Questions tagged [evolution]
Changes in the heritable attributes of populations of organisms over time. The mechanisms of evolution are mutation, migration, drift, and selection.
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If coral didn't exist, would jellyfish not exist either? (Or vice versa)
Is the evolution of corals, sea anenomes and jellyfish intrinsically linked to the point where if say corals did not evolve, neither would jellyfish? Or vice versa.
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Evolution: probability of certain complex organisms
I know this is a contested philosophical subject, creationists sometimes claim that certain organisms are too complex for random mutations to have played a part. Is there a good mathematical ...
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Is there a metric for “evolutionary agility”?
By "evolutionary agility" I mean how fast an organism can adapt to changes in the environment. I’d imagine that a population with more offspring and a shorter time between generations would ...
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is it possible to create an mini earth [closed]
so i was thinking about this for a while now but i need a professional Biologist with this one,
is it possible to create a mini earth about an half meter world containing all the resources that could ...
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Do we know what the earliest stages of integument like fur or feathers looked like?
From either fossil evidence or from developmental evidence, are there any models for what the earliest stages of the evolution of fur, feathers or similar structures like pycnofibres would have looked ...
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Did humans evolve the ability to swim? Or is it just luck that we are able to swim?
Many animals like ducks have evolved features to be able to swim. Even not so aquatic animals like a tiger evolved so that its feet can act as paddles. In humans I don't see any direct feature that ...
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Why does the sandalwood tree produce a fragrant oil?
Why do sandal trees produce fragrant oil? Is there any purpose for it? Is it to make it unpalatable for other herbivorous animals? If so, why do humans find the fragrance pleasing?
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Evolution: Can the genotype frequencies change, but the allele frequencies remain constant?
If a population isn't evolving because it's in Hardy-Weinberg (HW) equilibrium, then I know that both genotype and allele frequencies must stay constant.
My question is, can evolution still not occur ...
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What factors have led to selection for intelligence in crows and rooks?
The Corvidae family could include some of the smartest species after primates. What could be the factors that differentiate them from other species of birds that have determined their potential for ...
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When life first formed in earth's ocean, was it salty yet?
Do we have any tangible proof, e.g. by studying fossils of primitive life forms, that during their time the ocean was already salty, and at roughly similar levels to today's, or on the contrary, that ...
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The fraction of the genome that is evolutionarily conserved through purifying selection is less than 10%?
I would appreciate help in understanding the meaning, logic, and, in particular, how to interpret the phrase:
The fraction of the genome that is evolutionarily conserved through purifying selection ...
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Do mitochondria have pili and can they do horizontal gene transfer
I was recently thinking about the similarities of mitochondria to prokaryotes.
Since mitochondria (according to the endosymbiotic theory) derived from prokaryote species before they became part of ...
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Is natural selection actually random?
In the Theory of Evolution, two main factors take place:
One is random, which are the different mutations that organisms' DNA suffer. This process adds genetic variability to a given population.
The ...
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Tree-pest coevolution
Many trees first reproduce decades after germination. Many pests of trees reproduce in under a year. It would seem that the pests have an advantage in the evolutionary arms-race, as they can evolve ...
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How is knowledge about farming transfered between generations in farming ants
There are some varieties of ants capable of "agriculture", e.g. dairing ants farming aphids and leaf-cutting ants farming fungus.
How is the knowledge about the techniques involved passed ...
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It is possible that for an immortal species to arise via biological evolution?
It is possible that for an immortal species to arise via biological evolution?
In biological evolution, living organisms continues to change. However, is there a point wherein evolution stops due to ...
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Is there any description about how microbes spread from a small place to a very large place?
Is there any materials (such as books, papers or others) about how microbes (such as the bacteria or virus) or a special kind of microbe spread from a small place to a very large area (such as the ...
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How does sleep prevent our eyes from drying out?
If we don't sleep for about 16 hours, our eyes start to get dry, and no amount of eye drops helps. You use eye drops and then you're dry 10 minutes later.
However, after you've slept for 8 hours, your ...
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Examples of species whose extinct common ancestor is well documented?
If we follow the ascendence line of two closely related species we can build a
"Theoretical" common ancestor, whose characteristics were inherited with few differences by the offspring.
<...
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Why largest cats so much larger than canids?
It is striking to me that there is no dog-like creature larger than a wolf while there are at least two species, tigers and lions, many (at least twice and probably 3 or 4) times the size of the ...
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Why do we anthromorphize evolution and genes and nature?
Books sometimes says things "Our genes want us to have as many children as possible", or "Evolution
wants the fittest to survive". But genes are not conscious entities who can want ...
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Are there real world examples of one way isolation between two populations?
I know that for two populations A and B, there are situations in which there is a two way exchange of individuals between the populations, and there are situations in which there is no exchange of ...
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Is it possible for a invertebrate to evolve features like that of a vertebrate or BECOME a being similar to that of a vertebrate? [closed]
Could a invertebrate, for this lets say, a centipede/millipede, evolve into something like that of Pikaia? or something similar? Just an invertebrate turning into something similar or what would look ...
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Is evolution the reason why water is colourless for our eyes?
Liquid water is transparent to most of the visible spectra, whereas it absorbs infrared.
Similarly, the air is almost transparent to the visible spectra too.
Could these be the reasons why our eyes ...
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Do viruses pickup new genetic sequences from the host cell?
Virus replication does not involve meiosis so the virus genome does not gain diversity from having two parents , so other than from mutation, do viruses obtain new genetic sequences from the host cell ...
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Are there animals that have evolved a resistance to human activity or encroachment?
There are countless sources, both peer-reviewed and popular, explaining how overuse and misuse of antibiotics is breeding a new generation of antibiotic-resistant "superbugs" such as MRSA (Methicillin-...
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Does epigenetics suggest there is at least some element of truth to Lamarckism?
I am not a biologist. But googling "epigenetics lamarck", I find many different opinions:
For: Lamarck rises from his grave, Epigenetics: Lamarck’s Revenge?, Darwin’s theory ... is incomplete without ...
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Why is cannibalism not an evolutionary stable situation?
In the 'the selfish gene' Dawkins writes (page 109):
"The reason lions do not hunt lions is that it would not be an ESS (evolutionary stable situation) for them to do so. A cannibal strategy would be ...
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mircro evolution in human
I know that microevolution has been experemnted on Lizards
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2008/04/lizard-evolution-island-darwin/
it is clear that creatures evolve with new environment
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Cell division in primordial eucaryotes
The evolution of eucaryotic cells is usually described as an event wherein one procaryote engulfed another probably smaller procaryote and rather than the engulfed procaryote being taken apart the two ...
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Why is selection less effective in small populations than in larger?
I can understand that the genetic drift has a higher impact on smaller populations, but what does it mean for the selection to be less effective in small populations than higher?
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About what percent of mutations are not adaptive?
Many popular texts that discuss evolution and natural selection often mention that many (or most) mutations are bad (not adaptive).
Have there been any studies on what the rough percentages are? (E.g....
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Are there known chains of beneficial mutations?
Are there known examples of chains of beneficial mutations?
What I mean by that is a mutation that leads to a series of mutations occurring after each other over a relatively short period of time ...
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Century old trees and evolution
We always think of natural selection as occurring at the level of populations not individuals. how about century old trees where germline is being produced from constantly dividing cells. Are all ...
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Question regarding the number of alleles
Why is it that in biology we often say that a gene has two alleles? When we analyze allele frequencies (e.g. using Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium), formulas are often generalized for two alleles of a gene....
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How do chromosome count differences produce viable offspring during speciation in animals with sexual reproduction
So, many closely related animals have different chromosome counts.
It would seem that most chromosome count differences lead to sterile offspring. Further, it would appear that gametes with ...
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Is there any evidence that discards the possibility of an organism-aided evolution?
The theory of evolution of Darwin is mostly accepted nowadays, while Lamark theory has been abandoned. There are many experiments that show that experiences do not alter the genes or are passed to ...
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Should the fly rules of starlings flock belong to proximate reason or Ultimate reason?
Since for Proximate (or mechanistic), causation it should explain how actions occur in terms of the genetic, neurological, hormonal, and skeletal–muscular mechanisms involved. But fly rules does not ...
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In what ways does the number of legs affect an animal's functioning?
After much research, I've only been able to find specific examples of leg-number's impact on locomotion and dexterity (and/or object manipulation). I feel as though there must be other ways it has a ...
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First neurotransmitter?
Cnidaria are considered to be the first phyla to develop a nervous system. Nervous systems having 1, 2 and three neurons are considered to have appeared first in Cnidaria, with 2-neuron nervous ...
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Why did we lose our fourth type of cone cell (in the eye)?
Most species of birds, reptiles and fish have four types of cone cells in their retina, thus they have four independent channels for conveying color information. They are:
short-wave (S) cones: ...
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Why do humans have flat faces, as compared to chimps?
Apparently adult, particularly older human faces resemble infantile chimps more tham they resemble any other adult hominid.
And adult humans even have as many body hair follicles as infantile chimps. ...
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Recommended books and articles on the origin and evolution of sexual reproduction? [closed]
I'm interested in learning about the origin and evolution of life on Earth. In particular, one topic that puzzles me a lot as a layman is the evolution of sexual reproduction, since the DNA mutations ...
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Why do flexor and extensor group of lower limb attach on opposite sides in forelimb of mammals?
The flexor and extensor group of the forearm attach on the medial and lateral condyle of the ulna respectively. What is the evolutionary explanation for that? Selected for to favour internal and ...
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Are there computational models verifying the feasibility that complex biological systems can emerge by random mutations plus natural selection?
I am interested in studying the theoretical feasibility that very complex systems such as the vascular system, the respiratory system, the nervous system, the digestive system, among others, could ...
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Can DNA be used directly to determine the age of a mutation?
I've studied that proteins found in a sample as biochemical evidences for evolution. Its variation in structure and configuration can be used to date the age when that mutation occured, effectively ...
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Is there a bacterium that became a virus?
Is it possible for a virus to be a descendant of a bacterium that was not through horizontal gene transfer?
How I think this could happen:
Suppose a species of bacteria lives in an environment where ...
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Why animals haven’t yet evolve in 2020? [closed]
In past when I was born like 1990s I notice most animals haven’t evolved in 30yrs. Example cats haven’t gain more muscular body as to be strong to defend themselves from predators like well many ...
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How would evolution explain parastitic wasps? [duplicate]
I read this article about wasps that can do "brain surgery" on cockroaches.
https://www.wired.com/2014/02/absurd-creature-of-the-week-jewel-wasp/
How does evolution create such a thing?
The brain ...
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Why such diversity in sexual dimorphism in passerines?
In searching for info to answer my question, I’ve found a fascinating 1998 article by Owens and Hartley from Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B. It reports such cool findings as that
When we break up plumage-...
