How Free Evolution Can Be Your Next Big Obsession

What is Free Evolution?

Free evolution is the idea that natural processes can cause organisms to evolve over time. This includes the evolution of new species and alteration of the appearance of existing ones.

This has been proven by numerous examples such as the stickleback fish species that can thrive in salt or fresh water, and walking stick insect varieties that have a preference for specific host plants. These typically reversible traits cannot explain fundamental changes to the basic body plan.

Evolution through Natural Selection

The development of the myriad living creatures on Earth is a mystery that has intrigued scientists for many centuries. Charles Darwin's natural selection is the best-established explanation. This happens when those who are better adapted are able to reproduce faster and longer than those who are less well-adapted. Over time, a population of well adapted individuals grows and eventually becomes a new species.

Natural selection is an ongoing process that is characterized by the interaction of three factors that are inheritance, variation and reproduction. Variation is caused by mutations and sexual reproduction both of which enhance the genetic diversity of an animal species. Inheritance is the transfer of a person's genetic characteristics to their offspring that includes recessive and dominant alleles. Reproduction is the production of fertile, viable offspring, which includes both sexual and asexual methods.

All of these factors must be in harmony to allow natural selection to take place. For instance the case where an allele that is dominant at a gene allows an organism to live and reproduce more often than the recessive allele the dominant allele will become more prevalent in the population. However, if the gene confers a disadvantage in survival or reduces fertility, it will disappear from the population. The process is self-reinforcing, which means that an organism with a beneficial trait will survive and reproduce more than one with an unadaptive trait. The more offspring an organism produces the better its fitness, which is measured by its capacity to reproduce itself and survive. Individuals with favorable traits, like having a longer neck in giraffes or bright white colors in male peacocks are more likely survive and produce offspring, which means they will eventually make up the majority of the population over time.

Natural selection is only an aspect of populations and not on individuals. This is a significant distinction from the Lamarckian theory of evolution which argues that animals acquire traits by use or inactivity. If a giraffe stretches its neck to reach prey and the neck grows longer, then the offspring will inherit this characteristic. The differences in neck length between generations will continue until the giraffe's neck gets too long to not breed with other giraffes.

Evolution through Genetic Drift

In genetic drift, the alleles at a gene may attain different frequencies within a population due to random events. Eventually, one of them will attain fixation (become so common that it cannot be removed through natural selection) and other alleles fall to lower frequency. In extreme cases, this leads to a single allele dominance. The other alleles are eliminated, and heterozygosity falls to zero. In a small group it could result in the complete elimination the recessive gene. This is known as the bottleneck effect and is typical of an evolution process that occurs when a large number individuals migrate to form a group.

A phenotypic bottleneck can also happen when the survivors of a catastrophe, such as an epidemic or a mass hunting event, are concentrated within a narrow area. The survivors will carry a dominant allele and thus will have the same phenotype. This could be caused by a war, an earthquake or even a cholera outbreak. Whatever the reason the genetically distinct population that remains could be susceptible to genetic drift.

Walsh Lewens, Walsh, and Ariew define drift as a departure from expected values due to differences in fitness. They provide a well-known example of twins that are genetically identical and have identical phenotypes, and yet one is struck by lightning and dies, whereas the other lives and reproduces.

This kind of drift could play a crucial role in the evolution of an organism. It is not the only method for evolution. Natural selection is the primary alternative, in which mutations and migration keep the phenotypic diversity in the population.

Stephens claims that there is a significant difference between treating the phenomenon of drift as an actual cause or force, and considering other causes, such as migration and selection mutation as forces and causes. He argues that a causal-process explanation of drift lets us differentiate it from other forces, and this distinction is essential. He further argues that drift has a direction, that is, it tends to eliminate heterozygosity, and that it also has a specific magnitude which is determined by the size of population.

Evolution by Lamarckism

Students of biology in high school are often introduced to Jean-Baptiste Lemarck's (1744-1829) work. His theory of evolution, also called "Lamarckism is based on the idea that simple organisms transform into more complex organisms by inheriting characteristics that are a product of the use and abuse of an organism. Lamarckism is illustrated through the giraffe's neck being extended to reach higher leaves in the trees. This would result in giraffes passing on their longer necks to offspring, which then become taller.

Lamarck the French Zoologist from France, presented an innovative idea in his opening lecture at the Museum of Natural History of Paris. He challenged conventional wisdom on organic transformation. In his opinion living things evolved from inanimate matter through an escalating series of steps. Lamarck was not the only one to suggest that this could be the case but his reputation is widely regarded as having given the subject his first comprehensive and comprehensive analysis.

The most popular story is that Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection and Lamarckism fought during the 19th century. Darwinism ultimately won and led to what biologists refer to as the Modern Synthesis. This theory denies that acquired characteristics can be inherited, and instead suggests that organisms evolve through the selective action of environmental factors, like natural selection.

Although Lamarck believed in the concept of inheritance by acquired characters and his contemporaries also spoke of this idea however, it was not 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's been more than 200 years since Lamarck was born and, in the age of genomics there is a vast amount of evidence to support the heritability of acquired traits.  에볼루션 게이밍  is referred to as "neo Lamarckism", or more often epigenetic inheritance. This is a version that is as reliable as the popular neodarwinian model.

Evolution through the process of adaptation

One of the most popular misconceptions about evolution is being driven by a fight for survival. In fact, this view misrepresents natural selection and ignores the other forces that drive evolution. The struggle for survival is more effectively described as a struggle to survive within a particular environment, which could be a struggle that involves not only other organisms, but as well the physical environment.

Understanding the concept of adaptation is crucial to understand evolution. It is a feature that allows a living thing to live in its environment and reproduce. It could be a physiological structure, like feathers or fur or a behavior, such as moving into shade in hot weather or coming out at night to avoid the cold.

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

These elements, in conjunction with mutation and gene flow can result in an alteration in the percentage of alleles (different forms of a gene) in the gene pool of a population. The change in frequency of alleles can result in the emergence of new traits, and eventually, new species over time.

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

Physiological adaptations, like thick fur or gills are physical traits, while behavioral adaptations, like the tendency to seek out companions or to retreat to the shade during hot weather, aren't. It is also important to keep in mind that the absence of planning doesn't make an adaptation. In fact, failing to think about the implications of a choice can render it unadaptable despite the fact that it might appear reasonable or even essential.