors of a disaster, such as an epidemic or a mass hunting event, are condensed into a small area. The survivors will have a dominant allele and thus will share the same phenotype. This could be caused by earthquakes, war, or even plagues. Regardless of the cause the genetically distinct population that remains could be susceptible to genetic drift.

Walsh Lewens and Ariew utilize Lewens, Walsh, and Ariew use a "purely outcome-oriented" definition of drift as any deviation from the expected values of differences in fitness. They give a famous example of twins that are genetically identical, have identical phenotypes and yet one is struck by lightning and dies, whereas the other lives and reproduces.

This kind of drift could be crucial in the evolution of an entire species. However, it is not the only way to develop.  에볼루션 사이트  is a process known as natural selection, where phenotypic variation in an individual is maintained through mutation and migration.

Stephens asserts that there is a big difference between treating drift as a force or as a cause and considering other causes of evolution like selection, mutation and migration as causes or causes. He claims that a causal process explanation of drift allows us to distinguish it from other forces, and this distinction is crucial. He further argues that drift is both an orientation, i.e., it tends to reduce heterozygosity. It also has a size, which is determined by the size of the population.

Evolution by Lamarckism

When students in high school take biology classes, they are frequently introduced to the work of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744 - 1829). His theory of evolution is commonly called "Lamarckism" and it states that simple organisms grow into more complex organisms by the inheritance of traits which result from the organism's natural actions use and misuse. Lamarckism can be demonstrated by an giraffe's neck stretching to reach higher levels of leaves in the trees. This causes giraffes' longer necks to be passed onto their offspring who would then become taller.

Lamarck Lamarck, a French zoologist, presented an idea that was revolutionary in his opening lecture at the Museum of Natural History of Paris. He challenged the conventional wisdom on organic transformation. In his view living things evolved from inanimate matter through a series of gradual steps. Lamarck wasn't the only one to make this claim however he was widely regarded as the first to provide the subject a thorough and general treatment.

The prevailing story is that Lamarckism became an opponent to Charles Darwin's theory of evolutionary natural selection and that the two theories fought each other in the 19th century. Darwinism eventually triumphed and led to the development of what biologists now refer to as the Modern Synthesis. The theory denies that acquired characteristics can be passed down through generations and instead argues that organisms evolve through the selective influence of environmental factors, such as Natural Selection.

While Lamarck supported the notion of inheritance through acquired characters, and his contemporaries also offered a few words about this idea, it was never an integral part of any of their theories about evolution. This is due in part to the fact that it was never tested scientifically.

It has been more than 200 years since the birth of Lamarck and in the field of age genomics there is a growing evidence-based body of evidence to support the heritability of acquired traits. This is also referred to as "neo Lamarckism", or more often epigenetic inheritance. It is a version of evolution that is as valid as the more well-known neo-Darwinian model.

Evolution by the process of adaptation

One of the most popular misconceptions about evolution is its being driven by a fight for survival. This view is inaccurate and overlooks other forces that drive evolution. The fight for survival is more accurately described as a struggle to survive in a particular environment. This can include not just other organisms as well as the physical environment.

To understand how evolution works it is important to understand what is adaptation. The term "adaptation" refers to any specific characteristic that allows an organism to live and reproduce within its environment. It can be a physical structure, like feathers or fur. Or it can be a characteristic of behavior such as moving into the shade during hot weather or moving out to avoid the cold at night.

The survival of an organism depends on its ability to obtain energy from the surrounding environment and interact with other living organisms and their physical surroundings. The organism must possess the right genes to create offspring, and be able to find enough food and resources. The organism should also be able reproduce at a rate that is optimal for its particular niche.

These factors, along with mutation and gene flow can result in an alteration in the percentage of alleles (different forms of a gene) in a population's gene pool. This change in allele frequency can result in the emergence of new traits and eventually new species in the course of time.

A lot of the traits we find appealing in plants and animals are adaptations. For instance the lungs or gills which extract oxygen from the air feathers and fur as insulation and long legs to get away from predators, and camouflage to hide. However, a proper understanding of adaptation requires a keen eye to the distinction between the physiological and behavioral traits.

Physiological adaptations, such as thick fur or gills, are physical traits, whereas behavioral adaptations, like the desire to find companions or to retreat into the shade in hot weather, aren't. Additionally, it is important to remember that a lack of thought does not mean that something is an adaptation. In fact, failure to think about the consequences of a choice can render it unadaptive, despite the fact that it appears to be sensible or even necessary.