Evolutionary biology

Field · 1859 onward · Biology, stage 2: Map the fields

Evolutionary biology asks how populations change over time and why organisms fit their conditions. Darwin and Wallace supplied the mechanism in 1858 and 1859: heritable variation plus differential survival is enough to produce change without direction from outside. The field then had to establish that the changes accumulate into new species and that the pattern of life is a single branching tree.

What it claims

  1. Populations, not individuals, are what evolve.
  2. Natural selection acting on heritable variation produces the fit between organism and environment.
  3. All living things descend from common ancestors, so the pattern of life is a branching tree.

Key ideas

People

Sources

  1. Evolutionary biology Wikipedia
  2. Darwinism Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophySeparates the several distinct claims that get bundled under one name.
  3. Understanding Evolution UC Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley

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Evolutionary biology: Biology, Map the fields | amphi