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18: Evolution and the Origin of Species

  • Page ID
    1807
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    The theory of evolution is the unifying theory of biology, meaning it is the framework within which biologists ask questions about the living world. Its power is that it provides direction for predictions about living things that are borne out in experiment after experiment. The Ukrainian-born American geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky famously wrote that “nothing makes sense in biology except in the light of evolution." He meant that the tenet that all life has evolved and diversified from a common ancestor is the foundation from which we approach all questions in biology.

    • 18.0: Evolution
      All species of living organisms, from bacteria to baboons to blueberries, evolved at some point from a different species. Although it may seem that living things today stay much the same, that is not the case—evolution is an ongoing process.
    • 18.1: Understanding Evolution
      Evolution by natural selection describes a mechanism for how species change over time. That species change had been suggested and debated well before Darwin began to explore this idea. The view that species were static and unchanging was grounded in the writings of Plato, yet there were also ancient Greeks who expressed evolutionary ideas.
    • 18.2: Formation of New Species
      Although all life on earth shares various genetic similarities, only certain organisms combine genetic information by sexual reproduction and have offspring that can then successfully reproduce. Scientists call such organisms members of the same biological species.
    • 18.3: Reconnection and Rates of Speciation
      Speciation occurs over a span of evolutionary time, so when a new species arises, there is a transition period during which the closely related species continue to interact.
    • 18.E: Evolution and the Origin of Species (Exercises)

    Thumbnail: A silhouette of human evolution. (CC BY-SA 3.0; Tkgd2007 via Wikimedia Commons).


    This page titled 18: Evolution and the Origin of Species is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by OpenStax.

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