Phylogeny Is The Study Of Evolutionary Relationships

Over the past few centuries, humans have been questioning and debating over what makes evolution true. In Jerry Coyne’s work, Why Evolution is True, he noted two kinds of evidence from Darwin’s theory of evolution. The first evidence includes the six testable predictions of evolution: evolution, gradualism, speciation, common-ancestry, natural selection, and nonselective mechanisms of evolutionary change. The second evidence that Coyne noted in his work is the retrodiction. In Coyne’s work, Why Evolution is True, a retrodiction is the facts and data that are not necessarily predicted by the theory of evolution but it makes sense only in the light of the theory of evolution. Retrodiction uses present theories to explain events that happens in the past. Since evolution is a slow process, theories could not be tested. Therefore, we explain the existence of vestigial structures and how humans share a common ancestor with fish through the theory of evolution. Throughout the text, examples of retrodiction are the imperfect adaptation of a panda’s thumb and gill slits in the beginning stages of a human embryo. Common ancestry is proven by the existence of fossils and these evidences proves that evolution is true.

Evolution is a change in the characteristic of living organism through time. Modern synthesis, one of the greatest intellectual achievements of biology, could explain how mutations and natural selection could produced large-scale evolutionary change. There are 4 mechanisms for evolution to occur; mutation, gene flow, genetic drift and natural selection.
Although, there are a number of misconceptions about evolution; it does not explain the origins of life, it is not progressive, natural selection is not about the survival of the fittest individuals in a population, humans are not currently evolving, it does not make organism better designed nor does it gives organism what they need to survive. This essay will describe further, 3 common misconceptions

Darwin’s theory of evolution was along the lines of all life being related- each descending from a common ancestor. His theory presumes the development of life from non-life and suggests purely naturistic

By using DNA sequencing software and using comparative DNA alignment programs, scientists can piece together where the differences and similarities align and the percentage of identical DNA between two species. Another method of classifying these gene-swapping organisms is to alter the method of vertical genomics and shift to a new form of lateral genomics (Koonin et al. 2001). A method using vertical, linear genomics alone will not provide enough resources to clearly assign an organism to a taxonomic group. Also, scientists can look at gene loss over time as a method to group these organisms (Koonin et al. 2001). If scientists would rather stick with similarities to define a taxonomic group, the use of genomic instruments can provide a better picture of which genes are highly conserved between organisms of the same group (Doolittle 1999). Researchers have begun to employ this method as the means for best completing a phylogenetic tree. Using alignments of single copy genes conserved in the genome allows for scientists to achieve that vertical pattern of phylogeny that can be lost when focusing on the amount of transferred genes between groups (Lang et al. 2013).

“The main lesson of biogeography is that only evolution can explain the diversity of life on continents and islands.” (Coyne 109).In convergent evolution 3 of the six components discussed in chapter 1 are working together. These 3 components are common ancestry, speciation, and natural selection. If evolution did exist, ancestors of species today that lived in the same place, when dug up, should be fossils that resemble organisms today.

In the first chapter, Coyne discusses the basic concept outline of evolution, and brings clarity to the common misconceptions thought and said about how the science works, and the large misuse of the word theory. The first chapter of this book also defines very carefully each of the main hypothesis of evolutionary theory. Which stands in dissimilarity to many other treatments of evolution, which all have a propensity to confuse some readers by integrating different meanings of the word. Coyne also divides Darwinism into six components. They are: evolution which means change over time, gradualism which is a policy of slower change rather than sudden change or a revolution, speciation which is the evolutionary process where a new biological species

According to our text species of living things are related in some fashion similar to a branching tree. However the process is not quite that simple adaption relies on several processes and to prove this or the

A cladogram is a chart that show similarities through a selected species of organism or completely random organisms. They are basically tree like structures to show similar characteristics. Some of these characteristics may be opposable thumbs, hair, cells, or segmented bodies, although all characters can be used. There are many different names for these such charts: phylogeny, evolutionary tree, phylogenetic tree, and cladogram.(reading trees, 2006) In cladograms, there are clades, a clade is a group of species that shares a common ancestor. Each of these organisms share a common trait or traits with this ancestor. While cladograms show certain similarities between species, there is no defined strength of any of the similarities, thus all must be treated with equal meaning. This can lead to awkward situations of species which seem to bare no resemblance to each other being actually correct. This can show great evidence towards evolution only depending upon the organisms used in such a chart.

In the ‘NOVA LABS; The Evolution Lab,’ we found that creating a phylogenetic tree can show how different species are related to each other. A simple body part, like a vertebrate, can put species into a certain group. This means that history can prove that species do change over time because one branch represents a single species that has had a speciation. When a speciation occurs, over time, more branches appear with more species on each, which creates a tree that has more biodiversity. In ‘The Stickleback Fish - A Story of Modern Evolution’ activity, it states, “The Three-Spined Stickleback is a model organism for studies in evolution.” This means actions, such as breeding Stickleback, can help scientists see how the fish and other organisms evolve because the Stickleback fish has such a short life-span, that they can breed and get results, fast. In brief, history can prove that species do change over time because breeding can show how the Stickleback population has occurred and how different traits can be expressed in the future generations. In the ‘Comparative Anatomy’ activity, we found that when looking at two different species, you can see how they are related because both species can possess similar traits and forms. When comparing different species, you can see how different and similar two species’ bodily structures are. When looking at the bodily structures, you could see how the species has evolved over time and how some body parts stay the same. In short, history can prove that species do change over time because creating phylogenetic trees, breeding species, and comparing body parts can help scientist see who the species evolved from and how these species can continue to

First, I want to go over and talk about the Evolutionary Theory. The Evolutionary Theory is a theory that has been supported by years of experiments which is known as being one of the best speculation of natural occurrence. The changes on earth through different events that occurred over time could be the cause of such a variety of species to exist on

Poole, Anthony. "My Name Is LUCA—The Last Universal Common Ancestor." ActionBioscience - Promoting Bioscience Literacy. N.p., 11 Sept. 2014. Web. 01 Dec. 2016. http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/poolepaper.html

These procedures can solve many mysteries and questions. The DNA sequencing of different species can identify where it falls on the phylogenetic tree and where the population separated to produce a new species. These procedures help us understand the evolution of ancestors to the present and the connection between each species. Two separate species with multiple similarities can be observed, and bioinformatics can help answer that question.

The Darwinian view of life came into focus in 1859, when he published one of the most important books called “ On the Origin of Species by Mean of Natural Selection”. Back in Darwin’s time in the 19th century historians were being to think of evolutionary change as an explanation for patterns observed in the future. He did not invent this idea however he carried out the necessary research to document the idea. He made this book to make two valid points, “descent and modification” and “process natural selection”. Descent and modification described the evidence and support that he gathered about species. “It is an insightful phrase, as it captures the duality of life’s unity (descent) and diversity (modification).” Simon, Eric J., Jane Reece,

Biological evolution is the name for the changes in gene frequency in a population of a species from generation to generation. Evolution offers explanation to why species genetically change over years and the diversity of life on Earth. Although it is generally accepted by the scientific community, Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution has been studied and debated for several decades. In 1859, Darwin published On The Origin of Species, which introduced the idea of evolutionary thought which he supported with evidence of one type of evolutionary mechanism, natural selection. Some of the main mechanisms of evolution are natural selection, mutation, and genetic drift. The idea that all life on Earth shares a common ancestor has been around for

Starting over 500 years ago with Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Francis Bacon, and Isaac Newton paving the way for the possibility of new scientific exploration into studies such as “stratigraphy, the study of the rock and soil layers of the earth” by Robert Hooke and Carolus Linnaeus’ study of taxonomy, “the system of naming and classifying organisms” based on morphological similarities and differences, humanity would begin to uncrack the code of where life came from in a nonbiblical sense. (Fuentes, 26) Further studies by George-Louis Leclerc – Comte du Buffon, Erasmus Darwin (Charles’ grandfather), Georges Cuvier, James Hutton and Charles Lyell as well as Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet – Chevalier de Lamarck’s studies in which he “correctly identified the environment as a challenge to organisms and adaptation as the result of changing to meet environmental challenges” helped prompt the formulation of the current understanding of evolution by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace each in their own special way.