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What is Free Evolution?

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

A variety of examples have been provided of this, including different kinds of stickleback fish that can live in either fresh or salt water and walking stick insect varieties that are attracted to particular host plants. These are mostly reversible traits, however, cannot explain fundamental changes in body plans.

Evolution through Natural Selection

The evolution of the myriad living creatures on Earth is an enigma that has fascinated scientists for decades. Charles Darwin's natural selection theory is the most well-known explanation. This is because individuals who are better-adapted survive and reproduce more than those who are less well-adapted. As time passes, the number of well-adapted individuals grows and eventually develops into an entirely new species.

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

Natural selection is only possible when all these elements are in harmony. For example when a dominant allele at the gene allows an organism to live and reproduce more frequently than the recessive one, the dominant allele will become more common within 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, meaning that an organism that has a beneficial trait can reproduce and survive longer than an individual with a maladaptive characteristic. The higher the level of fitness an organism has which is measured by its ability to reproduce and endure, is the higher number of offspring it produces. People with good characteristics, like longer necks in giraffes and bright white color patterns in male peacocks are more likely be able to survive and create offspring, and thus will make up the majority of the population over time.

Natural selection is a factor in populations and not on individuals. This is a major distinction from the Lamarckian evolution theory that states that animals acquire traits either through usage or inaction. For instance, if the giraffe's neck gets longer through stretching to reach prey and its offspring will inherit a longer neck. The length difference between generations will continue until the giraffe's neck gets too long to no longer breed with other giraffes.

Evolution by Genetic Drift

Genetic drift occurs when alleles from one gene are distributed randomly in a population. At some point, one will attain fixation (become so widespread that it cannot be eliminated by natural selection), while the other alleles drop to lower frequency. In the extreme, this leads to one allele dominance. The other alleles are essentially eliminated, and heterozygosity is reduced to zero. In a small number of people it could result in the complete elimination of recessive gene. Such a scenario would be called a bottleneck effect, and it is typical of the kind of evolutionary process when a large amount of individuals move to form a new group.

A phenotypic bottleneck can also occur when survivors of a catastrophe, such as an epidemic or a mass hunting event, are concentrated within a narrow area. The survivors will share an dominant allele, and will share the same phenotype. This situation could be caused by earthquakes, war, or even plagues. Whatever the reason, the genetically distinct population that remains could be prone to genetic drift.

Walsh Lewens and Ariew employ Lewens, Walsh, and Ariew use a "purely outcome-oriented" definition of drift as any departure from the expected values of differences in fitness. They give a famous example of twins that are genetically identical, have identical phenotypes but one is struck by lightning and dies, whereas the other lives and reproduces.

This type of drift can play a very important role in the evolution of an organism. This isn't the only method of evolution. The main alternative is a process called natural selection, in which phenotypic variation in an individual is maintained through mutation and migration.

Stephens asserts that there is a huge difference between treating the phenomenon of drift as a force or cause, and treating other causes like migration and selection mutation as causes and forces. He claims that a causal process explanation of drift allows us to distinguish it from other forces, and that this distinction is essential. He further argues that drift has both a direction, i.e., it tends towards eliminating heterozygosity. It also has a size, that is determined by the size of the population.

Evolution through Lamarckism

When high school students study biology, they are often introduced to the work of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744 - 1829). His theory of evolution, often referred to as “Lamarckism”, states that simple organisms develop into more complex organisms through inheriting characteristics that result from the use and abuse of an organism. Lamarckism is illustrated through a giraffe extending its neck to reach higher branches in the trees. This would cause the necks of giraffes that are longer to be passed to their offspring, who would then grow even taller.

Lamarck was a French Zoologist. In his inaugural lecture for his course on invertebrate zoology at the Museum of Natural History in Paris on 17 May 1802, he presented an original idea that fundamentally challenged previous thinking about organic transformation. In his opinion living things had evolved from inanimate matter through an escalating series of steps. Lamarck was not the first to make this claim but he was regarded as the first to provide the subject a thorough and general overview.

The prevailing story is that Lamarckism was an opponent to Charles Darwin's theory of evolutionary natural selection, and that the two theories fought out in the 19th century. Darwinism ultimately won which led to what biologists call the Modern Synthesis. This theory denies acquired characteristics are passed down from generation to generation and instead argues that organisms evolve through the selective influence of environmental factors, including Natural Selection.

Lamarck and his contemporaries believed in the notion that acquired characters could be passed on to the next generation. However, this idea was never a key element of any of their evolutionary theories. This is due in part to the fact that it was never validated scientifically.

It's been over 200 years since the birth of Lamarck and in the field of age genomics, there is an increasing evidence-based body of evidence to support the heritability-acquired characteristics. This is sometimes called "neo-Lamarckism" or more commonly epigenetic inheritance. This is a variant that is just as valid as the popular neodarwinian model.

Evolution by Adaptation

One of the most popular misconceptions about evolution is its being driven by a struggle to survive. This view is inaccurate and ignores other forces driving evolution. The fight for survival is better described as a struggle to survive in a specific environment. This could include not only other organisms, but also the physical environment itself.

To understand how evolution operates, it is helpful to consider what adaptation is. Adaptation refers to any particular characteristic that allows an organism to live and reproduce in its environment.  에볼루션게이밍  can be a physiological structure, such as feathers or fur or a behavioral characteristic, such as moving to the shade during the heat or leaving at night to avoid the cold.

The survival of an organism depends on its ability to draw energy from the surrounding environment and interact with other living organisms and their physical surroundings. The organism must have the right genes to produce offspring, and it should be able to find enough food and other resources. The organism should be able to reproduce at an amount that is appropriate for its particular niche.

These factors, along with gene flow and mutation can result in an alteration in the percentage of alleles (different varieties of a particular gene) in the population's gene pool. This shift in the frequency of alleles can lead to the emergence of novel traits and eventually, new species as time passes.

Many of the characteristics we admire in animals and plants are adaptations, such as the lungs or gills that extract oxygen from the air, feathers or fur to protect themselves long legs to run away from predators, and camouflage for hiding. However, a proper understanding of adaptation requires a keen eye to the distinction between behavioral and physiological traits.

Physiological traits like large gills and thick fur are physical characteristics. The behavioral adaptations aren't like the tendency of animals to seek companionship or move into the shade in hot weather. It is important to keep in mind that lack of planning does not result in an adaptation. In fact, a failure to think about the implications of a behavior can make it unadaptive despite the fact that it might appear reasonable or even essential.