Evolution to me is how all living things are able to adapt and thrive in their environments over time. When I think about what I have been taught pertaining to evolution, I think of Charles Darwin. His theory of evolution involved the Galapagos finches and their beak shapes/length changing over time due to their resources. His ability to recognize that through competition, selective breeding, and geographical isolation new species were able to form, is amazing to me considering the time period.
I believe evolution is a fact and theory. You can see in thousands of species that they their bodies have changed over time and that new species have been created. Science's ability to evaluate and learn from remains is something that has always fascinated me. My reasoning for fact and theory is due to because while we can see physical evidence of change in species, evolutionary changes can be completely different among all living things. We have animals that look nothing like their ancestors and others have hardly changed at all. Evolution in my opinion is undeniable, but is also so subjective toward species, making it a theory and fact in my mind.
Great blog post Mary! I enjoyed that you not only began your post discussing Darwin and the finches he studied, but even praised his work and offered a few of the aspects that influence evolution. The second portion of your blog post is even more fascinating to me, as I took a similar route in defining evolution as both a broad truth, but still quite subjective and dynamic. I agree with you entirely that evolution is undeniable, but it is still so complex and diverse that we must still consider aspects of theoretical.
ReplyDeleteHi Mary
ReplyDeleteVery well said!
Cheers, Michi
Hi Mary! I think you put everything rather succinctly! I too, find it fascinating how scientists can extrapolate so much information from animals that are long gone. Every time a new living or extinct species is discovered, you can expect to find evolutionary scientists at the heart of the ordeal try to make links between different specimens on the phylogenetic tree. Your statement that evolution is both fact and theory is quite astute as well. While there plenty of examples that provide that evolution really happens, there are also other aspects to evolution that can't be observed and measured as facts dictate. So overall, great job-- I can't wait to read more in the coming weeks!
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