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{{About|evolution in biology|related articles|Outline of evolution|other uses}}
{{pp-semi-protected|small=yes}}
{{short description|Change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations }}
{{See introduction}}
{{Evolutionary biology}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2014}}
<!--NOTE: Please do not change the lead sentence(s) without consulting the discussion page first. This lead has been discussed and there is general consensus that this is the best one for now. Thanks.-->
'''Evolution''' is change in the [[Heredity|heritable]] [[Phenotypic trait|characteristics]] of biological [[population]]s over successive [[generation]]s.<ref>{{harvnb|Hall|Hallgrímsson|2008|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jrDD3cyA09kC&pg=PA4 4–6]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Evolution Resources |location=Washington, DC |publisher=[[National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine]] |year=2016 |url=http://www.nas.edu/evolution/index.html |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603230514/http://www.nas.edu/evolution/index.html |archivedate=2016-06-03 |df= }}</ref> These characteristics are the expressions of [[gene]]s that are passed on from parent to offspring during [[reproduction]]. Different characteristics tend to exist within any given population as a result of [[mutation]], [[genetic recombination]] and other sources of [[Genetic variability|genetic variation]].<ref name="Futuyma2017c">{{cite book | last1=Futuyma | first1=Douglas J. | last2=Kirkpatrick | first2=Mark | year = 2017 | chapter = Mutation and variation | title=Evolution | pages = 79–102 | edition = Fourth | publisher = Sunderland, Massachusetts: Sinauer Associates, Inc | isbn=978-1-60535-605-1}}</ref> Evolution occurs when evolutionary processes such as [[natural selection]] (including [[sexual selection]]) and [[genetic drift]] act on this variation, resulting in certain characteristics becoming more common or rare within a population.<ref name="Scott-Phillips">{{cite journal |last1=Scott-Phillips |first1=Thomas C. |last2=Laland |first2=Kevin N. |last3=Shuker |first3=David M. |last4=Dickins |first4=Thomas E. |last5=West |first5=Stuart A. |author-link5=Stuart West |date=May 2014 |title=The Niche Construction Perspective: A Critical Appraisal |journal=[[Evolution (journal)|Evolution]] |volume=68 |issue=5 |pages=1231–1243 |doi=10.1111/evo.12332 |issn=0014-3820 |pmid=24325256 |pmc=4261998 |deadurl=no |df= |quote=Evolutionary processes are generally thought of as processes by which these changes occur. Four such processes are widely recognized: natural selection (in the broad sense, to include sexual selection), genetic drift, mutation, and migration (Fisher 1930; Haldane 1932). The latter two generate variation; the first two sort it.}}</ref> It is this process of evolution that has given rise to [[biodiversity]] at every level of [[biological organisation]], including the levels of [[species]], individual [[organism]]s and [[molecular evolution|molecules]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hall|Hallgrímsson|2008|pp=3–5}}</ref><ref name="Voet2016a">{{cite book | last1 = Voet | first1 = Donald | last2 = Voet | first2 = Judith G. | last3 = Pratt | first3 = Charlotte W. | year = 2016 | chapter = Introduction to the chemistry of life | title = Fundamentals of Biochemistry: Life at the molecular level | pages = 1–22 | edition = Fifth | publisher = Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley | isbn=1-11-891840-1}}</ref>
 
The [[scientific theory]] of evolution by natural selection was proposed by [[Charles Darwin]] and [[Alfred Russel Wallace]] in the mid-19th century and was set out in detail in Darwin's book ''[[On the Origin of Species]]'' (1859).<ref name=Darwin>{{cite book |last=Darwin |first=Charles |authorlink = Charles Darwin |year=1860 |title=On the Origin of Species |place=London |publisher=John Murray |edition=2nd |pages=490 |url=http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F376&viewtype=text&pageseq=508}}</ref> Evolution by natural selection was first demonstrated by the observation that more offspring are often produced than can possibly survive. This is followed by three observable [[fact]]s about living organisms: 1) traits vary among individuals with respect to their morphology, [[physiology]] and behaviour ([[Phenotype#Phenotypic variation|phenotypic variation]]), 2) different traits confer different rates of survival and [[reproduction]] (differential [[Fitness (biology)|fitness]]) and 3) traits can be passed from generation to generation ([[heritability]] of fitness).<ref name="Lewontin70">{{cite journal |last=Lewontin |first=Richard C. |authorlink=Richard Lewontin |date=November 1970 |title=The Units of Selection |url=http://joelvelasco.net/teaching/167/lewontin%2070%20-%20the%20units%20of%20selection.pdf |journal=[[Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics|Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics]] |volume=1 |pages=1–18 |doi=10.1146/annurev.es.01.110170.000245 |jstor=2096764 |issn=1545-2069 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150206172942/http://joelvelasco.net/teaching/167/lewontin%2070%20-%20the%20units%20of%20selection.pdf |archivedate=2015-02-06 |df= }}</ref> Thus, in successive generations members of a population are more likely to be replaced by the [[offspring|progenies]] of parents with favourable characteristics that have enabled them to survive and reproduce in their respective [[biophysical environment|environments]]. In the early 20th century, other [[Alternatives to evolution by natural selection|competing ideas of evolution]] such as [[mutationism]] and [[orthogenesis]] were [[Superseded scientific theories|refuted]] as the [[Modern synthesis (20th century)|modern synthesis]] reconciled [[Darwinism|Darwinian evolution]] with [[classical genetics]], which established [[Adaptation|adaptive evolution]] as being caused by natural selection acting on [[Mendelian inheritance|Mendelian]] genetic variation.<ref name="Futuyma2017a">{{cite book | last1=Futuyma | first1=Douglas J. | last2=Kirkpatrick | first2=Mark | year = 2017 | chapter = Evolutionary Biology | title=Evolution | pages = 3–26 | edition = Fourth | publisher = Sunderland, Massachusetts: Sinauer Associates, Inc | isbn=978-1-60535-605-1}}</ref>
 
All [[life]] on Earth shares a [[last universal common ancestor]] (LUCA)<ref name="Kampourakis2014">{{harvnb|Kampourakis|2014|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=RKroAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA127 127–129]}}</ref><ref name="Doolittle_2000">{{cite journal |last=Doolittle |first=W. Ford |authorlink=Ford Doolittle |date=February 2000 |title=Uprooting the Tree of Life |url=http://shiva.msu.montana.edu/courses/mb437_537_2004_fall/docs/uprooting.pdf |format=PDF |journal=[[Scientific American]] |issn=0036-8733 |volume=282 |issue=2 |pages=90–95 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0200-90 |pmid=10710791 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060907081933/http://shiva.msu.montana.edu/courses/mb437_537_2004_fall/docs/uprooting.pdf |archivedate=2006-09-07 |accessdate=2015-04-05|bibcode=2000SciAm.282b..90D }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Glansdorff |first1=Nicolas |author2=Ying Xu |last3=Labedan |first3=Bernard |date=July 9, 2008 |title=The Last Universal Common Ancestor: emergence, constitution and genetic legacy of an elusive forerunner |journal=[[Biology Direct]] |volume=3 |page=29 |doi=10.1186/1745-6150-3-29 |issn=1745-6150 |pmc=2478661 |pmid=18613974}}</ref> that lived approximately 3.5–3.8 billion years ago.<ref name="Origin1" /> The [[fossil|fossil record]] includes a progression from early [[Biogenic substance|biogenic]] [[graphite]],<ref name="NG-20131208" /> to [[microbial mat]] fossils,<ref name="AP-20131113" /><ref name="TG-20131113-JP" /><ref name="AST-20131108" /> to fossilised [[multicellular organism]]s. Existing patterns of biodiversity have been shaped by repeated formations of new species ([[speciation]]), changes within species ([[anagenesis]]) and loss of species ([[extinction]]) throughout the [[evolutionary history of life]] on Earth.<ref name="Futuyma04">{{harvnb|Futuyma|2004|p=33}}</ref> [[morphology (biology)|Morphological]] and [[biochemistry|biochemical]] traits are more similar among species that share a more [[Most recent common ancestor|recent common ancestor]], and can be used to reconstruct [[phylogenetic tree]]s.<ref name="The Cell by Panno">{{harvnb|Panno|2005|pp=xv-16}}</ref><ref>[[#NAS 2008|NAS 2008]], [http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11876&page=17 p. 17] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150630042457/http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11876&page=17 |date=2015-06-30 }}</ref>
 
[[Evolutionary biology|Evolutionary biologists]] have continued to study various aspects of evolution by forming and testing [[Hypothesis|hypotheses]] as well as constructing theories based on [[empirical evidence|evidence]] from the field or laboratory and on data generated by the methods of [[mathematical and theoretical biology]]. Their discoveries have influenced not just the development of [[biology]] but numerous other scientific and industrial fields, including [[agriculture]], [[medicine]] and [[computer science]].<ref name="Futuyma99">{{cite web |url=http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~ecolevol/fulldoc.pdf |title=Evolution, Science, and Society: Evolutionary Biology and the National Research Agenda |year=1999 |editor-last=Futuyma |editor-first=Douglas J. |editor-link=Douglas J. Futuyma |publisher=Office of University Publications, [[Rutgers University|Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey]] |location=New Brunswick, New Jersey |type=Executive summary |format=PDF |oclc=43422991 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120131174727/http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~ecolevol/fulldoc.pdf |archivedate=2012-01-31 |accessdate=2014-11-24}}</ref>
 
== History of evolutionary thought ==
[[File:Lucretius Rome.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Lucretius]]]]
[[File:Alfred-Russel-Wallace-c1895.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Alfred Russel Wallace]]]]
[[File:Thomas Robert Malthus Wellcome L0069037 -crop.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Thomas Robert Malthus]]]]
 
[[File:Charles Darwin aged 51.jpg|thumb|upright|In 1842, [[Charles Darwin]] penned his first sketch of ''[[On the Origin of Species]]''.<ref>{{harvnb|Darwin|1909|p=53}}</ref>]]
{{Main|History of evolutionary thought}}
{{further|History of speciation}}
 
=== Classical times ===
The proposal that one type of organism could descend from another type goes back to some of the first [[pre-Socratic philosophy|pre-Socratic]] Greek [[philosopher]]s, such as [[Anaximander#Origin of humankind|Anaximander]] and [[Empedocles#Cosmogony|Empedocles]].<ref>{{harvnb|Kirk|Raven|Schofield|1983|pp=100–142, 280–321}}</ref> Such proposals survived into Roman times. The [[poet]] and philosopher [[Lucretius]] followed Empedocles in his masterwork ''[[De rerum natura]]'' (''On the Nature of Things'').<ref>{{harvnb|Lucretius}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Sedley |first=David |authorlink=David Sedley |year=2003 |title=Lucretius and the New Empedocles |url=http://lics.leeds.ac.uk/2003/200304.pdf |format=PDF |journal=Leeds International Classical Studies |volume=2 |issue=4 |issn=1477-3643 |accessdate=2014-11-25 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823062637/http://lics.leeds.ac.uk/2003/200304.pdf |archivedate=2014-08-23 |df= }}</ref>
 
=== Medieval ===
In contrast to these [[Materialism|materialistic]] views, [[Aristotelianism]] considered all natural things as [[potentiality and actuality|actualisations]] of fixed natural possibilities, known as [[Theory of forms|forms]].<ref name="Torrey37">{{cite journal |last1=Torrey |first1=Harry Beal |last2=Felin |first2=Frances |date=March 1937 |title=Was Aristotle an Evolutionist? |journal=[[The Quarterly Review of Biology]] |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=1–18 |doi=10.1086/394520 |issn=0033-5770 |jstor=2808399}}</ref><ref name="Hull67">{{cite journal |last=Hull |first=David L. |authorlink=David Hull |date=December 1967 |title=The Metaphysics of Evolution |journal=[[The British Journal for the History of Science]] |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=309–337 |doi=10.1017/S0007087400002892 |jstor=4024958}}</ref> This was part of a medieval [[teleology|teleological]] understanding of [[Nature (philosophy)|nature]] in which all things have an intended role to play in a [[divinity|divine]] [[cosmos|cosmic]] order. Variations of this idea became the standard understanding of the [[Middle Ages]] and were integrated into [[Christianity|Christian]] learning, but Aristotle did not demand that real types of organisms always correspond one-for-one with exact metaphysical forms and specifically gave examples of how new types of living things could come to be.<ref>{{harvnb|Mason|1962|pp=43–44}}</ref>
 
=== Pre-Darwinian ===
In the 17th century, the new [[scientific method|method]] of [[History of science#Modern science|modern science]] rejected the Aristotelian approach. It sought explanations of natural phenomena in terms of [[physical law]]s that were the same for all visible things and that did not require the existence of any fixed natural categories or divine cosmic order. However, this new approach was slow to take root in the biological sciences, the last bastion of the concept of fixed natural types. [[John Ray]] applied one of the previously more general terms for fixed natural types, "species," to plant and animal types, but he strictly identified each type of living thing as a species and proposed that each species could be defined by the features that perpetuated themselves generation after generation.<ref>{{harvnb|Mayr|1982|pp=256–257}}
* {{harvnb|Ray|1686}}</ref> The biological classification introduced by [[Carl Linnaeus]] in 1735 explicitly recognised the hierarchical nature of species relationships, but still viewed species as fixed according to a divine plan.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/linnaeus.html |title=Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) |last=Waggoner |first=Ben |date=July 7, 2000 |website=Evolution |publisher=[[University of California Museum of Paleontology]] |location=Berkeley, California |type=Online exhibit |accessdate=2012-02-11 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430160025/http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/linnaeus.html |archivedate=2011-04-30 |df= }}</ref>
 
Other [[Natural history|naturalists]] of this time speculated on the evolutionary change of species over time according to natural laws. In 1751, [[Pierre Louis Maupertuis]] wrote of natural modifications occurring during reproduction and accumulating over many generations to produce new species.<ref>{{harvnb|Bowler|2003|pp=73–75}}</ref> [[Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon]] suggested that species could degenerate into different organisms, and [[Erasmus Darwin]] proposed that all warm-blooded animals could have descended from a single microorganism (or "filament").<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/Edarwin.html |title=Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802) |date=October 4, 1995 |website=Evolution |publisher=University of California Museum of Paleontology |location=Berkeley, California |type=Online exhibit |accessdate=2012-02-11 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120119004316/http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/Edarwin.html |archivedate=2012-01-19 |df= }}</ref> The first full-fledged evolutionary scheme was [[Jean-Baptiste Lamarck]]'s "transmutation" theory of 1809,<ref>{{harvnb|Lamarck|1809}}</ref> which envisaged [[spontaneous generation]] continually producing simple forms of life that developed greater complexity in parallel lineages with an inherent progressive tendency, and postulated that on a local level, these lineages adapted to the environment by inheriting changes caused by their use or disuse in parents.<ref name="Nardon_Grenier91">{{harvnb|Nardon|Grenier|1991|p=162}}</ref><ref name="Gould02">{{harvnb|Gould|2002}}{{page needed|date=December 2013}}</ref> (The latter process was later called [[Lamarckism]].)<ref name="Nardon_Grenier91" /><ref name="ImaginaryLamarck">{{cite journal |last=Ghiselin |first=Michael T. |authorlink=Michael Ghiselin |date=September–October 1994 |title=The Imaginary Lamarck: A Look at Bogus 'History' in Schoolbooks |url=http://www.textbookleague.org/54marck.htm |journal=The Textbook Letter |oclc=23228649 |accessdate=2008-01-23 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080212174536/http://www.textbookleague.org/54marck.htm |archivedate=2008-02-12 |df= }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Magner|2002}}{{page needed|date=December 2013}}</ref><ref name="Jablonka07">{{cite journal |last1=Jablonka |first1=Eva |authorlink1=Eva Jablonka |last2=Lamb |first2=Marion J. |authorlink2=Marion J. Lamb |date=August 2007 |title=Précis of Evolution in Four Dimensions |journal=[[Behavioral and Brain Sciences]] |volume=30 |issue=4 |pages=353–365 |doi=10.1017/S0140525X07002221 |pmid=18081952 |issn=0140-525X}}</ref> These ideas were condemned by established naturalists as speculation lacking empirical support. In particular, [[Georges Cuvier]] insisted that species were unrelated and fixed, their similarities reflecting divine design for functional needs. In the meantime, Ray's ideas of benevolent design had been developed by [[William Paley]] into the ''[[Natural Theology or Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity]]'' (1802), which proposed complex adaptations as evidence of divine design and which was admired by Charles Darwin.<ref name="Darwin91">{{harvnb|Burkhardt|Smith|1991}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/entry-2532 |title=Darwin, C. R. to Lubbock, John |website=[[Correspondence of Charles Darwin#Darwin Correspondence Project website|Darwin Correspondence Project]] |publisher=[[University of Cambridge]] |location=Cambridge, UK |accessdate=2014-12-01 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141215213940/http://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/entry-2532 |archivedate=2014-12-15 |df= }} Letter 2532, November 22, 1859.</ref><ref name="Sulloway09">{{cite journal |last=Sulloway |first=Frank J. |authorlink=Frank Sulloway |date=June 2009 |title=Why Darwin rejected intelligent design |journal=[[Journal of Biosciences]] |volume=34 |issue=2 |pages=173–183 |doi=10.1007/s12038-009-0020-8 |issn=0250-5991 |pmid=19550032}}</ref><ref name="Dawkins90">{{harvnb|Dawkins|1990}}{{page needed|date=December 2014}}</ref>
 
=== Darwinian revolution ===
The crucial break from the concept of constant typological classes or types in biology came with the theory of evolution through natural selection, which was formulated by [[Charles Darwin]] in terms of variable populations. Partly influenced by ''[[An Essay on the Principle of Population]]'' (1798) by [[Thomas Robert Malthus]], Darwin noted that population growth would lead to a "struggle for existence" in which favourable variations prevailed as others perished. In each generation, many offspring fail to survive to an age of reproduction because of limited resources. This could explain the diversity of plants and animals from a common ancestry through the working of natural laws in the same way for all types of organism.<ref name="Sober09">{{cite journal |last=Sober |first=Elliott |authorlink=Elliott Sober |date=June 16, 2009 |title=Did Darwin write the ''Origin'' backwards? |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=106 |issue=Suppl. 1 |pages=10048–10055 |bibcode=2009PNAS..10610048S |doi=10.1073/pnas.0901109106 |issn=0027-8424 |pmid=19528655 |pmc=2702806}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Mayr|2002|p=165}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Bowler|2003|pp=145–146}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sokal |first1=Robert R. |authorlink1=Robert R. Sokal |last2=Crovello |first2=Theodore J. |date=March–April 1970 |title=The Biological Species Concept: A Critical Evaluation |journal=[[The American Naturalist]] |volume=104 |issue=936 |pages=127–153 |doi=10.1086/282646 |issn=0003-0147 |jstor=2459191}}</ref> Darwin developed his theory of "natural selection" from 1838 onwards and was writing up his "big book" on the subject when [[Alfred Russel Wallace]] sent him a version of virtually the same theory in 1858. Their [[On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection|separate papers]] were presented together at an 1858 meeting of the [[Linnean Society of London]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Darwin |first1=Charles |authorlink1=Charles Darwin |last2=Wallace |first2=Alfred |authorlink2=Alfred Russel Wallace |date=August 20, 1858 |title=On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection |url=http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F350&viewtype=text&pageseq=1 |journal=[[Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society|Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London. Zoology]] |volume=3 |issue=9 |pages=45–62 |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.1858.tb02500.x |issn=1096-3642 |accessdate=2007-05-13 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070714042318/http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F350&viewtype=text&pageseq=1 |archivedate=2007-07-14 |df= }}</ref> At the end of 1859, Darwin's publication of his "abstract" as ''On the Origin of Species'' explained natural selection in detail and in a way that led to an increasingly wide acceptance of [[Darwinism|Darwin's concepts of evolution]] at the expense of [[Alternatives to evolution by natural selection|alternative theories]]. [[Thomas Henry Huxley]] applied Darwin's ideas to humans, using [[paleontology]] and [[comparative anatomy]] to provide strong evidence that humans and [[ape]]s shared a common ancestry. Some were disturbed by this since it implied that humans did not have a special place in the [[universe]].<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Desmond |first=Adrian J. |authorlink=Adrian Desmond |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]] |url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/277746/Thomas-Henry-Huxley |title=Thomas Henry Huxley |accessdate=2014-12-02 |date=July 17, 2014 |publisher=[[Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.]] |location=Chicago, Illinois |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150119231241/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/277746/Thomas-Henry-Huxley |archivedate=January 19, 2015 |df= }}</ref>
 
=== Pangenesis and heredity ===
The mechanisms of reproductive heritability and the origin of new traits remained a mystery. Towards this end, Darwin developed his provisional theory of [[pangenesis]].<ref name="Liu09">{{cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Y. S. |last2=Zhou |first2=X. M. |last3=Zhi |first3=M. X. |last4=Li |first4=X. J. |last5=Wang |first5=Q. L. |date=September 2009 |title=Darwin's contributions to genetics |journal=Journal of Applied Genetics |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=177–184 |doi=10.1007/BF03195671 |issn=1234-1983 |pmid=19638672}}</ref> In 1865, [[Gregor Mendel]] reported that traits were inherited in a predictable manner through the [[Mendelian inheritance#Law of Independent Assortment (the "Second Law")|independent assortment]] and segregation of elements (later known as genes). Mendel's laws of inheritance eventually supplanted most of Darwin's pangenesis theory.<ref name="Weiling">{{cite journal |last=Weiling |first=Franz |date=July 1991 |title=Historical study: Johann Gregor Mendel 1822–1884 |journal=[[American Journal of Medical Genetics]] |volume=40 |issue=1 |pages=1–25; discussion 26 |doi=10.1002/ajmg.1320400103 |pmid=1887835}}</ref> [[August Weismann]] made the important distinction between [[germ cell]]s that give rise to [[gamete]]s (such as [[sperm]] and [[egg cell]]s) and the [[somatic cell]]s of the body, demonstrating that heredity passes through the germ line only. [[Hugo de Vries]] connected Darwin's pangenesis theory to Weismann's germ/soma cell distinction and proposed that Darwin's pangenes were concentrated in the [[cell nucleus]] and when expressed they could move into the [[cytoplasm]] to change the [[Cell (biology)|cell]]'s structure. De Vries was also one of the researchers who made Mendel's work well known, believing that Mendelian traits corresponded to the transfer of heritable variations along the germline.<ref name="Wright84">{{harvnb|Wright|1984|p=480}}</ref> To explain how new variants originate, de Vries developed [[Mutationism|a mutation theory]] that led to a temporary rift between those who accepted Darwinian evolution and biometricians who allied with de Vries.<ref name="Gould02" /><ref>{{harvnb|Provine|1971}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stamhuis |first1=Ida H. |last2=Meijer |first2=Onno G. |last3=Zevenhuizen |first3=Erik J. A. |date=June 1999 |title=Hugo de Vries on Heredity, 1889-1903: Statistics, Mendelian Laws, Pangenes, Mutations |volume=90 |issue=2 |pages=238–267 |journal=[[Isis (journal)|Isis]] |doi=10.1086/384323 |jstor=237050 |pmid=10439561}}</ref> In the 1930s, pioneers in the field of population genetics, such as [[Ronald Fisher]], [[Sewall Wright]] and [[J. B. S. Haldane]] set the foundations of evolution onto a robust statistical philosophy. The false contradiction between Darwin's theory, genetic mutations, and [[Mendelian inheritance]] was thus reconciled.<ref>{{harvnb|Quammen|2006}}{{page needed|date=December 2014}}</ref>
 
=== The 'modern synthesis' ===
{{main|Modern synthesis (20th century)}}
In the 1920s and 1930s the so-called [[Modern synthesis (20th century)|modern synthesis]] connected natural selection and population genetics, based on Mendelian inheritance, into a unified theory that applied generally to any branch of biology. The modern synthesis explained patterns observed across species in populations, through [[Transitional fossil|fossil transitions]] in palaeontology, and complex cellular mechanisms in [[developmental biology]].<ref name="Gould02" /><ref>{{harvnb|Bowler|1989}}{{page needed|date=December 2013}}</ref> The publication of the structure of [[DNA]] by [[James Watson]] and [[Francis Crick]] with contribution of [[Rosalind Franklin]] in 1953 demonstrated a physical mechanism for inheritance.<ref name="Watson53">{{cite journal |last1=Watson |first1=J. D. |authorlink1=James Watson |last2=Crick |first2=F. H. C. |authorlink2=Francis Crick |date=April 25, 1953 |title=Molecular Structure of Nucleic Acids: A Structure for Deoxyribose Nucleic Acid |url=http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/B/B/Y/W/_/scbbyw.pdf |format=PDF |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=171 |issue=4356 |pages=737–738 |bibcode=1953Natur.171..737W |doi=10.1038/171737a0 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=13054692 |accessdate=2014-12-04 |quote=It has not escaped our notice that the specific pairing we have postulated immediately suggests a possible copying mechanism for the genetic material. |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823063212/http://profiles.nlm.nih.gov/SC/B/B/Y/W/_/scbbyw.pdf |archivedate=2014-08-23 |df= }}</ref> [[Molecular biology]] improved understanding of the relationship between [[genotype]] and [[phenotype]]. Advancements were also made in phylogenetic [[systematics]], mapping the transition of traits into a comparative and testable framework through the publication and use of [[Phylogenetic tree|evolutionary trees]].<ref name="Hennig99">{{harvnb|Hennig|1999|p=280}}</ref><ref name="Wiley11">{{harvnb|Wiley|Lieberman|2011}}{{page needed|date=December 2013}}</ref> In 1973, evolutionary biologist [[Theodosius Dobzhansky]] penned that "[[Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution|nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution]]," because it has brought to light the relations of what first seemed disjointed facts in natural history into a coherent [[Explanation|explanatory]] body of knowledge that describes and predicts many observable facts about life on this planet.<ref name="Dobzhansky73">{{cite journal|last=Dobzhansky|first=Theodosius|authorlink=Theodosius Dobzhansky|date=March 1973|title=Nothing in Biology Makes Sense Except in the Light of Evolution|url=http://www.phil.vt.edu/Burian/NothingInBiolChFina.pdf|journal=The American Biology Teacher|volume=35|issue=3|pages=125–129|doi=10.2307/4444260|via=|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151023161423/http://www.phil.vt.edu/Burian/NothingInBiolChFina.pdf|archivedate=2015-10-23|df=|jstor=4444260|citeseerx=10.1.1.324.2891}}</ref>
 
=== Further syntheses ===
Since then, the modern synthesis has been further extended to explain biological phenomena across the full and integrative scale of the [[Biological organisation|biological hierarchy]], from genes to species. One extension, known as [[evolutionary developmental biology]] and informally called "evo-devo," emphasises how changes between generations (evolution) acts on patterns of change within individual organisms ([[Developmental biology|development]]).<ref name="Kutschera">{{cite journal |last1=Kutschera |first1=Ulrich |authorlink1=Ulrich Kutschera |last2=Niklas |first2=Karl J. |authorlink2=Karl J. Niklas |date=June 2004 |title=The modern theory of biological evolution: an expanded synthesis |journal=[[Naturwissenschaften]] |volume=91 |issue=6 |pages=255–276 |bibcode=2004NW.....91..255K |doi=10.1007/s00114-004-0515-y |issn=1432-1904 |pmid=15241603}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Cracraft|Bybee|2005}}{{page needed|date=December 2014}}</ref><ref name="Avise10">{{cite journal |last1=Avise |first1=John C. |authorlink1=John Avise |last2=Ayala |first2=Francisco J. |authorlink2=Francisco J. Ayala |date=May 11, 2010 |title=In the light of evolution IV: The human condition |url=http://faculty.sites.uci.edu/johncavise/files/2011/03/311-intro-to-ILE-IV.pdf |format=PDF |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=107 |issue=Suppl. 2 |pages=8897–8901 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1003214107 |pmid=20460311 |pmc=3024015 |issn=0027-8424 |accessdate=2014-12-29 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823063532/http://faculty.sites.uci.edu/johncavise/files/2011/03/311-intro-to-ILE-IV.pdf |archivedate=2014-08-23 |df= }}</ref> Since the beginning of the 21st century and in light of discoveries made in recent decades, some biologists have argued for an [[extended evolutionary synthesis]], which would account for the effects of non-genetic inheritance modes, such as [[epigenetics]], [[Maternal effect|parental effects]], ecological inheritance and [[Dual inheritance theory|cultural inheritance]], and [[evolvability]].<ref name="beyonddna">{{cite journal |last1=Danchin |first1=Étienne |last2=Charmantier |first2=Anne |last3=Champagne |first3=Frances A. |author-link3=Frances Champagne |last4=Mesoudi |first4=Alex |last5=Pujol |first5=Benoit |last6=Blanchet |first6=Simon |date=June 2011 |title=Beyond DNA: integrating inclusive inheritance into an extended theory of evolution |url=http://www.nature.com/nrg/journal/v12/n7/full/nrg3028.html |journal=[[Nature Reviews Genetics]] |volume=12 |issue=7 |pages=475–486 |doi=10.1038/nrg3028 |issn=1471-0056 |pmid=21681209}}</ref><ref name="eesbook">{{harvnb|Pigliucci|Müller|2010}}</ref>
 
== Heredity ==
{{Further|Introduction to genetics|Genetics|Heredity|Reaction norm}}
[[File:ADN static.png|thumb|upright|[[DNA]] structure. [[nucleobase|Bases]] are in the centre, surrounded by phosphate–sugar chains in a [[Nucleic acid double helix|double helix]].]]
Evolution in organisms occurs through changes in heritable traits—the inherited characteristics of an organism. In humans, for example, [[Eye color|eye colour]] is an inherited characteristic and an individual might inherit the "brown-eye trait" from one of their parents.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sturm |first1=Richard A. |last2=Frudakis |first2=Tony N. |date=August 2004 |title=Eye colour: portals into pigmentation genes and ancestry |journal=[[Trends (journals)|Trends in Genetics]] |volume=20 |issue=8 |pages=327–332 |doi=10.1016/j.tig.2004.06.010 |issn=0168-9525 |pmid=15262401}}</ref> Inherited traits are controlled by genes and the complete set of genes within an organism's [[genome]] (genetic material) is called its genotype.<ref name="Pearson_2006">{{cite journal |last=Pearson |first=Helen |date=May 25, 2006 |title=Genetics: What is a gene? |journal=Nature |volume=441 |issue=7092 |pages=398–401 |bibcode=2006Natur.441..398P |doi=10.1038/441398a |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=16724031}}</ref>
 
The complete set of observable traits that make up the structure and behaviour of an organism is called its phenotype. These traits come from the interaction of its genotype with the environment.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Visscher |first1=Peter M. |last2=Hill |first2=William G. |authorlink2=William G. Hill |last3=Wray |first3=Naomi R. |date=April 2008 |title=Heritability in the genomics era — concepts and misconceptions |journal=Nature Reviews Genetics |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=255–266 |doi=10.1038/nrg2322 |issn=1471-0056 |pmid=18319743}}</ref> As a result, many aspects of an organism's phenotype are not inherited. For example, [[sun tanning|suntanned]] skin comes from the interaction between a person's genotype and sunlight; thus, suntans are not passed on to people's children. However, some people tan more easily than others, due to differences in genotypic variation; a striking example are people with the inherited trait of [[albinism]], who do not tan at all and are very sensitive to [[sunburn]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Oetting |first1=William S. |last2=Brilliant |first2=Murray H. |last3=King |first3=Richard A. |date=August 1996 |title=The clinical spectrum of albinism in humans |journal=[[Trends (journals)|Molecular Medicine Today]] |volume=2 |issue=8 |pages=330–335 |doi=10.1016/1357-4310(96)81798-9 |issn=1357-4310 |pmid=8796918}}</ref>
 
Heritable traits are passed from one generation to the next via DNA, a [[molecule]] that encodes genetic information.<ref name="Pearson_2006" /> DNA is a long [[biopolymer]] composed of four types of bases. The sequence of bases along a particular DNA molecule specify the genetic information, in a manner similar to a sequence of letters spelling out a sentence. Before a cell divides, the DNA is copied, so that each of the resulting two cells will inherit the DNA sequence. Portions of a DNA molecule that specify a single functional unit are called genes; different genes have different sequences of bases. Within cells, the long strands of DNA form condensed structures called [[chromosome]]s. The specific location of a DNA sequence within a chromosome is known as a [[locus (genetics)|locus]]. If the DNA sequence at a locus varies between individuals, the different forms of this sequence are called alleles. DNA sequences can change through mutations, producing new alleles. If a mutation occurs within a gene, the new allele may affect the trait that the gene controls, altering the phenotype of the organism.<ref name="Futuyma_2005">{{harvnb|Futuyma|2005}}{{page needed|date=December 2014}}</ref> However, while this simple correspondence between an allele and a trait works in some cases, most traits are more complex and are controlled by [[quantitative trait locus|quantitative trait loci]] (multiple interacting genes).<ref>{{cite journal |last=Phillips |first=Patrick C. |date=November 2008 |title=Epistasis—the essential role of gene interactions in the structure and evolution of genetic systems |journal=Nature Reviews Genetics |volume=9 |issue=11 |pages=855–867 |doi=10.1038/nrg2452 |issn=1471-0056 |pmc=2689140 |pmid=18852697}}</ref><ref name="Lin">{{cite journal |author1=Rongling Wu |author2=Min Lin |date=March 2006 |title=Functional mapping — how to map and study the genetic architecture of dynamic complex traits |journal=Nature Reviews Genetics |volume=7 |issue=3 |pages=229–237 |doi=10.1038/nrg1804 |issn=1471-0056 |pmid=16485021}}</ref>
 
Recent findings have confirmed important examples of heritable changes that cannot be explained by changes to the sequence of [[nucleotide]]s in the DNA. These phenomena are classed as [[Epigenetics|epigenetic]] inheritance systems.<ref name="Jablonka09">{{cite journal |last1=Jablonka |first1=Eva |last2=Raz |first2=Gal |date=June 2009 |title=Transgenerational Epigenetic Inheritance: Prevalence, Mechanisms, and Implications for the Study of Heredity and Evolution |journal=The Quarterly Review of Biology |volume=84 |issue=2 |pages=131–176 |doi=10.1086/598822 |issn=0033-5770 |pmid=19606595|url=http://compgen.unc.edu/wiki/images/d/df/JablonkaQtrRevBio2009.pdf |citeseerx=10.1.1.617.6333 }}</ref> [[DNA methylation]] marking [[chromatin]], self-sustaining metabolic loops, gene silencing by [[RNA interference]] and the three-dimensional [[Protein structure|conformation]] of [[protein]]s (such as [[prion]]s) are areas where epigenetic inheritance systems have been discovered at the organismic level.<ref name="Bossdorf10">{{cite journal |last1=Bossdorf |first1=Oliver |last2=Arcuri |first2=Davide |last3=Richards |first3=Christina L. |last4=Pigliucci |first4=Massimo |authorlink4=Massimo Pigliucci |date=May 2010 |title=Experimental alteration of DNA methylation affects the phenotypic plasticity of ecologically relevant traits in ''Arabidopsis thaliana'' |journal=Evolutionary Ecology |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=541–553 |doi=10.1007/s10682-010-9372-7 |issn=0269-7653|url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/318722/files/10682_2010_Article_9372.pdf |type=Submitted manuscript }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Jablonka|Lamb|2005}}{{page needed|date=December 2014}}</ref> Developmental biologists suggest that complex interactions in [[gene regulatory network|genetic networks]] and communication among cells can lead to heritable variations that may underlay some of the mechanics in [[developmental plasticity]] and [[Canalisation (genetics)|canalisation]].<ref name="Jablonka02">{{cite journal |last1=Jablonka |first1=Eva |last2=Lamb |first2=Marion J. |date=December 2002 |title=The Changing Concept of Epigenetics |journal=[[Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences]] |volume=981 |issue=1 |pages=82–96 |bibcode=2002NYASA.981...82J |doi=10.1111/j.1749-6632.2002.tb04913.x |issn=0077-8923 |pmid=12547675}}</ref> Heritability may also occur at even larger scales. For example, ecological inheritance through the process of [[niche construction]] is defined by the regular and repeated activities of organisms in their environment. This generates a legacy of effects that modify and feed back into the selection regime of subsequent generations. Descendants inherit genes plus environmental characteristics generated by the ecological actions of ancestors.<ref name="Laland06">{{cite journal |last1=Laland |first1=Kevin N. |last2=Sterelny |first2=Kim |authorlink2=Kim Sterelny |date=September 2006 |title=Perspective: Seven Reasons (Not) to Neglect Niche Construction |journal=[[Evolution (journal)|Evolution]] |volume=60 |issue=9 |pages=1751–1762 |doi=10.1111/j.0014-3820.2006.tb00520.x |issn=0014-3820}}</ref> Other examples of heritability in evolution that are not under the direct control of genes include the inheritance of [[Dual inheritance theory|cultural traits]] and [[symbiogenesis]].<ref name="Chapman98">{{cite journal|last1=Chapman |first1=Michael J. |last2=Margulis |first2=Lynn |authorlink2=Lynn Margulis |date=December 1998 |title=Morphogenesis by symbiogenesis |url=http://www.im.microbios.org/04december98/14%20Chapman.pdf |format=PDF |journal=[[International Microbiology]] |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=319–326 |issn=1139-6709 |pmid=10943381 |accessdate=2014-12-09 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823062546/http://www.im.microbios.org/04december98/14%20Chapman.pdf |archivedate=2014-08-23 |df= }}</ref><ref name="Wilson07">{{cite journal |last1=Wilson |first1=David Sloan |authorlink1=David Sloan Wilson |last2=Wilson |first2=Edward O. |authorlink2=E. O. Wilson |date=December 2007 |title=Rethinking the Theoretical Foundation of Sociobiology |url=http://evolution.binghamton.edu/dswilson/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Rethinking-sociobiology.pdf |format=PDF |journal=The Quarterly Review of Biology |volume=82 |issue=4 |pages=327–348 |doi=10.1086/522809 |issn=0033-5770 |pmid=18217526 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511235639/http://evolution.binghamton.edu/dswilson/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Rethinking-sociobiology.pdf |archivedate=2011-05-11 |df= }}</ref>
 
== Variation ==
{{Multiple image|direction=vertical|align=right|image1=Biston.betularia.7200.jpg |image2=Biston.betularia.f.carbonaria.7209.jpg|width=200|caption1=White [[peppered moth]] |caption2=Black morph in [[peppered moth evolution]]}}
{{main|Genetic variation}}
{{Further|Genetic diversity|Population genetics}}
An individual organism's phenotype results from both its genotype and the influence from the environment it has lived in. A substantial part of the phenotypic variation in a population is caused by genotypic variation.<ref name="Lin" /> The modern evolutionary synthesis defines evolution as the change over time in this genetic variation. The frequency of one particular allele will become more or less prevalent relative to other forms of that gene. Variation disappears when a new allele reaches the point of [[fixation (population genetics)|fixation]]—when it either disappears from the population or replaces the ancestral allele entirely.<ref name="Amos">{{cite journal |last1=Amos |first1=William |last2=Harwood |first2=John |date=February 28, 1998 |title=Factors affecting levels of genetic diversity in natural populations |journal=[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B|Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences]] |volume=353 |issue=1366 |pages=177–186 |doi=10.1098/rstb.1998.0200 |issn=0962-8436 |pmc=1692205 |pmid=9533122}}</ref>
 
Natural selection will only cause evolution if there is enough [[genetic variation]] in a population. Before the discovery of Mendelian genetics, one common hypothesis was [[blending inheritance]]. But with blending inheritance, genetic variance would be rapidly lost, making evolution by natural selection implausible. The [[Hardy–Weinberg principle]] provides the solution to how variation is maintained in a population with Mendelian inheritance. The frequencies of alleles (variations in a gene) will remain constant in the absence of selection, mutation, migration and genetic drift.<ref name="Ewens W.J. 2004">{{harvnb|Ewens|2004}}{{page needed|date=December 2014}}</ref>
 
Variation comes from mutations in the genome, reshuffling of genes through [[sexual reproduction]] and migration between populations ([[gene flow]]). Despite the constant introduction of new variation through mutation and gene flow, most of the genome of a species is identical in all individuals of that species.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Butlin |first1=Roger K. |last2=Tregenza |first2=Tom |date=February 28, 1998 |title=Levels of genetic polymorphism: marker loci versus quantitative traits |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=353 |issue=1366 |pages=187–198 |doi=10.1098/rstb.1998.0201 |issn=0962-8436 |pmc=1692210 |pmid=9533123}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Butlin |first1=Roger K. |last2=Tregenza |first2=Tom |date=December 29, 2000 |title=Correction for Butlin and Tregenza, Levels of genetic polymorphism: marker loci versus quantitative traits |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=355 |issue=1404 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2000.2000 |issn=0962-8436 |quote=Some of the values in table 1 on p. 193 were given incorrectly. The errors do not affect the conclusions drawn in the paper. The corrected table is reproduced below. |pages=1865}}</ref> However, even relatively small differences in genotype can lead to dramatic differences in phenotype: for example, chimpanzees and humans differ in only about 5% of their genomes.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wetterbom |first1=Anna |last2=Sevov |first2=Marie |last3=Cavelier |first3=Lucia |last4=Bergström |first4=Tomas F. |date=November 2006 |title=Comparative Genomic Analysis of Human and Chimpanzee Indicates a Key Role for Indels in Primate Evolution |journal=[[Journal of Molecular Evolution]] |volume=63 |issue=5 |pages=682–690 |doi=10.1007/s00239-006-0045-7 |issn=0022-2844 |pmid=17075697|bibcode=2006JMolE..63..682W }}</ref>
 
=== Mutation ===
{{Main|Mutation}}
[[File:Gene-duplication.svg|thumb|upright|Duplication of part of a [[chromosome]]]]
Mutations are changes in the DNA sequence of a cell's genome. When mutations occur, they may alter the [[gene product|product of a gene]], or prevent the gene from functioning, or have no effect. Based on studies in the fly ''[[Drosophila melanogaster]]'', it has been suggested that if a mutation changes a protein produced by a gene, this will probably be harmful, with about 70% of these mutations having damaging effects, and the remainder being either neutral or weakly beneficial.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sawyer |first1=Stanley A. |last2=Parsch |first2=John |author3=Zhang Zhi |last4=Hartl |first4=Daniel L. |date=April 17, 2007 |title=Prevalence of positive selection among nearly neutral amino acid replacements in ''Drosophila'' |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=104 |issue=16 |pages=6504–6510 |bibcode=2007PNAS..104.6504S |doi=10.1073/pnas.0701572104 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=1871816 |pmid=17409186}}</ref>
 
Mutations can involve large sections of a chromosome becoming [[gene duplication|duplicated]] (usually by [[genetic recombination]]), which can introduce extra copies of a gene into a genome.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hastings |first1=P. J. |last2=Lupski |first2=James R. |authorlink2=James R. Lupski |last3=Rosenberg |first3=Susan M. |last4=Ira |first4=Grzegorz |date=August 2009 |title=Mechanisms of change in gene copy number |journal=Nature Reviews Genetics |volume=10 |issue=8 |pages=551–564 |doi=10.1038/nrg2593 |issn=1471-0056 |pmc=2864001 |pmid=19597530}}</ref> Extra copies of genes are a major source of the raw material needed for new genes to evolve.<ref>{{harvnb|Carroll|Grenier|Weatherbee|2005}}{{page needed|date=December 2014}}</ref> This is important because most new genes evolve within [[gene family|gene families]] from pre-existing genes that share common ancestors.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harrison |first1=Paul M. |last2=Gerstein |first2=Mark |authorlink2=Mark Bender Gerstein |date=May 17, 2002 |title=Studying Genomes Through the Aeons: Protein Families, Pseudogenes and Proteome Evolution |journal=[[Journal of Molecular Biology]] |volume=318 |issue=5 |pages=1155–1174 |doi=10.1016/S0022-2836(02)00109-2 |issn=0022-2836 |pmid=12083509}}</ref> For example, the human [[eye]] uses four genes to make structures that sense light: three for [[Cone cell|colour vision]] and one for [[Rod cell|night vision]]; all four are descended from a single ancestral gene.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bowmaker |first=James K. |title=Evolution of colour vision in vertebrates |date=May 1998 |journal=Eye |volume=12 |issue=3b |pages=541–547 |doi=10.1038/eye.1998.143 |issn=0950-222X |pmid=9775215}}</ref>
 
New genes can be generated from an ancestral gene when a duplicate copy mutates and acquires a new function. This process is easier once a gene has been duplicated because it increases the [[Gene redundancy|redundancy]] of the system; one gene in the pair can acquire a new function while the other copy continues to perform its original function.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gregory |first1=T. Ryan |authorlink1=T. Ryan Gregory |last2=Hebert |first2=Paul D. N. |authorlink2=Paul D. N. Hebert |date=April 1999 |title=The Modulation of DNA Content: Proximate Causes and Ultimate Consequences |url=http://genome.cshlp.org/content/9/4/317.full |journal=[[Genome Research]] |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=317–324 |doi=10.1101/gr.9.4.317 |issn=1088-9051 |pmid=10207154 |accessdate=2014-12-11 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823063412/http://genome.cshlp.org/content/9/4/317.full |archivedate=2014-08-23 |df= |doi-broken-date=2018-11-14 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Hurles |first=Matthew |title=Gene Duplication: The Genomic Trade in Spare Parts |date=July 13, 2004 |journal=PLOS Biology |volume=2 |issue=7 |page=e206 |doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0020206 |issn=1545-7885 |pmc=449868 |pmid=15252449}}</ref> Other types of mutations can even generate entirely new genes from previously noncoding DNA.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Na |last2=Okamura |first2=Katsutomo |last3=Tyler |first3=David M. |last4=Phillips |first4=Michael D. |last5=Chung |first5=Wei-Jen |last6=Lai |first6=Eric C |date=October 2008 |url=http://www.nature.com/cr/journal/v18/n10/full/cr2008278a.html |title=The evolution and functional diversification of animal microRNA genes |journal=Cell Research |volume=18 |issue=10 |pages=985–996 |doi=10.1038/cr.2008.278 |issn=1001-0602 |pmc=2712117 |pmid=18711447 |display-authors=3 |accessdate=2014-12-11 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202063359/http://www.nature.com/cr/journal/v18/n10/full/cr2008278a.html |archivedate=2015-02-02 |df= }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Siepel |first=Adam |authorlink=Adam C. Siepel |date=October 2009 |title=Darwinian alchemy: Human genes from noncoding DNA |url=http://genome.cshlp.org/content/19/10/1693.full |journal=Genome Research |volume=19 |issue=10 |pages=1693–1695 |doi=10.1101/gr.098376.109 |issn=1088-9051 |pmc=2765273 |pmid=19797681 |accessdate=2014-12-11 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823063126/http://genome.cshlp.org/content/19/10/1693.full |archivedate=2014-08-23 |df= }}</ref>
 
The generation of new genes can also involve small parts of several genes being duplicated, with these fragments then recombining to form new combinations with new functions.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Orengo |first1=Christine A. |last2=Thornton |first2=Janet M. |authorlink2=Janet Thornton |date=July 2005 |title=Protein families and their evolution—a structural perspective |journal=Annual Review of Biochemistry |volume=74 |pages=867–900 |doi=10.1146/annurev.biochem.74.082803.133029 |issn=0066-4154 |pmid=15954844}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Long |first1=Manyuan |last2=Betrán |first2=Esther |last3=Thornton |first3=Kevin |last4=Wang |first4=Wen |date=November 2003 |title=The origin of new genes: glimpses from the young and old |journal=Nature Reviews Genetics |volume=4 |issue=11 |pages=865–875 |doi=10.1038/nrg1204 |issn=1471-0056 |pmid=14634634}}</ref> When new genes are assembled from shuffling pre-existing parts, [[protein domain|domains]] act as modules with simple independent functions, which can be mixed together to produce new combinations with new and complex functions.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Minglei |last2=Caetano-Anollés |first2=Gustavo |authorlink2=Gustavo Caetano-Anolles |date=January 14, 2009 |title=The Evolutionary Mechanics of Domain Organization in Proteomes and the Rise of Modularity in the Protein World |journal=[[Structure (journal)|Structure]] |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=66–78 |doi=10.1016/j.str.2008.11.008 |issn=1357-4310 |pmid=19141283}}</ref> For example, [[polyketide synthase]]s are large [[enzyme]]s that make [[antibiotics]]; they contain up to one hundred independent domains that each catalyse one step in the overall process, like a step in an assembly line.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Weissman |first1=Kira J. |last2=Müller |first2=Rolf |date=April 14, 2008 |title=Protein–Protein Interactions in Multienzyme Megasynthetases |journal=[[ChemBioChem]] |volume=9 |issue=6 |pages=826–848 |doi=10.1002/cbic.200700751 |issn=1439-4227 |pmid=18357594}}</ref>
 
=== Sex and recombination ===
{{Further|Sexual reproduction|Genetic recombination|Evolution of sexual reproduction}}
In [[Asexual reproduction|asexual]] organisms, genes are inherited together, or ''linked'', as they cannot mix with genes of other organisms during reproduction. In contrast, the offspring of [[sex]]ual organisms contain random mixtures of their parents' chromosomes that are produced through independent assortment. In a related process called [[homologous recombination]], sexual organisms exchange DNA between two matching chromosomes.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Radding |first=Charles M. |date=December 1982 |title=Homologous Pairing and Strand Exchange in Genetic Recombination |journal=[[Annual Reviews (publisher)|Annual Review of Genetics]] |volume=16 |pages=405–437 |doi=10.1146/annurev.ge.16.120182.002201 |issn=0066-4197 |pmid=6297377}}</ref> Recombination and reassortment do not alter allele frequencies, but instead change which alleles are associated with each other, producing offspring with new combinations of alleles.<ref name=Agrawal>{{cite journal |last=Agrawal |first=Aneil F. |date=September 5, 2006 |title=Evolution of Sex: Why Do Organisms Shuffle Their Genotypes? |journal=[[Current Biology]] |volume=16 |issue=17 |pages=R696–R704 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2006.07.063 |issn=0960-9822 |pmid=16950096|bibcode=1996CBio....6.1213A }}</ref> Sex usually increases genetic variation and may increase the rate of evolution.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Peters |first1=Andrew D. |last2=Otto |first2=Sarah P. |date=June 2003 |title=Liberating genetic variance through sex |journal=[[BioEssays]] |volume=25 |issue=6 |pages=533–537 |doi=10.1002/bies.10291 |issn=0265-9247 |pmid=12766942}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Goddard |first1=Matthew R. |last2=Godfray |first2=H. Charles J. |authorlink2=Charles Godfray |last3=Burt |first3=Austin |date=March 31, 2005 |title=Sex increases the efficacy of natural selection in experimental yeast populations |journal=Nature |volume=434 |issue=7033 |pages=636–640 |bibcode=2005Natur.434..636G |doi=10.1038/nature03405 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=15800622}}</ref>
 
[[File:Evolsex-dia1a.png|thumb|upright=1.15|This diagram illustrates the ''twofold cost of sex''. If each individual were to contribute to the same number of offspring (two), ''(a)'' the [[sex]]ual population remains the same size each generation, where the ''(b)'' [[Asexual reproduction]] population doubles in size each generation.]]
 
The two-fold cost of sex was first described by [[John Maynard Smith]].<ref name="maynard">{{harvnb|Maynard Smith|1978}}{{page needed|date=December 2014}}</ref> The first cost is that in sexually dimorphic species only one of the two sexes can bear young. (This cost does not apply to hermaphroditic species, like most plants and many [[invertebrate]]s.) The second cost is that any individual who reproduces sexually can only pass on 50% of its genes to any individual offspring, with even less passed on as each new generation passes.<ref name="ridley">{{harvnb|Ridley|1993}}{{page needed|date=December 2014}}</ref> Yet sexual reproduction is the more common means of reproduction among eukaryotes and multicellular organisms. The [[Red Queen hypothesis]] has been used to explain the significance of sexual reproduction as a means to enable continual evolution and adaptation in response to [[coevolution]] with other species in an ever-changing environment.<ref name="ridley" /><ref name="red">{{cite journal |last=Van Valen |first=Leigh |authorlink=Leigh Van Valen |year=1973 |title=A New Evolutionary Law |url=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/18310184/evolutionary-theory/vol-01/Vol.1%2CNo.1%2C1-30%2CL.%20Van%20Valen%2C%20A%20new%20evolutionary%20law..pdf |format=PDF |journal=Evolutionary Theory |volume=1 |pages=1–30 |issn=0093-4755 |accessdate=2014-12-24 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141222094258/https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/18310184/evolutionary-theory/vol-01/Vol.1%2CNo.1%2C1-30%2CL.%20Van%20Valen%2C%20A%20new%20evolutionary%20law..pdf |archivedate=2014-12-22 |df= }}</ref><ref name="parasite">{{cite journal |last1=Hamilton |first1=W. D. |authorlink1=W. D. Hamilton |last2=Axelrod |first2=Robert |authorlink2=Robert Axelrod |last3=Tanese |first3=Reiko |date=May 1, 1990 |title=Sexual reproduction as an adaptation to resist parasites (a review) |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=87 |issue=9 |pages=3566–3573 |bibcode=1990PNAS...87.3566H |doi=10.1073/pnas.87.9.3566 |issn=0027-8424 |pmid=2185476 |pmc=53943}}</ref><ref name="Birdsell">{{harvnb|Birdsell|Wills|2003|pp=113–117}}</ref>
 
=== Gene flow ===
{{Further|Gene flow}}
Gene flow is the exchange of genes between populations and between species.<ref name="Morjan C, Rieseberg L 2004 1341–56">{{cite journal |last1=Morjan |first1=Carrie L. |last2=Rieseberg |first2=Loren H. |authorlink2=Loren H. Rieseberg |date=June 2004 |title=How species evolve collectively: implications of gene flow and selection for the spread of advantageous alleles |journal=[[Molecular Ecology]] |volume=13 |issue=6 |pages=1341–1356 |pmid=15140081 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-294X.2004.02164.x |issn=0962-1083 |pmc=2600545}}</ref> It can therefore be a source of variation that is new to a population or to a species. Gene flow can be caused by the movement of individuals between separate populations of organisms, as might be caused by the movement of mice between inland and coastal populations, or the movement of [[pollen]] between heavy-metal-tolerant and heavy-metal-sensitive populations of grasses.
 
Gene transfer between species includes the formation of [[Hybrid (biology)|hybrid]] organisms and [[horizontal gene transfer]]. Horizontal gene transfer is the transfer of genetic material from one organism to another organism that is not its offspring; this is most common among [[bacteria]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Boucher |first1=Yan |last2=Douady |first2=Christophe J. |last3=Papke |first3=R. Thane |last4=Walsh |first4=David A. |last5=Boudreau |first5=Mary Ellen R. |last6=Nesbo |first6=Camilla L. |last7=Case |first7=Rebecca J. |last8=Doolittle |first8=W. Ford |date=December 2003 |title=Lateral gene transfer and the origins of prokaryotic groups |journal=Annual Review of Genetics |volume=37 |pages=283–328 |doi=10.1146/annurev.genet.37.050503.084247 |issn=0066-4197 |pmid=14616063 |display-authors=3}}</ref> In medicine, this contributes to the spread of [[antibiotic resistance]], as when one bacteria acquires resistance genes it can rapidly transfer them to other species.<ref name=GeneticEvolution>{{cite journal |last=Walsh |first=Timothy R. |date=October 2006 |title=Combinatorial genetic evolution of multiresistance |journal=[[Current Opinion (Elsevier)|Current Opinion in Microbiology]] |volume=9 |issue=5 |pages=476–482 |doi=10.1016/j.mib.2006.08.009 |issn=1369-5274 |pmid=16942901}}</ref> Horizontal transfer of genes from bacteria to eukaryotes such as the yeast ''[[Saccharomyces cerevisiae]]'' and the adzuki bean weevil ''[[Callosobruchus chinensis]]'' has occurred.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kondo |first1=Natsuko |last2=Nikoh |first2=Naruo |last3=Ijichi |first3=Nobuyuki |last4=Shimada |first4=Masakazu |last5=Fukatsu |first5=Takema |date=October 29, 2002 |title=Genome fragment of ''Wolbachia'' endosymbiont transferred to X chromosome of host insect |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=99 |issue=22 |pages=14280–14285 |bibcode=2002PNAS...9914280K |doi=10.1073/pnas.222228199 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=137875 |pmid=12386340 |display-authors=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Sprague |first=George F., Jr. |date=December 1991 |title=Genetic exchange between kingdoms |journal=[[Current Opinion (Elsevier)|Current Opinion in Genetics & Development]] |volume=1 |issue=4 |pages=530–533 |doi=10.1016/S0959-437X(05)80203-5 |issn=0959-437X |pmid=1822285}}</ref> An example of larger-scale transfers are the eukaryotic [[Bdelloidea|bdelloid rotifers]], which have received a range of genes from bacteria, [[fungus|fungi]] and plants.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gladyshev |first1=Eugene A. |last2=Meselson |first2=Matthew |authorlink2=Matthew Meselson |last3=Arkhipova |first3=Irina R. |date=May 30, 2008 |title=Massive Horizontal Gene Transfer in Bdelloid Rotifers |journal=Science |volume=320 |issue=5880 |pages=1210–1213 |bibcode=2008Sci...320.1210G |doi=10.1126/science.1156407 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=18511688|url=http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:3120157 |type=Submitted manuscript }}</ref> [[Virus]]es can also carry DNA between organisms, allowing transfer of genes even across [[Domain (biology)|biological domains]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Baldo |first1=Angela M. |last2=McClure |first2=Marcella A. |date=September 1999 |title=Evolution and Horizontal Transfer of dUTPase-Encoding Genes in Viruses and Their Hosts |journal=[[Journal of Virology]] |volume=73 |issue=9 |pages=7710–7721 |issn=0022-538X |pmc=104298 |pmid=10438861}}</ref>
 
Large-scale gene transfer has also occurred between the ancestors of [[Eukaryote|eukaryotic cells]] and bacteria, during the acquisition of [[chloroplast]]s and [[Mitochondrion|mitochondria]]. It is possible that eukaryotes themselves originated from horizontal gene transfers between bacteria and [[archaea]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rivera |first1=Maria C. |last2=Lake |first2=James A. |authorlink2=James A. Lake |date=September 9, 2004 |title=The ring of life provides evidence for a genome fusion origin of eukaryotes |journal=Nature |volume=431 |issue=7005 |pages=152–155 |bibcode=2004Natur.431..152R |doi=10.1038/nature02848 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=15356622}}</ref>
 
== Mechanisms ==
[[File:Mutation and selection diagram.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|[[Mutation]] followed by natural selection results in a population with darker colouration.]]
From a [[Neo-Darwinism|neo-Darwinian]] perspective, evolution occurs when there are changes in the frequencies of alleles within a population of interbreeding organisms,<ref name="Ewens W.J. 2004" /> for example, the allele for black colour in a population of moths becoming more common. Mechanisms that can lead to changes in allele frequencies include natural selection, genetic drift, genetic hitchhiking, mutation and gene flow.
 
=== Natural selection ===
{{Main|Natural selection}}
{{Further|Sexual selection}}
Evolution by means of natural selection is the process by which traits that enhance survival and reproduction become more common in successive generations of a population. It has often been called a "self-evident" mechanism because it necessarily follows from three simple facts:<ref name="Lewontin70" />
* Variation exists within populations of organisms with respect to morphology, physiology, and behaviour (phenotypic variation).
* Different traits confer different rates of survival and reproduction (differential fitness).
* These traits can be passed from generation to generation (heritability of fitness).
 
More offspring are produced than can possibly survive, and these conditions produce competition between organisms for survival and reproduction. Consequently, organisms with traits that give them an advantage over their competitors are more likely to pass on their traits to the next generation than those with traits that do not confer an advantage.<ref name="Hurst">{{cite journal |last=Hurst |first=Laurence D. |authorlink=Laurence Hurst |title=Fundamental concepts in genetics: genetics and the understanding of selection |date=February 2009 |journal=Nature Reviews Genetics |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages=83–93 |doi=10.1038/nrg2506 |issn=1471-0056 |pmid=19119264}}</ref> This [[teleonomy]] is the quality whereby the process of natural selection creates and preserves traits that are [[teleology in biology|seemingly fitted]] for the [[function (biology)|functional]] roles they perform.<ref>{{harvnb|Darwin|1859|loc=[http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F373&viewtype=text&pageseq=477 Chapter XIV]}}</ref> Consequences of selection include [[Assortative mating|nonrandom mating]]<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Otto |first1=Sarah P. |author-link1=Sarah Otto |last2=Servedio |first2=Maria R. |authorlink2=Maria Servedio|last3=Nuismer |first3=Scott L. |title=Frequency-Dependent Selection and the Evolution of Assortative Mating |journal=Genetics |date=August 2008 |volume=179 |issue=4 |pages=2091–2112 |issn=0016-6731 |doi=10.1534/genetics.107.084418 |pmc=2516082 |pmid=18660541|bibcode= }}</ref> and [[genetic hitchhiking]].
 
The central concept of natural selection is the [[fitness (biology)|evolutionary fitness]] of an organism.<ref name="Orr">{{cite journal |last=Orr |first=H. Allen |authorlink=H. Allen Orr |date=August 2009 |title=Fitness and its role in evolutionary genetics |journal=Nature Reviews Genetics |volume=10 |issue=8 |pages=531–539 |doi=10.1038/nrg2603 |pmc=2753274 |pmid=19546856 |issn=1471-0056}}</ref> Fitness is measured by an organism's ability to survive and reproduce, which determines the size of its genetic contribution to the next generation.<ref name="Orr" /> However, fitness is not the same as the total number of offspring: instead fitness is indicated by the proportion of subsequent generations that carry an organism's genes.<ref name="Haldane">{{cite journal |last=Haldane |first=J.B.S. |authorlink=J. B. S. Haldane |date=March 14, 1959 |title=The Theory of Natural Selection To-Day |journal=Nature |volume=183 |issue=4663 |pages=710–713 |bibcode=1959Natur.183..710H |doi=10.1038/183710a0 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=13644170}}</ref> For example, if an organism could survive well and reproduce rapidly, but its offspring were all too small and weak to survive, this organism would make little genetic contribution to future generations and would thus have low fitness.<ref name="Orr" />
 
If an allele increases fitness more than the other alleles of that gene, then with each generation this allele will become more common within the population. These traits are said to be "selected ''for''." Examples of traits that can increase fitness are enhanced survival and increased [[fecundity]]. Conversely, the lower fitness caused by having a less beneficial or deleterious allele results in this allele becoming rarer—they are "selected ''against''."<ref name="Lande">{{cite journal |last1=Lande |first1=Russell |authorlink1=Russell Lande |last2=Arnold |first2=Stevan J. |date=November 1983 |title=The Measurement of Selection on Correlated Characters |journal=Evolution |volume=37 |issue=6 |pages=1210–1226 |doi=10.2307/2408842 |pmid=28556011 |issn=0014-3820 |jstor=2408842}}</ref> Importantly, the fitness of an allele is not a fixed characteristic; if the environment changes, previously neutral or harmful traits may become beneficial and previously beneficial traits become harmful.<ref name="Futuyma_2005" /> However, even if the direction of selection does reverse in this way, traits that were lost in the past may not re-evolve in an identical form (see [[Dollo's law of irreversibility|Dollo's law]]).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Goldberg |first1=Emma E. |last2=Igić |first2=Boris |date=November 2008 |title=On phylogenetic tests of irreversible evolution |journal=Evolution |volume=62 |issue=11 |pages=2727–2741 |doi=10.1111/j.1558-5646.2008.00505.x |issn=0014-3820 |pmid=18764918}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Collin |first1=Rachel |last2=Miglietta |first2=Maria Pia |date=November 2008 |title=Reversing opinions on Dollo's Law |journal=[[Trends (journals)|Trends in Ecology & Evolution]] |volume=23 |issue=11 |pages=602–609 |doi=10.1016/j.tree.2008.06.013 |issn=0169-5347 |pmid=18814933}}</ref> However, a re-activation of dormant genes, as long as they have not been eliminated from the genome and were only suppressed perhaps for hundreds of generations, can lead to the re-occurrence of traits thought to be lost like hindlegs in [[dolphin]]s, teeth in [[chicken]]s, wings in wingless stick [[insect]]s, tails and additional nipples in humans etc.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tomić |first1=Nenad |last2=Meyer-Rochow |first2=Victor Benno |year=2011 |title=Atavisms: Medical, Genetic, and Evolutionary Implications |journal=[[Perspectives in Biology and Medicine]] |volume=54 |issue=3 |pages=332–353 |doi=10.1353/pbm.2011.0034 |issn=0031-5982 |pmid=21857125}}</ref> "Throwbacks" such as these are known as [[atavism]]s.
 
[[File:Genetic Distribution.svg|thumb|left|upright=1.45|These charts depict the different types of genetic selection. On each graph, the x-axis variable is the type of [[phenotypic trait]] and the y-axis variable is the number of organisms. Group A is the original population and Group B is the population after selection.<br />
'''·''' Graph 1 shows [[directional selection]], in which a single extreme [[phenotype]] is favoured.<br />
'''·''' Graph 2 depicts [[stabilizing selection]], where the intermediate phenotype is favoured over the extreme traits.<br />
'''·''' Graph 3 shows [[disruptive selection]], in which the extreme phenotypes are favoured over the intermediate.]]
 
Natural selection within a population for a trait that can vary across a range of values, such as height, can be categorised into three different types. The first is [[directional selection]], which is a shift in the average value of a trait over time—for example, organisms slowly getting taller.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hoekstra |first1=Hopi E. |last2=Hoekstra |first2=Jonathan M. |last3=Berrigan |first3=David |last4=Vignieri |first4=Sacha N. |last5=Hoang |first5=Amy |last6=Hill |first6=Caryl E. |last7=Beerli |first7=Peter |last8=Kingsolver |first8=Joel G. |date=July 31, 2001 |title=Strength and tempo of directional selection in the wild |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=98 |issue=16 |pages=9157–9160 |bibcode=2001PNAS...98.9157H |doi=10.1073/pnas.161281098 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=55389 |pmid=11470913 |display-authors=3}}</ref> Secondly, [[disruptive selection]] is selection for extreme trait values and often results in [[bimodal distribution|two different values]] becoming most common, with selection against the average value. This would be when either short or tall organisms had an advantage, but not those of medium height. Finally, in [[stabilising selection]] there is selection against extreme trait values on both ends, which causes a decrease in [[variance]] around the average value and less diversity.<ref name="Hurst" /><ref>{{cite journal |last=Felsenstein |first=Joseph |authorlink=Joseph Felsenstein |date=November 1979 |title=Excursions along the Interface between Disruptive and Stabilizing Selection |journal=Genetics |volume=93 |issue=3 |pages=773–795 |issn=0016-6731 |pmc=1214112 |pmid=17248980}}</ref> This would, for example, cause organisms to eventually have a similar height.
 
A special case of natural selection is sexual selection, which is selection for any trait that increases mating success by increasing the attractiveness of an organism to potential mates.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Andersson |first1=Malte |last2=Simmons |first2=Leigh W. |date=June 2006 |title=Sexual selection and mate choice |journal=Trends in Ecology & Evolution |volume=21 |issue=6 |pages=296–302 |pmid=16769428 |doi=10.1016/j.tree.2006.03.015 |issn=0169-5347 |url=http://academic.reed.edu/biology/professors/srenn/pages/teaching/2008_syllabus/2008_readings/2_anderson-simmons_2006.pdf |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130309112854/http://academic.reed.edu/biology/professors/srenn/pages/teaching/2008_syllabus/2008_readings/2_Anderson-Simmons_2006.pdf |archivedate=2013-03-09 |df= |citeseerx=10.1.1.595.4050 }}</ref> Traits that evolved through sexual selection are particularly prominent among males of several animal species. Although sexually favoured, traits such as cumbersome antlers, mating calls, large body size and bright colours often attract predation, which compromises the survival of individual males.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kokko |first1=Hanna |authorlink1=Hanna Kokko |last2=Brooks |first2=Robert |last3=McNamara |first3=John M. |last4=Houston |first4=Alasdair I. |date=July 7, 2002 |title=The sexual selection continuum |journal=[[Proceedings of the Royal Society#Proceedings of the Royal Society B|Proceedings of the Royal Society B]] |volume=269 |issue=1498 |pages=1331–1340 |doi=10.1098/rspb.2002.2020 |issn=0962-8452 |pmc=1691039 |pmid=12079655}}</ref><ref name="Balancing">{{cite journal |last1=Quinn |first1=Thomas P. |last2=Hendry |first2=Andrew P. |last3=Buck |first3=Gregory B. |year=2001 |title=Balancing natural and sexual selection in sockeye salmon: interactions between body size, reproductive opportunity and vulnerability to predation by bears |url=http://redpath-staff.mcgill.ca/hendry/QuinnetalEvolEcolRes2001.pdf |format=PDF |journal=Evolutionary Ecology Research |volume=3 |pages=917–937 |issn=1522-0613 |accessdate=2014-12-15 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305092304/http://redpath-staff.mcgill.ca/hendry/QuinnetalEvolEcolRes2001.pdf |archivedate=2016-03-05 |df= }}</ref> This survival disadvantage is balanced by higher reproductive success in males that show these [[Handicap principle|hard-to-fake]], sexually selected traits.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hunt |first1=John |last2=Brooks |first2=Robert |last3=Jennions |first3=Michael D. |last4=Smith |first4=Michael J. |last5=Bentsen |first5=Caroline L. |last6=Bussière |first6=Luc F. |date=December 23, 2004 |title=High-quality male field crickets invest heavily in sexual display but die young |journal=Nature |volume=432 |issue=7020 |pages=1024–1027 |bibcode=2004Natur.432.1024H |doi=10.1038/nature03084 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=15616562 |display-authors=3}}</ref>
 
Natural selection most generally makes nature the measure against which individuals and individual traits, are more or less likely to survive. "Nature" in this sense refers to an [[ecosystem]], that is, a system in which organisms interact with every other element, [[Abiotic component|physical]] as well as [[Biotic component|biological]], in their local environment. [[Eugene Odum]], a founder of [[ecology]], defined an ecosystem as: "Any unit that includes all of the organisms...in a given area interacting with the physical environment so that a flow of energy leads to clearly defined trophic structure, biotic diversity, and material cycles (i.e., exchange of materials between living and nonliving parts) within the system...."<ref name="Odum1971">{{harvnb|Odum|1971|p=8}}</ref> Each population within an ecosystem occupies a distinct [[Ecological niche|niche]], or position, with distinct relationships to other parts of the system. These relationships involve the life history of the organism, its position in the [[food chain]] and its geographic range. This broad understanding of nature enables scientists to delineate specific forces which, together, comprise natural selection.
 
Natural selection can act at [[unit of selection|different levels of organisation]], such as genes, cells, individual organisms, groups of organisms and species.<ref name="Okasha07">{{harvnb|Okasha|2006}}</ref><ref name="Gould">{{cite journal |last=Gould |first=Stephen Jay |authorlink=Stephen Jay Gould |date=February 28, 1998 |title=Gulliver's further travels: the necessity and difficulty of a hierarchical theory of selection |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=353 |issue=1366 |pages=307–314 |doi=10.1098/rstb.1998.0211 |issn=0962-8436 |pmc=1692213 |pmid=9533127}}</ref><ref name=Mayr1997>{{cite journal |last=Mayr |first=Ernst |authorlink=Ernst Mayr |date=March 18, 1997 |title=The objects of selection |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=94 |issue=6 |pages=2091–2094 |bibcode=1997PNAS...94.2091M |doi=10.1073/pnas.94.6.2091 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=33654 |pmid=9122151}}</ref> Selection can act at multiple levels simultaneously.<ref>{{harvnb|Maynard Smith|1998|pp=203–211; discussion 211–217}}</ref> An example of selection occurring below the level of the individual organism are genes called [[Transposable element|transposons]], which can replicate and spread throughout a genome.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hickey |first=Donal A. |year=1992 |title=Evolutionary dynamics of transposable elements in prokaryotes and eukaryotes |journal=[[Genetica]] |volume=86 |issue=1–3 |pages=269–274 |doi=10.1007/BF00133725 |issn=0016-6707 |pmid=1334911}}</ref> Selection at a level above the individual, such as [[group selection]], may allow the evolution of cooperation, as discussed below.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gould |first1=Stephen Jay |last2=Lloyd |first2=Elisabeth A. |authorlink2=Elisabeth Lloyd |date=October 12, 1999 |title=Individuality and adaptation across levels of selection: how shall we name and generalise the unit of Darwinism? |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=96 |issue=21 |pages=11904–11909 |bibcode=1999PNAS...9611904G |doi=10.1073/pnas.96.21.11904 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=18385 |pmid=10518549}}</ref>
 
=== Biased mutation ===
In addition to being a major source of variation, mutation may also function as a mechanism of evolution when there are different probabilities at the molecular level for different mutations to occur, a process known as mutation bias.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lynch |first=Michael |authorlink=Michael Lynch (geneticist) |date=May 15, 2007 |title=The frailty of adaptive hypotheses for the origins of organismal complexity |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=104 |issue=Suppl. 1 |pages=8597–8604 |bibcode=2007PNAS..104.8597L |doi=10.1073/pnas.0702207104 |issn=0027-8424 |pmid=17494740 |pmc=1876435}}</ref> If two genotypes, for example one with the nucleotide G and another with the nucleotide A in the same position, have the same fitness, but mutation from G to A happens more often than mutation from A to G, then genotypes with A will tend to evolve.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Nick G.C. |last2=Webster |first2=Matthew T. |last3=Ellegren |first3=Hans |date=September 2002 |title=Deterministic Mutation Rate Variation in the Human Genome |url=http://genome.cshlp.org/content/12/9/1350.abstract |journal=Genome Research |volume=12 |issue=9 |pages=1350–1356 |doi=10.1101/gr.220502 |issn=1088-9051 |pmc=186654 |pmid=12213772 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823062603/http://genome.cshlp.org/content/12/9/1350.abstract |archivedate=2014-08-23 |df= }}</ref> Different insertion vs. deletion mutation biases in different [[Taxon|taxa]] can lead to the evolution of different genome sizes.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Petrov |first1=Dmitri A. |last2=Sangster |first2=Todd A. |last3=Johnston |first3=J. Spencer |last4=Hartl |first4=Daniel L. |last5=Shaw |first5=Kerry L. |date=February 11, 2000 |title=Evidence for DNA Loss as a Determinant of Genome Size |journal=Science |volume=287 |issue=5455 |pages=1060–1062 |bibcode=2000Sci...287.1060P |doi=10.1126/science.287.5455.1060 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=10669421 |display-authors=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Petrov |first=Dmitri A. |date=May 2002 |title=DNA loss and evolution of genome size in ''Drosophila'' |journal=Genetica |volume=115 |issue=1 |pages=81–91 |doi=10.1023/A:1016076215168 |issn=0016-6707 |pmid=12188050}}</ref> Developmental or mutational biases have also been observed in morphological evolution.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kiontke |first1=Karin |last2=Barrière |first2=Antoine |last3=Kolotuev |first3=Irina |last4=Podbilewicz |first4=Benjamin |last5=Sommer |first5=Ralf |last6=Fitch |first6=David H.A. |last7=Félix |first7=Marie-Anne |date=November 2007 |title=Trends, Stasis, and Drift in the Evolution of Nematode Vulva Development |journal=Current Biology |volume=17 |issue=22 |pages=1925–1937 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2007.10.061 |issn=0960-9822 |pmid=18024125 |display-authors=3|bibcode=1996CBio....6.1213A }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Braendle |first1=Christian |last2=Baer |first2=Charles F. |last3=Félix |first3=Marie-Anne |date=March 12, 2010 |editor1-last=Barsh |editor1-first=Gregory S. |title=Bias and Evolution of the Mutationally Accessible Phenotypic Space in a Developmental System |journal=[[PLOS Genetics]] |volume=6 |issue=3 |page=e1000877 |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1000877 |issn=1553-7390 |pmid=20300655 |pmc=2837400}}</ref> For example, according to the [[Baldwin effect|phenotype-first theory of evolution]], mutations can eventually cause the [[genetic assimilation]] of traits that were previously [[phenotypic plasticity|induced by the environment]].<ref name="Palmer 2004">{{cite journal |last=Palmer |first=A. Richard |date=October 29, 2004 |title=Symmetry breaking and the evolution of development |journal=Science |pages=828–833 |volume=306 |issue=5697 |bibcode=2004Sci...306..828P |doi=10.1126/science.1103707 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=15514148 |url=http://biology.duke.edu/nijhout/PDFs/Palmer04.pdf |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070612110233/http://www.biology.duke.edu/nijhout/PDFs/Palmer04.pdf |archivedate=2007-06-12 |df= |citeseerx=10.1.1.631.4256 }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|West-Eberhard|2003|pages=140}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Pocheville|Danchin|2017}}</ref>
 
Mutation bias effects are superimposed on other processes. If selection would favour either one out of two mutations, but there is no extra advantage to having both, then the mutation that occurs the most frequently is the one that is most likely to become fixed in a population.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stoltzfus |first1=Arlin |last2=Yampolsky |first2=Lev Y. |date=September–October 2009 |title=Climbing Mount Probable: Mutation as a Cause of Nonrandomness in Evolution |journal=[[Journal of Heredity]] |volume=100 |issue=5 |pages=637–647 |doi=10.1093/jhered/esp048 |issn=0022-1503 |pmid=19625453}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Yampolsky |first1=Lev Y. |last2=Stoltzfus |first2=Arlin |date=March 2001 |title=Bias in the introduction of variation as an orienting factor in evolution |journal=[[Evolution & Development]] |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=73–83 |doi=10.1046/j.1525-142x.2001.003002073.x |issn=1520-541X |pmid=11341676}}</ref> Mutations leading to the loss of function of a gene are much more common than mutations that produce a new, fully functional gene. Most loss of function mutations are selected against. But when selection is weak, mutation bias towards loss of function can affect evolution.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Haldane |first=J.B.S. |date=January–February 1933 |title=The Part Played by Recurrent Mutation in Evolution |journal=The American Naturalist |volume=67 |issue=708 |pages=5–19 |doi=10.1086/280465 |issn=0003-0147 |jstor=2457127}}</ref> For example, [[Biological pigment|pigments]] are no longer useful when animals live in the darkness of caves, and tend to be lost.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Protas |first1=Meredith |last2=Conrad |first2=Melissa |last3=Gross |first3=Joshua B. |last4=Tabin |first4=Clifford |authorlink4=Clifford Tabin |last5=Borowsky |first5=Richard |date=March 6, 2007 |title=Regressive Evolution in the Mexican Cave Tetra, ''Astyanax mexicanus'' |journal=Current Biology |volume=17 |issue=5 |pages=452–454 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2007.01.051 |issn=0960-9822 |pmc=2570642 |pmid=17306543 |display-authors=3|bibcode=1996CBio....6.1213A }}</ref> This kind of loss of function can occur because of mutation bias, and/or because the function had a cost, and once the benefit of the function disappeared, natural selection leads to the loss. Loss of [[endospore|sporulation]] ability in ''[[Bacillus subtilis]]'' during laboratory evolution appears to have been caused by mutation bias, rather than natural selection against the cost of maintaining sporulation ability.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Maughan |first1=Heather |last2=Masel |first2=Joanna |author2link=Joanna Masel |last3=Birky |first3=C. William, Jr. |last4=Nicholson |first4=Wayne L. |date=October 2007 |title=The Roles of Mutation Accumulation and Selection in Loss of Sporulation in Experimental Populations of ''Bacillus subtilis'' |journal=Genetics |volume=177 |issue=2 |pages=937–948 |doi=10.1534/genetics.107.075663 |issn=0016-6731 |pmc=2034656 |pmid=17720926|bibcode= }}</ref> When there is no selection for loss of function, the speed at which loss evolves depends more on the mutation rate than it does on the [[effective population size]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Masel |first1=Joanna |last2=King |first2=Oliver D. |last3=Maughan |first3=Heather |date=January 2007 |title=The Loss of Adaptive Plasticity during Long Periods of Environmental Stasis |journal=The American Naturalist |volume=169 |issue=1 |pages=38–46 |doi=10.1086/510212 |issn=0003-0147 |pmc=1766558 |pmid=17206583}}</ref> indicating that it is driven more by mutation bias than by genetic drift. In parasitic organisms, mutation bias leads to selection pressures as seen in ''[[Ehrlichia]]''. Mutations are biased towards [[antigen]]ic variants in outer-membrane proteins.
 
=== Genetic drift ===
{{Further|Genetic drift|Effective population size}}
[[File:Allele-frequency.png|thumb|Simulation of genetic drift of 20 unlinked alleles in populations of 10 (top) and 100 (bottom). Drift to [[Fixation (population genetics)|fixation]] is more rapid in the smaller population.]]
Genetic drift is the random fluctuations of [[allele frequency|allele frequencies]] within a population from one generation to the next.<ref name="Futuyma2017b">{{cite book | last1=Futuyma | first1=Douglas J. | last2=Kirkpatrick | first2=Mark | year = 2017 | chapter = Natural selection and adaptation | title=Evolution | pages = 55–66 | edition = Fourth | publisher = Sunderland, Massachusetts: Sinauer Associates, Inc | isbn=978-1-60535-605-1}}</ref> When selective forces are absent or relatively weak, allele frequencies are equally likely to ''drift'' upward or downward at each successive generation because the alleles are subject to [[sampling error]].<ref name="Masel 2011">{{cite journal |last=Masel |first=Joanna |date=October 25, 2011 |title=Genetic drift |journal=Current Biology |volume=21 |issue=20 |pages=R837–R838 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2011.08.007 |issn=0960-9822 |pmid=22032182|bibcode=1996CBio....6.1213A }}</ref> This drift halts when an allele eventually becomes fixed, either by disappearing from the population or replacing the other alleles entirely. Genetic drift may therefore eliminate some alleles from a population due to chance alone. Even in the absence of selective forces, genetic drift can cause two separate populations that began with the same genetic structure to drift apart into two divergent populations with different sets of alleles.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lande |first=Russell |year=1989 |title=Fisherian and Wrightian theories of speciation |journal=[[Genome (journal)|Genome]] |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=221–227 |doi=10.1139/g89-037 |issn=0831-2796 |pmid=2687093}}</ref>
 
The [[neutral theory of molecular evolution]] proposed that most evolutionary changes are the result of the fixation of [[neutral mutation]]s by genetic drift.<ref name="Kimura M 1991 367–86">{{cite journal |last=Kimura |first=Motoo |authorlink=Motoo Kimura |year=1991 |title=The neutral theory of molecular evolution: a review of recent evidence |url=https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jjg/66/4/66_4_367/_article |journal=[[Journal of Human Genetics|The Japanese Journal of Human Genetics]] |volume=66 |issue=4 |pages=367–386 |doi=10.1266/jjg.66.367 |issn=0021-504X |pmid=1954033 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216085551/https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jjg/66/4/66_4_367/_article |archivedate=2014-12-16 |df= }}</ref> Hence, in this model, most genetic changes in a population are the result of constant mutation pressure and genetic drift.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kimura |first=Motoo |year=1989 |title=The neutral theory of molecular evolution and the world view of the neutralists |journal=Genome |volume=31 |issue=1 |pages=24–31 |doi=10.1139/g89-009 |issn=0831-2796 |pmid=2687096}}</ref> This form of the neutral theory is now largely abandoned, since it does not seem to fit the genetic variation seen in nature.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kreitman |first=Martin |authorlink=Martin Kreitman |date=August 1996 |title=The neutral theory is dead. Long live the neutral theory |journal=BioEssays |volume=18 |issue=8 |pages=678–683; discussion 683 |doi=10.1002/bies.950180812 |issn=0265-9247 |pmid=8760341}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Leigh |first=E.G., Jr. |date=November 2007 |title=Neutral theory: a historical perspective |journal=[[Journal of Evolutionary Biology]] |volume=20 |issue=6 |pages=2075–2091 |doi=10.1111/j.1420-9101.2007.01410.x |issn=1010-061X |pmid=17956380}}</ref> However, a more recent and better-supported version of this model is the [[nearly neutral theory of molecular evolution|nearly neutral theory]], where a mutation that would be effectively neutral in a small population is not necessarily neutral in a large population.<ref name="Hurst" /> Other alternative theories propose that genetic drift is dwarfed by other stochastic forces in evolution, such as genetic hitchhiking, also known as genetic draft.<ref name="Masel 2011" /><ref name="gillespie 2001">{{cite journal |last=Gillespie |first=John H. |authorlink=John H. Gillespie |date=November 2001 |title=Is the population size of a species relevant to its evolution? |journal=Evolution |volume=55 |issue=11 |pages=2161–2169 |doi=10.1111/j.0014-3820.2001.tb00732.x |issn=0014-3820 |pmid=11794777}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Neher |first1=Richard A. |last2=Shraiman |first2=Boris I. |date=August 2011 |title=Genetic Draft and Quasi-Neutrality in Large Facultatively Sexual Populations |journal=Genetics |volume=188 |issue=4 |pages=975–996 |doi=10.1534/genetics.111.128876 |issn=0016-6731 |pmc=3176096 |pmid=21625002|arxiv=1108.1635 |bibcode= }}</ref>
 
The time for a neutral allele to become fixed by genetic drift depends on population size, with fixation occurring more rapidly in smaller populations.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Otto |first1=Sarah P. |last2=Whitlock |first2=Michael C. |date=June 1997 |title=The Probability of Fixation in Populations of Changing Size |url=http://www.genetics.org/content/146/2/723.full.pdf |format=PDF |journal=Genetics |volume=146 |issue=2 |pages=723–733 |issn=0016-6731 |pmc=1208011 |pmid=9178020 |accessdate=2014-12-18 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319042554/http://www.genetics.org/content/146/2/723.full.pdf |archivedate=2015-03-19 |df= }}</ref> The number of individuals in a population is not critical, but instead a measure known as the effective population size.<ref name="Charlesworth">{{cite journal |last=Charlesworth |first=Brian |authorlink=Brian Charlesworth |date=March 2009 |title=Fundamental concepts in genetics: effective population size and patterns of molecular evolution and variation |journal=Nature Reviews Genetics |volume=10 |issue=3 |pages=195–205 |doi=10.1038/nrg2526 |issn=1471-0056 |pmid=19204717}}</ref> The effective population is usually smaller than the total population since it takes into account factors such as the level of inbreeding and the stage of the lifecycle in which the population is the smallest.<ref name="Charlesworth" /> The effective population size may not be the same for every gene in the same population.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cutter |first1=Asher D. |last2=Choi |first2=Jae Young |date=August 2010 |title=Natural selection shapes nucleotide polymorphism across the genome of the nematode ''Caenorhabditis briggsae'' |journal=Genome Research |volume=20 |issue=8 |pages=1103–1111 |doi=10.1101/gr.104331.109 |issn=1088-9051 |pmc=2909573 |pmid=20508143 |ref=harv}}</ref>
 
It is usually difficult to measure the relative importance of selection and neutral processes, including drift.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mitchell-Olds |first1=Thomas |last2=Willis |first2=John H. |last3=Goldstein |first3=David B. |authorlink3=David B. Goldstein (geneticist) |date=November 2007 |title=Which evolutionary processes influence natural genetic variation for phenotypic traits? |journal=Nature Reviews Genetics |volume=8 |issue=11 |pages=845–856 |doi=10.1038/nrg2207 |issn=1471-0056 |pmid=17943192}}</ref> The comparative importance of adaptive and non-adaptive forces in driving evolutionary change is an area of [[Evolutionary biology|current research]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Nei |first=Masatoshi |authorlink=Masatoshi Nei |date=December 2005 |title=Selectionism and Neutralism in Molecular Evolution |journal=[[Molecular Biology and Evolution]] |volume=22 |issue=12 |pages=2318–2342 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msi242 |issn=0737-4038 |pmc=1513187 |pmid=16120807}}
* {{cite journal |last=Nei |first=Masatoshi |date=May 2006 |title=Selectionism and Neutralism in Molecular Evolution |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |type=Erratum |volume=23 |issue=5 |page=1095 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msk009 |issn=0737-4038}}</ref>
 
=== Genetic hitchhiking ===
{{Further|Genetic hitchhiking|Hill–Robertson effect|Selective sweep}}
Recombination allows alleles on the same strand of DNA to become separated. However, the rate of recombination is low (approximately two events per chromosome per generation). As a result, genes close together on a chromosome may not always be shuffled away from each other and genes that are close together tend to be inherited together, a phenomenon known as [[genetic linkage|linkage]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lien |first1=Sigbjørn |last2=Szyda |first2=Joanna |last3=Schechinger |first3=Birgit |last4=Rappold |first4=Gudrun |last5=Arnheim |first5=Norm |date=February 2000 |title=Evidence for Heterogeneity in Recombination in the Human Pseudoautosomal Region: High Resolution Analysis by Sperm Typing and Radiation-Hybrid Mapping |journal=[[American Journal of Human Genetics]] |volume=66 |issue=2 |pages=557–566 |doi=10.1086/302754 |issn=0002-9297 |pmc=1288109 |pmid=10677316 |display-authors=3}}</ref> This tendency is measured by finding how often two alleles occur together on a single chromosome compared to [[independence (probability theory)|expectations]], which is called their [[linkage disequilibrium]]. A set of alleles that is usually inherited in a group is called a [[haplotype]]. This can be important when one allele in a particular haplotype is strongly beneficial: natural selection can drive a [[selective sweep]] that will also cause the other alleles in the haplotype to become more common in the population; this effect is called genetic hitchhiking or genetic draft.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Barton |first=Nicholas H. |authorlink=Nick Barton |date=November 29, 2000 |title=Genetic hitchhiking |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=355 |issue=1403 |pages=1553–1562 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2000.0716 |issn=0962-8436 |pmc=1692896 |pmid=11127900}}</ref> Genetic draft caused by the fact that some neutral genes are genetically linked to others that are under selection can be partially captured by an appropriate effective population size.<ref name="gillespie 2001" />
 
=== Gene flow ===
{{Further|Gene flow|Hybrid (biology)|Horizontal gene transfer}}
Gene flow involves the exchange of genes between populations and between species.<ref name="Morjan C, Rieseberg L 2004 1341–56" /> The presence or absence of gene flow fundamentally changes the course of evolution. Due to the complexity of organisms, any two completely isolated populations will eventually evolve genetic incompatibilities through neutral processes, as in the [[Bateson-Dobzhansky-Muller Model|Bateson-Dobzhansky-Muller model]], even if both populations remain essentially identical in terms of their adaptation to the environment.
 
If genetic differentiation between populations develops, gene flow between populations can introduce traits or alleles which are disadvantageous in the local population and this may lead to organisms within these populations evolving mechanisms that prevent mating with genetically distant populations, eventually resulting in the appearance of new species. Thus, exchange of genetic information between individuals is fundamentally important for the development of the [[Species problem#Mayr's Biological Species Concept|''Biological Species Concept'']] (BSC).
 
During the development of the modern synthesis, Sewall Wright developed his [[shifting balance theory]], which regarded gene flow between partially isolated populations as an important aspect of adaptive evolution.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wright |first=Sewall |authorlink=Sewall Wright |year=1932 |title=The roles of mutation, inbreeding, crossbreeding and selection in evolution |url=http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/ridley/classictexts/wright.asp |journal=Proceedings of the VI International Congress of Genetrics |volume=1 |pages=356–366 |accessdate=2014-12-18 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823063103/http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/ridley/classictexts/wright.asp |archivedate=2014-08-23 |df= }}</ref> However, recently there has been substantial criticism of the importance of the shifting balance theory.<ref name="Coyne 1997">{{cite journal |last1=Coyne |first1=Jerry A. |authorlink1=Jerry Coyne |last2=Barton |first2=Nicholas H. |last3=Turelli |first3=Michael |date=June 1997 |title=Perspective: A Critique of Sewall Wright's Shifting Balance Theory of Evolution |journal=Evolution |volume=51 |issue=3 |pages=643–671 |doi=10.2307/2411143 |pmid=28568586 |issn=0014-3820|jstor=2411143 }}</ref>
 
== Outcomes ==
[[File:Kishony lab-The Evolution of Bacteria on a Mega-Plate.webm|thumb|upright=1.5|thumbtime=106|A visual demonstration of rapid [[antibiotic resistance]] evolution by ''E. coli'' growing across a plate with increasing concentrations of [[trimethoprim]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Baym|first=Michael|last2=Lieberman|first2=Tami D.|last3=Kelsic|first3=Eric D.|last4=Chait|first4=Remy|last5=Gross|first5=Rotem|last6=Yelin|first6=Idan|last7=Kishony|first7=Roy|date=2016-09-09|title=Spatiotemporal microbial evolution on antibiotic landscapes|url=http://science.sciencemag.org/content/353/6304/1147|journal=Science|language=en|volume=353|issue=6304|pages=1147–1151|doi=10.1126/science.aag0822|issn=0036-8075|pmid=27609891|pmc=5534434|bibcode=2016Sci...353.1147B|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160923173125/http://science.sciencemag.org/content/353/6304/1147|archivedate=2016-09-23|df=}}</ref>]]
 
Evolution influences every aspect of the form and behaviour of organisms. Most prominent are the specific behavioural and physical adaptations that are the outcome of natural selection. These adaptations increase fitness by aiding activities such as finding food, avoiding [[Predation|predators]] or attracting mates. Organisms can also respond to selection by [[Co-operation (evolution)|cooperating]] with each other, usually by aiding their relatives or engaging in mutually beneficial [[symbiosis]]. In the longer term, evolution produces new species through splitting ancestral populations of organisms into new groups that cannot or will not interbreed.
 
These outcomes of evolution are distinguished based on time scale as [[macroevolution]] versus microevolution. Macroevolution refers to evolution that occurs at or above the level of species, in particular speciation and extinction; whereas microevolution refers to smaller evolutionary changes within a species or population, in particular shifts in [[allele frequency]] and adaptation.<ref name="ScottEC">{{cite journal |last1=Scott |first1=Eugenie C. |authorlink1=Eugenie Scott |last2=Matzke |first2=Nicholas J. |authorlink2=Nick Matzke |date=May 15, 2007 |title=Biological design in science classrooms |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=104 |issue=Suppl. 1 |pages=8669–8676 |bibcode=2007PNAS..104.8669S |doi=10.1073/pnas.0701505104 |issn=0027-8424 |pmid=17494747 |pmc=1876445}}</ref> In general, macroevolution is regarded as the outcome of long periods of microevolution.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hendry |first1=Andrew Paul |last2=Kinnison |first2=Michael T. |date=November 2001 |title=An introduction to microevolution: rate, pattern, process |journal=Genetica |volume='''112–113''' |issue=1 |pages=1–8 |doi=10.1023/A:1013368628607 |issn=0016-6707 |pmid=11838760}}</ref> Thus, the distinction between micro- and macroevolution is not a fundamental one—the difference is simply the time involved.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Leroi |first=Armand M. |authorlink=Armand Marie Leroi |date=March–April 2000 |title=The scale independence of evolution |journal=Evolution & Development |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=67–77 |doi=10.1046/j.1525-142x.2000.00044.x |issn=1520-541X |pmid=11258392|citeseerx=10.1.1.120.1020 }}</ref> However, in macroevolution, the traits of the entire species may be important. For instance, a large amount of variation among individuals allows a species to rapidly adapt to new [[habitat]]s, lessening the chance of it going extinct, while a wide geographic range increases the chance of speciation, by making it more likely that part of the population will become isolated. In this sense, microevolution and macroevolution might involve selection at different levels—with microevolution acting on genes and organisms, versus macroevolutionary processes such as [[Unit of selection#Species selection and selection at higher taxonomic levels|species selection]] acting on entire species and affecting their rates of speciation and extinction.{{sfn|Gould|2002|pp=657–658}}<ref name="Gould_1994">{{cite journal |last=Gould |first=Stephen Jay |date=July 19, 1994 |title=Tempo and mode in the macroevolutionary reconstruction of Darwinism |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=91 |issue=15 |pages=6764–6771 |bibcode=1994PNAS...91.6764G |doi=10.1073/pnas.91.15.6764 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=44281 |pmid=8041695}}</ref><ref name="Jablonski2000">{{cite journal |last=Jablonski |first=David |authorlink=David Jablonski |year=2000 |title=Micro- and macroevolution: scale and hierarchy in evolutionary biology and paleobiology |journal=[[Paleobiology (journal)|Paleobiology]] |volume=26 |issue=sp4 |pages=15–52 |doi=10.1666/0094-8373(2000)26[15:MAMSAH]2.0.CO;2 |issn=0094-8373}}</ref>
 
A common misconception is that evolution has goals, long-term plans, or an innate tendency for "progress", as expressed in beliefs such as orthogenesis and evolutionism; realistically however, evolution has no long-term goal and does not necessarily produce greater complexity.<ref name="sciam_1998">{{cite journal |last=Dougherty |first=Michael J. |date=July 20, 1998 |title=Is the human race evolving or devolving? |url=http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-the-human-race-evolvin/ |journal=Scientific American |issn=0036-8733 |accessdate=2015-09-11 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20140506224205/http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-the-human-race-evolvin/ |archivedate=2014-05-06 |df= }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CB/CB932.html |title=Claim CB932: Evolution of degenerate forms |date=July 22, 2003 |editor-last=Isaak |editor-first=Mark |website=[[TalkOrigins Archive]] |publisher=The TalkOrigins Foundation, Inc. |location=Houston, Texas |accessdate=2014-12-19 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823062949/http://www.talkorigins.org/indexcc/CB/CB932.html |archivedate=2014-08-23 |df= }}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Lane|1996|p=61}}</ref> Although [[Evolution of biological complexity|complex species]] have evolved, they occur as a side effect of the overall number of organisms increasing and simple forms of life still remain more common in the biosphere.<ref name="Carroll_2001">{{cite journal |last=Carroll |first=Sean B. |authorlink=Sean B. Carroll |date=February 22, 2001 |title=Chance and necessity: the evolution of morphological complexity and diversity |journal=Nature |volume=409 |issue=6823 |pages=1102–1109 |bibcode=2001Natur.409.1102C |doi=10.1038/35059227 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=11234024}}</ref> For example, the overwhelming majority of species are microscopic [[prokaryote]]s, which form about half the world's [[Biomass (ecology)|biomass]] despite their small size,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Whitman |first1=William B. |last2=Coleman |first2=David C. |last3=Wiebe |first3=William J. |date=June 9, 1998 |title=Prokaryotes: The unseen majority |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=95 |issue=12 |pages=6578–6583 |bibcode=1998PNAS...95.6578W |doi=10.1073/pnas.95.12.6578 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=33863 |pmid=9618454}}</ref> and constitute the vast majority of Earth's biodiversity.<ref name=Schloss>{{cite journal |last1=Schloss |first1=Patrick D. |last2=Handelsman |first2=Jo |authorlink2=Jo Handelsman |date=December 2004 |title=Status of the Microbial Census |journal=[[Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews]] |volume=68 |issue=4 |pages=686–691 |doi=10.1128/MMBR.68.4.686-691.2004 |issn=1092-2172 |pmc=539005 |pmid=15590780}}</ref> Simple organisms have therefore been the dominant form of life on Earth throughout its history and continue to be the main form of life up to the present day, with complex life only appearing more diverse because it is [[Sampling bias|more noticeable]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Nealson |first=Kenneth H. |date=January 1999 |title=Post-Viking microbiology: new approaches, new data, new insights |journal=[[Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres]] |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=73–93 |doi=10.1023/A:1006515817767 |issn=0169-6149 |pmid=11536899}}</ref> Indeed, the evolution of microorganisms is particularly important to [[Evolutionary biology|modern evolutionary research]], since their rapid reproduction allows the study of [[experimental evolution]] and the observation of evolution and adaptation in real time.<ref name="Buckling">{{cite journal |last1=Buckling |first1=Angus |last2=MacLean |first2=R. Craig |last3=Brockhurst |first3=Michael A. |last4=Colegrave |first4=Nick |date=February 12, 2009 |title=The Beagle in a bottle |journal=Nature |volume=457 |issue=7231 |pages=824–829 |bibcode=2009Natur.457..824B |doi=10.1038/nature07892 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=19212400}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Elena |first1=Santiago F. |last2=Lenski |first2=Richard E. |authorlink2=Richard Lenski |date=June 2003 |title=Evolution experiments with microorganisms: the dynamics and genetic bases of adaptation |journal=Nature Reviews Genetics |volume=4 |issue=6 |pages=457–469 |doi=10.1038/nrg1088 |issn=1471-0056 |pmid=12776215}}</ref>
 
=== Adaptation ===
{{details|Adaptation}}
[[File:Homology vertebrates-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.35|[[Homology (biology)|Homologous]] bones in the limbs of [[tetrapod]]s. The bones of these animals have the same basic structure, but have been [[adaptation|adapted]] for specific uses.]]
Adaptation is the process that makes organisms better suited to their habitat.<ref>{{harvnb|Mayr|1982|p=483}}: "Adaptation... could no longer be considered a static condition, a product of a creative past and became instead a continuing dynamic process."</ref><ref>The sixth edition of the ''Oxford Dictionary of Science'' (2010) defines ''adaptation'' as "Any change in the structure or functioning of successive generations of a population that makes it better suited to its environment."</ref> Also, the term adaptation may refer to a trait that is important for an organism's survival. For example, the adaptation of [[horse]]s' teeth to the grinding of grass. By using the term ''adaptation'' for the evolutionary process and ''adaptive trait'' for the product (the bodily part or function), the two senses of the word may be distinguished. Adaptations are produced by natural selection.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Orr |first=H. Allen |date=February 2005 |title=The genetic theory of adaptation: a brief history |journal=Nature Reviews Genetics |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=119–127 |doi=10.1038/nrg1523 |issn=1471-0056 |pmid=15716908}}</ref> The following definitions are due to Theodosius Dobzhansky:
# ''Adaptation'' is the evolutionary process whereby an organism becomes better able to live in its habitat or habitats.<ref>{{harvnb|Dobzhansky|1968|pp=1–34}}</ref>
# ''Adaptedness'' is the state of being adapted: the degree to which an organism is able to live and reproduce in a given set of habitats.<ref>{{harvnb|Dobzhansky|1970|pp=4–6, 79–82, 84–87}}</ref>
# An ''adaptive trait'' is an aspect of the developmental pattern of the organism which enables or enhances the probability of that organism surviving and reproducing.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dobzhansky |first=Theodosius |date=March 1956 |title=Genetics of Natural Populations. XXV. Genetic Changes in Populations of ''Drosophila pseudoobscura'' and ''Drosophila persimilis'' in Some Localities in California |journal=Evolution |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=82–92 |doi=10.2307/2406099 |issn=0014-3820 |jstor=2406099}}</ref>
 
Adaptation may cause either the gain of a new feature, or the loss of an ancestral feature. An example that shows both types of change is bacterial adaptation to antibiotic selection, with genetic changes causing antibiotic resistance by both modifying the target of the drug, or increasing the activity of transporters that pump the drug out of the cell.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nakajima |first1=Akira |last2=Sugimoto |first2=Yohko |last3=Yoneyama |first3=Hiroshi |last4=Nakae |first4=Taiji |date=June 2002 |title=High-Level Fluoroquinolone Resistance in ''Pseudomonas aeruginosa'' Due to Interplay of the MexAB-OprM Efflux Pump and the DNA Gyrase Mutation |journal=Microbiology and Immunology |volume=46 |issue=6 |pages=391–395 |doi=10.1111/j.1348-0421.2002.tb02711.x |issn=1348-0421 |pmid=12153116}}</ref> Other striking examples are the bacteria ''[[Escherichia coli]]'' evolving the ability to use [[citric acid]] as a nutrient in a [[E. coli long-term evolution experiment|long-term laboratory experiment]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Blount |first1=Zachary D. |last2=Borland |first2=Christina Z. |last3=Lenski |first3=Richard E. |date=June 10, 2008 |title=Inaugural Article: Historical contingency and the evolution of a key innovation in an experimental population of ''Escherichia coli'' |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=105 |issue=23 |pages=7899–7906 |bibcode=2008PNAS..105.7899B |doi=10.1073/pnas.0803151105 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=2430337 |pmid=18524956}}</ref> ''[[Flavobacterium]]'' evolving a novel enzyme that allows these bacteria to grow on the by-products of [[nylon]] manufacturing,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Okada |first1=Hirosuke |last2=Negoro |first2=Seiji |last3=Kimura |first3=Hiroyuki |last4=Nakamura |first4=Shunichi |date=November 10, 1983 |title=Evolutionary adaptation of plasmid-encoded enzymes for degrading nylon oligomers |journal=Nature |volume=306 |issue=5939 |pages=203–206 |bibcode=1983Natur.306..203O |doi=10.1038/306203a0 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=6646204}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Ohno |first=Susumu |authorlink=Susumu Ohno |date=April 1984 |title=Birth of a unique enzyme from an alternative reading frame of the preexisted, internally repetitious coding sequence |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=81 |issue=8 |pages=2421–2425 |bibcode=1984PNAS...81.2421O |doi=10.1073/pnas.81.8.2421 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=345072 |pmid=6585807}}</ref> and the soil bacterium ''[[Sphingobium]]'' evolving an entirely new [[metabolic pathway]] that degrades the synthetic [[pesticide]] [[pentachlorophenol]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Copley |first=Shelley D. |date=June 2000 |title=Evolution of a metabolic pathway for degradation of a toxic xenobiotic: the patchwork approach |journal=[[Trends (journals)|Trends in Biochemical Sciences]] |volume=25 |issue=6 |pages=261–265 |doi=10.1016/S0968-0004(00)01562-0 |issn=0968-0004 |pmid=10838562}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Crawford |first1=Ronald L. |last2=Jung |first2=Carina M. |last3=Strap |first3=Janice L. |date=October 2007 |title=The recent evolution of pentachlorophenol (PCP)-4-monooxygenase (PcpB) and associated pathways for bacterial degradation of PCP |journal=[[Biodegradation (journal)|Biodegradation]] |volume=18 |issue=5 |pages=525–539 |doi=10.1007/s10532-006-9090-6 |issn=0923-9820 |pmid=17123025}}</ref> An interesting but still controversial idea is that some adaptations might increase the ability of organisms to generate genetic diversity and adapt by natural selection (increasing organisms' evolvability).<ref>{{cite journal |last=Eshel |first=Ilan |date=December 1973 |title=Clone-Selection and Optimal Rates of Mutation |journal=[[Applied Probability Trust|Journal of Applied Probability]] |volume=10 |issue=4 |pages=728–738 |doi=10.2307/3212376 |issn=1475-6072 |jstor=3212376}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Altenberg|1995|pp=205–259}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Masel |first1=Joanna |last2=Bergman |first2=Aviv |date=July 2003 |title=The evolution of the evolvability properties of the yeast prion [PSI+] |journal=Evolution |volume=57 |issue=7 |pages=1498–1512 |doi=10.1111/j.0014-3820.2003.tb00358.x |issn=0014-3820 |pmid=12940355}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Lancaster |first1=Alex K. |last2=Bardill |first2=J. Patrick |last3=True |first3=Heather L. |last4=Masel |first4=Joanna |date=February 2010 |title=The Spontaneous Appearance Rate of the Yeast Prion [''PSI''+] and Its Implications for the Evolution of the Evolvability Properties of the [''PSI''+] System |journal=Genetics |volume=184 |issue=2 |pages=393–400 |doi=10.1534/genetics.109.110213 |issn=0016-6731 |pmc=2828720 |pmid=19917766|bibcode= }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Draghi |first1=Jeremy |last2=Wagner |first2=Günter P. |authorlink2=Günter P. Wagner |date=February 2008 |title=Evolution of evolvability in a developmental model |journal=Evolution |volume=62 |issue=2 |pages=301–315 |doi=10.1111/j.1558-5646.2007.00303.x |issn=0014-3820 |pmid=18031304}}</ref>
 
[[File:Whale skeleton.png|upright=1.35|thumb|left|A [[baleen whale]] skeleton, ''a'' and ''b'' label [[flipper (anatomy)|flipper]] bones, which were adapted from front [[leg]] bones: while ''c'' indicates [[Vestigiality|vestigial]] leg bones, suggesting an adaptation from land to sea.<ref name="transformation445">{{cite journal |last1=Bejder |first1=Lars |last2=Hall |first2=Brian K. |authorlink2=Brian K. Hall |date=November 2002 |title=Limbs in whales and limblessness in other vertebrates: mechanisms of evolutionary and developmental transformation and loss |journal=Evolution & Development |volume=4 |issue=6 |pages=445–458 |doi=10.1046/j.1525-142X.2002.02033.x |issn=1520-541X |pmid=12492145}}</ref>]]
 
Adaptation occurs through the gradual modification of existing structures. Consequently, structures with similar internal organisation may have different functions in related organisms. This is the result of a single ancestral structure being adapted to function in different ways. The bones within [[bat]] wings, for example, are very similar to those in [[mouse|mice]] feet and [[primate]] hands, due to the descent of all these structures from a common mammalian ancestor.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Young |first1=Nathan M. |last2=HallgrÍmsson |first2=Benedikt |date=December 2005 |title=Serial homology and the evolution of mammalian limb covariation structure |journal=Evolution |volume=59 |issue=12 |pages=2691–2704 |doi=10.1554/05-233.1 |issn=0014-3820 |pmid=16526515}}</ref> However, since all living organisms are related to some extent,<ref name="Penny1999">{{cite journal |last1=Penny |first1=David |last2=Poole |first2=Anthony |date=December 1999 |title=The nature of the last universal common ancestor |journal=Current Opinion in Genetics & Development |volume=9 |issue=6 |pages=672–677 |doi=10.1016/S0959-437X(99)00020-9 |issn=0959-437X |pmid=10607605}}</ref> even organs that appear to have little or no structural similarity, such as [[arthropod]], [[squid]] and [[vertebrate]] eyes, or the limbs and wings of arthropods and vertebrates, can depend on a common set of homologous genes that control their assembly and function; this is called [[deep homology]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hall |first=Brian K. |date=August 2003 |title=Descent with modification: the unity underlying homology and homoplasy as seen through an analysis of development and evolution |journal=Biological Reviews |volume=78 |issue=3 |pages=409–433 |doi=10.1017/S1464793102006097 |issn=1464-7931 |pmid=14558591}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shubin |first1=Neil |authorlink1=Neil Shubin |last2=Tabin |first2=Clifford J. |authorlink2=Clifford Tabin |last3=Carroll |first3=Sean B. |date=February 12, 2009 |title=Deep homology and the origins of evolutionary novelty |journal=Nature |volume=457 |issue=7231 |pages=818–823 |bibcode=2009Natur.457..818S |doi=10.1038/nature07891 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=19212399}}</ref>
 
During evolution, some structures may lose their original function and become [[Vestigiality|vestigial structures]].<ref name="Fong">{{cite journal |last1=Fong |first1=Daniel F. |last2=Kane |first2=Thomas C. |last3=Culver |first3=David C. |date=November 1995 |title=Vestigialization and Loss of Nonfunctional Characters |journal=Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics |volume=26 |pages=249–268 |doi=10.1146/annurev.es.26.110195.001341 |issn=1545-2069}}</ref> Such structures may have little or no function in a current species, yet have a clear function in ancestral species, or other closely related species. Examples include [[pseudogene]]s,<ref>{{cite journal |author1=ZhaoLei Zhang |last2=Gerstein |first2=Mark |date=August 2004 |title=Large-scale analysis of pseudogenes in the human genome |journal=Current Opinion in Genetics & Development |volume=14 |issue=4 |pages=328–335 |doi=10.1016/j.gde.2004.06.003 |issn=0959-437X |pmid=15261647}}</ref> the non-functional remains of eyes in blind cave-dwelling fish,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Jeffery |date=May–June 2005 |first1=William R. |title=Adaptive Evolution of Eye Degeneration in the Mexican Blind Cavefish |journal=Journal of Heredity |volume=96 |issue=3 |pages=185–196 |doi=10.1093/jhered/esi028 |issn=0022-1503 |pmid=15653557}}</ref> wings in flightless birds,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Maxwell |first1=Erin E. |last2=Larsson |first2=Hans C.E. |date=May 2007 |title=Osteology and myology of the wing of the Emu (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') and its bearing on the evolution of vestigial structures |journal=[[Journal of Morphology]] |volume=268 |issue=5 |pages=423–441 |doi=10.1002/jmor.10527 |issn=0362-2525 |pmid=17390336}}</ref> the presence of hip bones in whales and snakes,<ref name="transformation445" /> and sexual traits in organisms that reproduce via asexual reproduction.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=van der Kooi |first1=Casper J. |last2=Schwander |first2=Tanja |date=November 2014 |title=On the fate of sexual traits under asexuality |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259824406 |format=PDF |journal=Biological Reviews |volume=89 |issue=4 |pages=805–819 |doi=10.1111/brv.12078 |issn=1464-7931 |pmid=24443922 |accessdate=2015-08-05 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150723175840/http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tanja_Schwander/publication/259824406_On_the_fate_of_sexual_traits_under_asexuality/links/53ff35a50cf283c3583c85f3.pdf |archivedate=2015-07-23 |df= }}</ref> Examples of [[Human vestigiality|vestigial structures in humans]] include [[Wisdom tooth|wisdom teeth]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Silvestri |first1=Anthony R., Jr. |last2=Singh |first2=Iqbal |date=April 2003 |title=The unresolved problem of the third molar: Would people be better off without it? |url=http://jada.ada.org/cgi/content/full/134/4/450 |journal=[[Journal of the American Dental Association]] |volume=134 |issue=4 |pages=450–455 |doi=10.14219/jada.archive.2003.0194 |issn=0002-8177 |pmid=12733778 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823063158/http://jada.ada.org/content/134/4/450.full |archivedate=2014-08-23 |deadurl=yes |df= }}</ref> the [[coccyx]],<ref name="Fong" /> the [[vermiform appendix]],<ref name="Fong" /> and other behavioural vestiges such as [[goose bumps]]<ref>{{harvnb|Coyne|2009|p=62}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Darwin|1872|pp=101, 103}}</ref> and [[primitive reflexes]].<ref>{{harvnb|Gray|2007|p=66}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Coyne|2009|pp=85–86}}</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Stevens|1982|p=87}}</ref>
 
However, many traits that appear to be simple adaptations are in fact [[exaptation]]s: structures originally adapted for one function, but which coincidentally became somewhat useful for some other function in the process.{{sfn|Gould|2002|pp=1235–1236}} One example is the African lizard ''Holaspis guentheri'', which developed an extremely flat head for hiding in crevices, as can be seen by looking at its near relatives. However, in this species, the head has become so flattened that it assists in gliding from tree to tree—an exaptation.{{sfn|Gould|2002|pp=1235–1236}} Within cells, [[molecular machine]]s such as the bacterial [[Flagellum|flagella]]<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pallen |first=Mark J. |last2=Matzke |first2=Nicholas J. |date=October 2006 |title=From ''The Origin of Species'' to the origin of bacterial flagella |url=https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~matzke/matzke_cv/_pubs/Pallen_Matzke_2006_NRM_origin_flagella.pdf |type=PDF |journal=Nature Reviews Microbiology |volume=4 |issue=10 |pages=784–790 |doi=10.1038/nrmicro1493 |issn=1740-1526 |pmid=16953248 |accessdate=2014-12-25 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141226013207/https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~matzke/matzke_cv/_pubs/Pallen_Matzke_2006_NRM_origin_flagella.pdf |archivedate=2014-12-26 |df= }}</ref> and [[translocase of the inner membrane|protein sorting machinery]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Clements |first1=Abigail |last2=Bursac |first2=Dejan |last3=Gatsos |first3=Xenia |last4=Perry |first4=Andrew J. |last5=Civciristov |first5=Srgjan |last6=Celik |first6=Nermin |last7=Likic |first7=Vladimir A. |last8=Poggio |first8=Sebastian |last9=Jacobs-Wagner |first9=Christine |last10=Strugnell |first10=Richard A. |last11=Lithgow |first11=Trevor |date=September 15, 2009 |title=The reducible complexity of a mitochondrial molecular machine |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=106 |issue=37 |pages=15791–15795 |bibcode=2009PNAS..10615791C |doi=10.1073/pnas.0908264106 |issn=0027-8424 |pmid=19717453 |pmc=2747197 |display-authors=3}}</ref> evolved by the recruitment of several pre-existing proteins that previously had different functions.<ref name="ScottEC" /> Another example is the recruitment of enzymes from [[glycolysis]] and [[Drug metabolism|xenobiotic metabolism]] to serve as structural proteins called [[crystallin]]s within the lenses of organisms' eyes.<ref>{{harvnb|Piatigorsky|Kantorow|Gopal-Srivastava|Tomarev|1994|pp=241–250}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Wistow |first=Graeme |date=August 1993 |title=Lens crystallins: gene recruitment and evolutionary dynamism |journal=Trends in Biochemical Sciences |volume=18 |issue=8 |pages=301–306 |doi=10.1016/0968-0004(93)90041-K |issn=0968-0004 |pmid=8236445}}</ref>
 
An area of current investigation in evolutionary developmental biology is the developmental basis of adaptations and exaptations.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=Norman A. |last2=Porter |first2=Adam H. |date=November 2001 |title=Toward a new synthesis: population genetics and evolutionary developmental biology |journal=Genetica |volume='''112–113''' |issue=1 |pages=45–58 |doi=10.1023/A:1013371201773 |issn=0016-6707 |pmid=11838782}}</ref> This research addresses the origin and evolution of [[Embryogenesis|embryonic development]] and how modifications of development and developmental processes produce novel features.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Baguñà |first1=Jaume |last2=Garcia-Fernàndez |first2=Jordi |year=2003 |title=Evo-Devo: the long and winding road |url=http://www.ijdb.ehu.es/web/paper.php?doi=14756346 |journal=[[The International Journal of Developmental Biology]] |volume=47 |issue=7–8 |pages=705–713 |issn=0214-6282 |pmid=14756346 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141128011936/http://www.ijdb.ehu.es/web/paper.php?doi=14756346 |archivedate=2014-11-28 |df= }}
* {{cite journal |last=Love |first=Alan C. |date=March 2003 |title=Evolutionary Morphology, Innovation and the Synthesis of Evolutionary and Developmental Biology |journal=Biology and Philosophy |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=309–345 |doi=10.1023/A:1023940220348 |issn=0169-3867}}</ref> These studies have shown that evolution can alter development to produce new structures, such as embryonic bone structures that develop into the jaw in other animals instead forming part of the [[Evolution of mammalian auditory ossicles|middle ear in mammals]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Allin |first=Edgar F. |date=December 1975 |title=Evolution of the mammalian middle ear |journal=Journal of Morphology |volume=147 |issue=4 |pages=403–437 |doi=10.1002/jmor.1051470404 |issn=0362-2525 |pmid=1202224}}</ref> It is also possible for structures that have been lost in evolution to reappear due to changes in developmental genes, such as a mutation in chickens causing embryos to grow teeth similar to those of [[crocodile]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harris |first1=Matthew P. |last2=Hasso |first2=Sean M. |last3=Ferguson |first3=Mark W.J. |last4=Fallon |first4=John F. |date=February 21, 2006 |title=The Development of Archosaurian First-Generation Teeth in a Chicken Mutant |journal=Current Biology |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=371–377 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2005.12.047 |issn=0960-9822 |pmid=16488870|bibcode=1996CBio....6.1213A }}</ref> It is now becoming clear that most alterations in the form of organisms are due to changes in a small set of conserved genes.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Carroll |first=Sean B. |date=July 11, 2008 |title=Evo-Devo and an Expanding Evolutionary Synthesis: A Genetic Theory of Morphological Evolution |journal=[[Cell (journal)|Cell]] |volume=134 |issue=1 |pages=25–36 |doi=10.1016/j.cell.2008.06.030 |issn=0092-8674 |pmid=18614008}}</ref>
 
=== Coevolution ===
[[File:Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis Wooster.jpg|thumb|[[Common Garter Snake|Common garter snake]] (''Thamnophis sirtalis sirtalis'') has evolved resistance to the [[anti-predator adaptation|defensive substance]] [[tetrodotoxin]] in its amphibian prey.]]
 
{{Further|Coevolution}}
Interactions between organisms can produce both conflict and cooperation. When the interaction is between pairs of species, such as a [[pathogen]] and a [[host (biology)|host]], or a predator and its prey, these species can develop matched sets of adaptations. Here, the evolution of one species causes adaptations in a second species. These changes in the second species then, in turn, cause new adaptations in the first species. This cycle of selection and response is called coevolution.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wade |first=Michael J. |authorlink=Michael J. Wade |date=March 2007 |title=The co-evolutionary genetics of ecological communities |journal=Nature Reviews Genetics |volume=8 |issue=3 |pages=185–195 |doi=10.1038/nrg2031 |issn=1471-0056 |pmid=17279094}}</ref> An example is the production of [[tetrodotoxin]] in the [[rough-skinned newt]] and the evolution of tetrodotoxin resistance in its predator, the [[Common Garter Snake|common garter snake]]. In this predator-prey pair, an [[evolutionary arms race]] has produced high levels of toxin in the newt and correspondingly high levels of toxin resistance in the snake.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Geffeney |first1=Shana |last2=Brodie |first2=Edmund D., Jr. |last3=Ruben |first3=Peter C. |last4=Brodie |first4=Edmund D., III |date=August 23, 2002 |title=Mechanisms of Adaptation in a Predator-Prey Arms Race: TTX-Resistant Sodium Channels |journal=Science |volume=297 |issue=5585 |pages=1336–1339 |bibcode=2002Sci...297.1336G |doi=10.1126/science.1074310 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=12193784}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Brodie |first1=Edmund D., Jr. |last2=Ridenhour |first2=Benjamin J. |last3=Brodie |first3=Edmund D., III |date=October 2002 |title=The evolutionary response of predators to dangerous prey: hotspots and coldspots in the geographic mosaic of coevolution between garter snakes and newts |journal=Evolution |volume=56 |issue=10 |pages=2067–2082 |doi=10.1554/0014-3820(2002)056[2067:teropt]2.0.co;2 |issn=0014-3820 |pmid=12449493}}
* {{cite news |last=Carroll |first=Sean B. |date=December 21, 2009 |title=Whatever Doesn't Kill Some Animals Can Make Them Deadly |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/science/22creature.html |newspaper=The New York Times |location=New York |publisher=The New York Times Company |issn=0362-4331 |accessdate=2014-12-26 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150423075609/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/22/science/22creature.html |archivedate=2015-04-23 |df= }}</ref>
 
=== Cooperation ===
{{Further|Co-operation (evolution)}}
Not all co-evolved interactions between species involve conflict.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sachs |first=Joel L. |date=September 2006 |title=Cooperation within and among species |journal=Journal of Evolutionary Biology |volume=19 |issue=5 |pages=1415–1418; discussion 1426–1436 |doi=10.1111/j.1420-9101.2006.01152.x |issn=1010-061X |pmid=16910971}}
* {{cite journal |last=Nowak |first=Martin A. |authorlink=Martin Nowak |date=December 8, 2006 |title=Five Rules for the Evolution of Cooperation |journal=Science |volume=314 |issue=5805 |pages=1560–1563 |bibcode=2006Sci...314.1560N |doi=10.1126/science.1133755 |issn=0036-8075 |pmc=3279745 |pmid=17158317}}</ref> Many cases of mutually beneficial interactions have evolved. For instance, an extreme cooperation exists between plants and the [[Mycorrhiza|mycorrhizal fungi]] that grow on their roots and aid the plant in absorbing nutrients from the soil.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Paszkowski |first=Uta |date=August 2006 |title=Mutualism and parasitism: the yin and yang of plant symbioses |journal=[[Current Opinion (Elsevier)|Current Opinion in Plant Biology]] |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=364–370 |doi=10.1016/j.pbi.2006.05.008 |issn=1369-5266 |pmid=16713732}}</ref> This is a [[Reciprocity (evolution)|reciprocal]] relationship as the plants provide the fungi with sugars from [[photosynthesis]]. Here, the fungi actually grow inside plant cells, allowing them to exchange nutrients with their hosts, while sending [[signal transduction|signals]] that suppress the plant [[immune system]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hause |first1=Bettina |last2=Fester |first2=Thomas |date=May 2005 |title=Molecular and cell biology of arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis |journal=[[Planta (journal)|Planta]] |volume=221 |issue=2 |pages=184–196 |doi=10.1007/s00425-004-1436-x |issn=0032-0935 |pmid=15871030}}</ref>
 
Coalitions between organisms of the same species have also evolved. An extreme case is the [[eusociality]] found in social insects, such as [[bee]]s, [[termite]]s and [[ant]]s, where sterile insects feed and guard the small number of organisms in a [[Colony (biology)|colony]] that are able to reproduce. On an even smaller scale, the somatic cells that make up the body of an animal limit their reproduction so they can maintain a stable organism, which then supports a small number of the animal's germ cells to produce offspring. Here, somatic cells respond to specific signals that instruct them whether to grow, remain as they are, or die. If cells ignore these signals and multiply inappropriately, their uncontrolled growth [[carcinogenesis|causes cancer]].<ref name="Bertram">{{cite journal |last=Bertram |first=John S. |date=December 2000 |title=The molecular biology of cancer |journal=[[Molecular Aspects of Medicine]] |volume=21 |issue=6 |pages=167–223 |doi=10.1016/S0098-2997(00)00007-8 |issn=0098-2997 |pmid=11173079}}</ref>
 
Such cooperation within species may have evolved through the process of [[kin selection]], which is where one organism acts to help raise a relative's offspring.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Reeve |first1=H. Kern |last2=Hölldobler |first2=Bert |authorlink2=Bert Hölldobler |date=June 5, 2007 |title=The emergence of a superorganism through intergroup competition |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=104 |issue=23 |pages=9736–9740 |bibcode=2007PNAS..104.9736R |doi=10.1073/pnas.0703466104 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=1887545 |pmid=17517608}}</ref> This activity is selected for because if the ''helping'' individual contains alleles which promote the helping activity, it is likely that its kin will ''also'' contain these alleles and thus those alleles will be passed on.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Axelrod |first=Robert |last2=Hamilton |first2=W. D. |date=March 27, 1981 |title=The evolution of cooperation |journal=Science |volume=211 |issue=4489 |pages=1390–1396 |bibcode=1981Sci...211.1390A |doi=10.1126/science.7466396 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=7466396}}</ref> Other processes that may promote cooperation include [[group selection]], where cooperation provides benefits to a group of organisms.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wilson |first1=Edward O. |last2=Hölldobler |first2=Bert |date=September 20, 2005 |title=Eusociality: Origin and consequences |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=102 |issue=38 |pages=13367–1371 |bibcode=2005PNAS..10213367W |doi=10.1073/pnas.0505858102 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=1224642 |pmid=16157878}}</ref>
 
=== Speciation ===
{{main|Speciation}}
{{Further|Assortative mating|Panmixia}}
[[File:Speciation modes edit.svg|left|thumb|upright=1.6|The four geographic modes of [[speciation]]]]
 
Speciation is the process where a species diverges into two or more descendant species.<ref name="Gavrilets">{{cite journal |last=Gavrilets |first=Sergey |date=October 2003 |title=Perspective: models of speciation: what have we learned in 40 years? |journal=Evolution |volume=57 |issue=10 |pages=2197–2215 |doi=10.1554/02-727 |issn=0014-3820 |pmid=14628909}}</ref>
 
There are multiple ways to define the concept of "species." The choice of definition is dependent on the particularities of the species concerned.<ref name="Queiroz">{{cite journal |last=de Queiroz |first=Kevin |date=May 3, 2005 |title=Ernst Mayr and the modern concept of species |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=102 |issue=Suppl. 1 |pages=6600–6607 |bibcode=2005PNAS..102.6600D |doi=10.1073/pnas.0502030102 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=1131873 |pmid=15851674}}</ref> For example, some species concepts apply more readily toward sexually reproducing organisms while others lend themselves better toward asexual organisms. Despite the diversity of various species concepts, these various concepts can be placed into one of three broad philosophical approaches: interbreeding, ecological and phylogenetic.<ref name="Ereshefsky92">{{cite journal |last=Ereshefsky |first=Marc |authorlink=Marc Ereshefsky |date=December 1992 |title=Eliminative pluralism |journal=[[Philosophy of Science (journal)|Philosophy of Science]] |volume=59 |issue=4 |pages=671–690 |doi=10.1086/289701 |issn=0031-8248 |jstor=188136}}</ref> The ''Biological Species Concept'' (BSC) is a classic example of the interbreeding approach. Defined by evolutionary biologist [[Ernst Mayr]] in 1942, the BSC states that "species are groups of actually or potentially interbreeding natural populations, which are reproductively isolated from other such groups."<ref>{{harvnb|Mayr|1942|p=120}}</ref> Despite its wide and long-term use, the BSC like others is not without controversy, for example because these concepts cannot be applied to prokaryotes,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fraser |first1=Christophe |last2=Alm |first2=Eric J. |last3=Polz |first3=Martin F. |last4=Spratt |first4=Brian G. |last5=Hanage |first5=William P. |date=February 6, 2009 |title=The Bacterial Species Challenge: Making Sense of Genetic and Ecological Diversity |journal=Science |volume=323 |issue=5915 |pages=741–746 |bibcode=2009Sci...323..741F |doi=10.1126/science.1159388 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=19197054 |display-authors=3}}</ref> and this is called the [[species problem]].<ref name="Queiroz" /> Some researchers have attempted a unifying monistic definition of species, while others adopt a pluralistic approach and suggest that there may be different ways to logically interpret the definition of a species.<ref name="Queiroz" /><ref name="Ereshefsky92" />
 
[[Reproductive isolation|Barriers to reproduction]] between two diverging sexual populations are required for the populations to become new species. Gene flow may slow this process by spreading the new genetic variants also to the other populations. Depending on how far two species have diverged since their [[most recent common ancestor]], it may still be possible for them to produce offspring, as with horses and [[donkey]]s mating to produce [[mule]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Short |first=Roger Valentine |date=October 1975 |title=The contribution of the mule to scientific thought |journal=Journal of Reproduction and Fertility. Supplement |issue=23 |pages=359–364 |issn=0449-3087 |oclc=1639439 |pmid=1107543}}</ref> Such hybrids are generally [[infertility|infertile]]. In this case, closely related species may regularly interbreed, but hybrids will be selected against and the species will remain distinct. However, viable hybrids are occasionally formed and these new species can either have properties intermediate between their parent species, or possess a totally new phenotype.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gross |first1=Briana L. |last2=Rieseberg |first2=Loren H. |date=May–June 2005 |title=The Ecological Genetics of Homoploid Hybrid Speciation |journal=Journal of Heredity |volume=96 |issue=3 |pages=241–252 |doi=10.1093/jhered/esi026 |issn=0022-1503 |pmc=2517139 |pmid=15618301}}</ref> The importance of hybridisation in producing [[hybrid speciation|new species]] of animals is unclear, although cases have been seen in many types of animals,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Burke |first1=John M. |last2=Arnold |first2=Michael L. |date=December 2001 |title=Genetics and the fitness of hybrids |journal=Annual Review of Genetics |volume=35 |pages=31–52 |doi=10.1146/annurev.genet.35.102401.085719 |issn=0066-4197 |pmid=11700276}}</ref> with the [[gray tree frog]] being a particularly well-studied example.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Vrijenhoek |first=Robert C. |date=April 4, 2006 |title=Polyploid Hybrids: Multiple Origins of a Treefrog Species |journal=Current Biology |volume=16 |issue=7 |pages=R245–R247 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2006.03.005 |issn=0960-9822 |pmid=16581499|bibcode=1996CBio....6.1213A }}</ref>
 
Speciation has been observed multiple times under both controlled laboratory conditions (see [[laboratory experiments of speciation]]) and in nature.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rice |first1=William R. |last2=Hostert |first2=Ellen E. |date=December 1993 |title=Laboratory Experiments on Speciation: What Have We Learned in 40 Years? |journal=Evolution |volume=47 |issue=6 |pages=1637–1653 |doi=10.2307/2410209 |pmid=28568007 |issn=0014-3820|jstor=2410209 }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Jiggins |first1=Chris D. |last2=Bridle |first2=Jon R. |date=March 2004 |title=Speciation in the apple maggot fly: a blend of vintages? |journal=Trends in Ecology & Evolution |volume=19 |issue=3 |pages=111–114 |doi=10.1016/j.tree.2003.12.008 |pmid=16701238 |issn=0169-5347}}
* {{cite web |url=http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-speciation.html |title=Observed Instances of Speciation |last=Boxhorn |first=Joseph |date=September 1, 1995 |website=TalkOrigins Archive |publisher=The TalkOrigins Foundation, Inc. |location=Houston, Texas |accessdate=2008-12-26 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090122211743/http://talkorigins.org/faqs/faq-speciation.html |archivedate=2009-01-22 |df= }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Weinberg |first1=James R. |last2=Starczak |first2=Victoria R. |last3=Jörg |first3=Daniele |date=August 1992 |title=Evidence for Rapid Speciation Following a Founder Event in the Laboratory |journal=Evolution |volume=46 |issue=4 |pages=1214–1220 |doi=10.2307/2409766 |pmid=28564398 |issn=0014-3820 |jstor=2409766}}</ref> In sexually reproducing organisms, speciation results from reproductive isolation followed by genealogical divergence. There are four primary geographic modes of speciation. The most common in animals is [[allopatric speciation]], which occurs in populations initially isolated geographically, such as by [[habitat fragmentation]] or migration. Selection under these conditions can produce very rapid changes in the appearance and behaviour of organisms.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Herrel |first1=Anthony |last2=Huyghe |first2=Katleen |last3=Vanhooydonck |first3=Bieke |last4=Backeljau |first4=Thierry |last5=Breugelmans |first5=Karin |last6=Grbac |first6=Irena |last7=Van Damme |first7=Raoul |last8=Irschick |first8=Duncan J. |date=March 25, 2008 |title=Rapid large-scale evolutionary divergence in morphology and performance associated with exploitation of a different dietary resource |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=105 |issue=12 |pages=4792–4795 |bibcode=2008PNAS..105.4792H |doi=10.1073/pnas.0711998105 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=2290806 |pmid=18344323 |display-authors=3}}</ref><ref name="Losos1997">{{cite journal |last1=Losos |first1=Jonathan B. |last2=Warhelt |first2=Kenneth I. |last3=Schoener |first3=Thomas W. |date=May 1, 1997 |title=Adaptive differentiation following experimental island colonization in ''Anolis'' lizards |journal=Nature |volume=387 |issue=6628 |pages=70–73 |bibcode=1997Natur.387...70L |doi=10.1038/387070a0 |issn=0028-0836}}</ref> As selection and drift act independently on populations isolated from the rest of their species, separation may eventually produce organisms that cannot interbreed.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hoskin |first1=Conrad J. |last2=Higgle |first2=Megan |last3=McDonald |first3=Keith R. |last4=Moritz |first4=Craig |date=October 27, 2005 |title=Reinforcement drives rapid allopatric speciation |journal=Nature |pmid=16251964 |volume=437 |issue=7063 |pages=1353–1356 |bibcode=2005Natur.437.1353H |doi=10.1038/nature04004 |issn=0028-0836}}</ref>
 
The second mode of speciation is [[peripatric speciation]], which occurs when small populations of organisms become isolated in a new environment. This differs from allopatric speciation in that the isolated populations are numerically much smaller than the parental population. Here, the [[founder effect]] causes rapid speciation after an increase in [[inbreeding]] increases selection on homozygotes, leading to rapid genetic change.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Templeton |first=Alan R. |authorlink=Alan Templeton |date=April 1980 |title=The Theory of Speciation ''VIA'' the Founder Principle |url=http://www.genetics.org/content/94/4/1011.full.pdf+html |journal=Genetics |volume=94 |issue=4 |pages=1011–1038 |pmid=6777243 |issn=0016-6731 |pmc=1214177 |accessdate=2014-12-29 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823063455/http://www.genetics.org/content/94/4/1011.full.pdf+html |archivedate=2014-08-23 |df= }}</ref>
 
The third mode is [[parapatric speciation]]. This is similar to peripatric speciation in that a small population enters a new habitat, but differs in that there is no physical separation between these two populations. Instead, speciation results from the evolution of mechanisms that reduce gene flow between the two populations.<ref name="Gavrilets" /> Generally this occurs when there has been a drastic change in the environment within the parental species' habitat. One example is the grass ''[[Anthoxanthum|Anthoxanthum odoratum]]'', which can undergo parapatric speciation in response to localised metal pollution from mines.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Antonovics |first=Janis |authorlink=Janis Antonovics |date=July 2006 |title=Evolution in closely adjacent plant populations X: long-term persistence of prereproductive isolation at a mine boundary |url=http://www.nature.com/hdy/journal/v97/n1/full/6800835a.html |journal=[[Heredity (journal)|Heredity]] |volume=97 |issue=1 |pages=33–37 |doi=10.1038/sj.hdy.6800835 |issn=0018-067X |pmid=16639420 |accessdate=2014-12-29 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140823063443/http://www.nature.com/hdy/journal/v97/n1/full/6800835a.html |archivedate=2014-08-23 |df= }}</ref> Here, plants evolve that have resistance to high levels of metals in the soil. Selection against interbreeding with the metal-sensitive parental population produced a gradual change in the flowering time of the metal-resistant plants, which eventually produced complete reproductive isolation. Selection against hybrids between the two populations may cause [[Reinforcement (speciation)|reinforcement]], which is the evolution of traits that promote mating within a species, as well as [[character displacement]], which is when two species become more distinct in appearance.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nosil |first1=Patrik |last2=Crespi |first2=Bernard J. |last3=Gries |first3=Regine |last4=Gries |first4=Gerhard |date=March 2007 |title=Natural selection and divergence in mate preference during speciation |journal=Genetica |volume=129 |issue=3 |pages=309–327 |doi=10.1007/s10709-006-0013-6 |pmid=16900317 |issn=0016-6707}}</ref>
 
[[File:Darwin's finches.jpeg|frame|[[Geographical isolation]] of [[Darwin's finches|finches]] on the [[Galápagos Islands]] produced over a dozen new species.]]
 
Finally, in [[sympatric speciation]] species diverge without geographic isolation or changes in habitat. This form is rare since even a small amount of gene flow may remove genetic differences between parts of a population.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Savolainen |first1=Vincent |last2=Anstett |first2=Marie-Charlotte |last3=Lexer |first3=Christian |last4=Hutton |first4=Ian |last5=Clarkson |first5=James J. |last6=Norup |first6=Maria V. |last7=Powell |first7=Martyn P. |last8=Springate |first8=David |last9=Salamin |first9=Nicolas |last10=Baker |first10=William J. |date=May 11, 2006 |title=Sympatric speciation in palms on an oceanic island |journal=Nature |volume=441 |issue=7090 |pages=210–213 |bibcode=2006Natur.441..210S |doi=10.1038/nature04566 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=16467788 |display-authors=3}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Barluenga |first1=Marta |last2=Stölting |first2=Kai N. |last3=Salzburger |first3=Walter |last4=Muschick |first4=Moritz |last5=Meyer |first5=Axel |authorlink5=Axel Meyer |date=February 9, 2006 |title=Sympatric speciation in Nicaraguan crater lake cichlid fish |journal=Nature |volume=439 |issue=7077 |pages=719–23 |bibcode=2006Natur.439..719B |doi=10.1038/nature04325 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=16467837 |display-authors=3|url=http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:352-opus-34004 }}</ref> Generally, sympatric speciation in animals requires the evolution of both [[Polymorphism (biology)|genetic differences]] and [[Assortative mating|nonrandom mating]], to allow reproductive isolation to evolve.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gavrilets |first=Sergey |date=March 21, 2006 |title=The Maynard Smith model of sympatric speciation |journal=Journal of Theoretical Biology |volume=239 |issue=2 |pages=172–182 |doi=10.1016/j.jtbi.2005.08.041 |issn=0022-5193 |pmid=16242727}}</ref>
 
One type of sympatric speciation involves [[crossbreed]]ing of two related species to produce a new hybrid species. This is not common in animals as animal hybrids are usually sterile. This is because during [[meiosis]] the [[homologous chromosome]]s from each parent are from different species and cannot successfully pair. However, it is more common in plants because plants often double their number of chromosomes, to form [[polyploidy|polyploids]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wood |first1=Troy E. |last2=Takebayashi |first2=Naoki |last3=Barker |first3=Michael S. |last4=Mayrose |first4=Itay |last5=Greenspoon |first5=Philip B. |last6=Rieseberg |first6=Loren H. |date=August 18, 2009 |title=The frequency of polyploid speciation in vascular plants |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=106 |issue=33 |pages=13875–13879 |bibcode=2009PNAS..10613875W |doi=10.1073/pnas.0811575106 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=2728988 |pmid=19667210 |display-authors=3}}</ref> This allows the chromosomes from each parental species to form matching pairs during meiosis, since each parent's chromosomes are represented by a pair already.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hegarty |first1=Matthew J. |last2=Hiscock |first2=Simon J. |date=May 20, 2008 |title=Genomic Clues to the Evolutionary Success of Polyploid Plants |journal=Current Biology |volume=18 |issue=10 |pages=R435–R444 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2008.03.043 |issn=0960-9822 |pmid=18492478|bibcode=1996CBio....6.1213A }}</ref> An example of such a speciation event is when the plant species ''[[Arabidopsis thaliana]]'' and ''[[Arabidopsis arenosa]]'' crossbred to give the new species ''Arabidopsis suecica''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jakobsson |first1=Mattias |last2=Hagenblad |first2=Jenny |last3=Tavaré |first3=Simon |authorlink3=Simon Tavaré |last4=Säll |first4=Torbjörn |last5=Halldén |first5=Christer |last6=Lind-Halldén |first6=Christina |last7=Nordborg |first7=Magnus |date=June 2006 |title=A Unique Recent Origin of the Allotetraploid Species ''Arabidopsis suecica'': Evidence from Nuclear DNA Markers |journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution |volume=23 |issue=6 |pages=1217–1231 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msk006 |issn=0737-4038 |pmid=16549398 |display-authors=3}}</ref> This happened about 20,000 years ago,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Säll |first1=Torbjörn |last2=Jakobsson |first2=Mattias |last3=Lind-Halldén |first3=Christina |last4=Halldén |first4=Christer |date=September 2003 |title=Chloroplast DNA indicates a single origin of the allotetraploid ''Arabidopsis suecica'' |journal=Journal of Evolutionary Biology |volume=16 |issue=5 |pages=1019–1029 |doi=10.1046/j.1420-9101.2003.00554.x |issn=1010-061X |pmid=14635917}}</ref> and the speciation process has been repeated in the laboratory, which allows the study of the genetic mechanisms involved in this process.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bomblies |first1=Kirsten |authorlink1=Kirsten Bomblies |last2=Weigel |first2=Detlef |authorlink2=Detlef Weigel |date=December 2007 |title=''Arabidopsis''—a model genus for speciation |journal=Current Opinion in Genetics & Development |volume=17 |issue=6 |pages=500–504 |doi=10.1016/j.gde.2007.09.006 |issn=0959-437X |pmid=18006296}}</ref> Indeed, chromosome doubling within a species may be a common cause of reproductive isolation, as half the doubled chromosomes will be unmatched when breeding with undoubled organisms.<ref name="Semon">{{cite journal |last1=Sémon |first1=Marie |last2=Wolfe |first2=Kenneth H. |date=December 2007 |title=Consequences of genome duplication |journal=Current Opinion in Genetics & Development |volume=17 |issue=6 |pages=505–512 |doi=10.1016/j.gde.2007.09.007 |issn=0959-437X |pmid=18006297}}</ref>
 
Speciation events are important in the theory of [[punctuated equilibrium]], which accounts for the pattern in the fossil record of short "bursts" of evolution interspersed with relatively long periods of stasis, where species remain relatively unchanged.<ref>{{harvnb|Eldredge|Gould|1972|pp=82–115}}</ref> In this theory, speciation and rapid evolution are linked, with natural selection and genetic drift acting most strongly on organisms undergoing speciation in novel habitats or small populations. As a result, the periods of stasis in the fossil record correspond to the parental population and the organisms undergoing speciation and rapid evolution are found in small populations or geographically restricted habitats and therefore rarely being preserved as fossils.<ref name="Gould_1994" />
 
=== Extinction ===
{{Further|Extinction}}
[[File:Palais de la Decouverte Tyrannosaurus rex p1050042.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Tyrannosaurus rex]]''. Non-[[bird|avian]] [[dinosaur]]s died out in the [[Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event]] at the end of the [[Cretaceous]] period.]]
 
Extinction is the disappearance of an entire species. Extinction is not an unusual event, as species regularly appear through speciation and disappear through extinction.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Benton |first1=Michael J. |authorlink=Michael Benton |date=April 7, 1995 |title=Diversification and extinction in the history of life |journal=Science |volume=268 |issue=5207 |pages=52–58 |bibcode=1995Sci...268...52B |doi=10.1126/science.7701342 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=7701342}}</ref> Nearly all animal and plant species that have lived on Earth are now extinct,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Raup |first=David M. |authorlink=David M. Raup |date=March 28, 1986 |title=Biological extinction in Earth history |journal=Science |volume=231 |issue=4745 |pages=1528–1533 |bibcode=1986Sci...231.1528R |doi=10.1126/science.11542058 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=11542058}}</ref> and extinction appears to be the ultimate fate of all species.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Avise |first1=John C. |last2=Hubbell |first2=Stephen P. |authorlink2=Stephen P. Hubbell |last3=Ayala |first3=Francisco J. |date=August 12, 2008 |title=In the light of evolution II: Biodiversity and extinction |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=105 |issue=Suppl. 1 |pages=11453–11457 |bibcode=2008PNAS..10511453A |doi=10.1073/pnas.0802504105 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=2556414 |pmid=18695213}}</ref> These extinctions have happened continuously throughout the history of life, although the rate of extinction spikes in occasional mass [[extinction event]]s.<ref name="Raup_1994">{{cite journal |last=Raup |first=David M. |date=July 19, 1994 |title=The role of extinction in evolution |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=91 |issue=15 |pages=6758–6763 |bibcode=1994PNAS...91.6758R |doi=10.1073/pnas.91.15.6758 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=44280 |pmid=8041694}}</ref> The [[Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event]], during which the non-avian dinosaurs became extinct, is the most well-known, but the earlier [[Permian–Triassic extinction event]] was even more severe, with approximately 96% of all marine species driven to extinction.<ref name="Raup_1994" /> The [[Holocene extinction|Holocene extinction event]] is an ongoing mass extinction associated with humanity's expansion across the globe over the past few thousand years. Present-day extinction rates are 100–1000 times greater than the background rate and up to 30% of current species may be extinct by the mid 21st century.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Novacek |first1=Michael J. |last2=Cleland |first2=Elsa E. |date=May 8, 2001 |title=The current biodiversity extinction event: scenarios for mitigation and recovery |doi=10.1073/pnas.091093698 |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=98 |issue=10 |pages=5466–5470 |bibcode=2001PNAS...98.5466N |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=33235 |pmid=11344295}}</ref> Human activities are now the primary cause of the ongoing extinction event;<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pimm |first1=Stuart |authorlink1=Stuart Pimm |last2=Raven |first2=Peter |authorlink2=Peter H. Raven |last3=Peterson |first3=Alan |last4=Şekercioğlu |first4=Çağan H. |last5=Ehrlich |first5=Paul R. |authorlink5=Paul R. Ehrlich |date=July 18, 2006 |title=Human impacts on the rates of recent, present and future bird extinctions |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=103 |issue=29 |pages=10941–10946 |bibcode=2006PNAS..10310941P |doi=10.1073/pnas.0604181103 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=1544153 |pmid=16829570 |display-authors=3}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Barnosky |first1=Anthony D. |last2=Koch |first2=Paul L. |last3=Feranec |first3=Robert S. |last4=Wing |first4=Scott L. |last5=Shabel |first5=Alan B. |date=October 1, 2004 |title=Assessing the Causes of Late Pleistocene Extinctions on the Continents |journal=Science |volume=306 |issue=5693 |pages=70–75 |bibcode=2004Sci...306...70B |doi=10.1126/science.1101476 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=15459379 |display-authors=3|citeseerx=10.1.1.574.332 }}</ref> [[global warming]] may further accelerate it in the future.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lewis |first1=Owen T. |date=January 29, 2006 |title=Climate change, species–area curves and the extinction crisis |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=361 |issue=1465 |pages=163–171 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2005.1712 |issn=0962-8436 |pmc=1831839 |pmid=16553315}}</ref> Despite the estimated extinction of more than 99 percent of all species that ever lived on Earth,<ref name="StearnsStearns1999">{{harvnb|Stearns|Stearns|1999|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=0BHeC-tXIB4C&q=99%20percent X]}}</ref><ref name="NYT-20141108-MJN" /> about 1 trillion species are estimated to be on Earth currently with only one-thousandth of one percent described.<ref name="NSF-2016002">{{cite web |url=https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=138446 |title=Researchers find that Earth may be home to 1 trillion species |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=May 2, 2016 |website=[[National Science Foundation]] |location=Arlington County, Virginia |accessdate=2016-05-06 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160504111108/https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=138446 |archivedate=2016-05-04 |df= }}</ref>
 
The role of extinction in evolution is not very well understood and may depend on which type of extinction is considered.<ref name="Raup_1994" /> The causes of the continuous "low-level" extinction events, which form the majority of extinctions, may be the result of competition between species for limited resources (the [[competitive exclusion principle]]).<ref name="Kutschera" /> If one species can out-compete another, this could produce species selection, with the fitter species surviving and the other species being driven to extinction.<ref name="Gould" /> The intermittent mass extinctions are also important, but instead of acting as a selective force, they drastically reduce diversity in a nonspecific manner and promote bursts of rapid evolution and speciation in survivors.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Jablonski |first=David |date=May 8, 2001 |title=Lessons from the past: Evolutionary impacts of mass extinctions |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=98 |issue=10 |pages=5393–5398 |bibcode=2001PNAS...98.5393J |doi=10.1073/pnas.101092598 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=33224 |pmid=11344284}}</ref>
{{Clear}}
 
== Evolutionary history of life ==
{{align|right|{{Life timeline}}}}
{{Main|Evolutionary history of life}}
{{See also|Timeline of evolutionary history of life}}
 
=== Origin of life ===
{{Further|Abiogenesis|Earliest known life forms|Panspermia|RNA world hypothesis}}
The [[age of the Earth|Earth]] is about 4.54 billion years old.<ref name="USGS1997">{{cite web |url=http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/geotime/age.html |title=Age of the Earth |date=July 9, 2007 |publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]] |accessdate=2015-05-31 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20051223072700/http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/geotime/age.html |archivedate=2005-12-23 |df= }}</ref><ref name="Dalrymple 2001 205–221">{{harvnb|Dalrymple|2001|pp=205–221}}</ref><ref name="Elsevier">{{cite journal |last1=Manhesa |first1=Gérard |last2=Allègre |first2=Claude J. |authorlink2=Claude Allègre |last3=Dupréa |first3=Bernard |last4=Hamelin |first4=Bruno |date=May 1980 |title=Lead isotope study of basic-ultrabasic layered complexes: Speculations about the age of the earth and primitive mantle characteristics |journal=[[Earth and Planetary Science Letters]] |volume=47 |issue=3 |pages=370–382 |bibcode=1980E&PSL..47..370M |doi=10.1016/0012-821X(80)90024-2 |issn=0012-821X}}</ref> The earliest undisputed evidence of life on Earth dates from at least 3.5 billion years ago,<ref name="Origin1">{{cite journal |last1=Schopf |first1=J. William |authorlink1=J. William Schopf |last2=Kudryavtsev |first2=Anatoliy B. |last3=Czaja |first3=Andrew D. |last4=Tripathi |first4=Abhishek B. |date=October 5, 2007 |title=Evidence of Archean life: Stromatolites and microfossils |journal=[[Precambrian Research]] |volume=158 |pages=141–155 |issue=3–4 |doi=10.1016/j.precamres.2007.04.009 |issn=0301-9268|bibcode=2007PreR..158..141S }}</ref><ref name="RavenJohnson2002">{{harvnb|Raven|Johnson|2002|p=68}}</ref> during the [[Eoarchean]] Era after a geological [[Crust (geology)|crust]] started to solidify following the earlier molten [[Hadean]] Eon. Microbial mat fossils have been found in 3.48 billion-year-old sandstone in Western Australia.<ref name="AP-20131113">{{cite news |last=Borenstein |first=Seth |date=November 13, 2013 |title=Oldest fossil found: Meet your microbial mom |url=http://apnews.excite.com/article/20131113/DAA1VSC01.html |work=[[Excite]] |location=Yonkers, New York |publisher=[[Mindspark Interactive Network]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |accessdate=2015-05-31 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150629230719/http://apnews.excite.com/article/20131113/DAA1VSC01.html |archivedate=June 29, 2015 |df= }}</ref><ref name="TG-20131113-JP">{{cite news |last=Pearlman |first=Jonathan |date=November 13, 2013 |title='Oldest signs of life on Earth found' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/10445788/Oldest-signs-of-life-on-Earth-found.html |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |location=London |publisher=[[Telegraph Media Group]] |accessdate=2014-12-15 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216062531/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/10445788/Oldest-signs-of-life-on-Earth-found.html |archivedate=2014-12-16 |df= }}</ref><ref name="AST-20131108">{{cite journal |last1=Noffke |first1=Nora |last2=Christian |first2=Daniel |last3=Wacey |first3=David |last4=Hazen |first4=Robert M. |authorlink4=Robert Hazen |date=November 16, 2013 |title=Microbially Induced Sedimentary Structures Recording an Ancient Ecosystem in the ''ca.'' 3.48 Billion-Year-Old Dresser Formation, Pilbara, Western Australia |journal=[[Astrobiology (journal)|Astrobiology]] |volume=13 |issue=12 |pages=1103–1124 |bibcode=2013AsBio..13.1103N |doi=10.1089/ast.2013.1030 |issn=1531-1074 |pmc=3870916 |pmid=24205812}}</ref> Other early physical evidence of a biogenic substance is graphite in 3.7 billion-year-old [[Metasediment|metasedimentary rocks]] discovered in Western Greenland<ref name="NG-20131208">{{cite journal |last1=Ohtomo |first1=Yoko |last2=Kakegawa |first2=Takeshi |last3=Ishida |first3=Akizumi |last4=Nagase |first4=Toshiro |last5=Rosing |first5=Minik T. |display-authors=3 |date=January 2014 |title=Evidence for biogenic graphite in early Archaean Isua metasedimentary rocks |journal=[[Nature Geoscience]] |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=25–28 |bibcode=2014NatGe...7...25O |doi=10.1038/ngeo2025 |issn=1752-0894}}</ref> as well as "remains of [[Biotic material|biotic life]]" found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia.<ref name="AP-20151019">{{cite news |last=Borenstein |first=Seth |title=Hints of life on what was thought to be desolate early Earth |url=http://apnews.excite.com/article/20151019/us-sci--earliest_life-a400435d0d.html |date=19 October 2015 |work=[[Excite]] |location=Yonkers, NY |publisher=[[Mindspark Interactive Network]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151023200248/http://apnews.excite.com/article/20151019/us-sci--earliest_life-a400435d0d.html |archivedate=23 October 2015 |accessdate=8 October 2018}}</ref><ref name="PNAS-20151014-pdf">{{cite journal |last1=Bell |first1=Elizabeth A. |last2=Boehnike |first2=Patrick |last3=Harrison |first3=T. Mark |last4=Mao |first4=Wendy L. |date=November 24, 2015 |title=Potentially biogenic carbon preserved in a 4.1 billion-year-old zircon |url=http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/10/14/1517557112.full.pdf |format=PDF |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=112 |issue=47 |pages=14518–14521 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1517557112 |issn=0027-8424 |accessdate=2015-12-30 |pmid=26483481 |pmc=4664351 |bibcode=2015PNAS..11214518B |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106021508/http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2015/10/14/1517557112.full.pdf |archivedate=2015-11-06 |df= }}</ref> Commenting on the Australian findings, [[Stephen Blair Hedges]] wrote, "If life arose relatively quickly on Earth, then it could be common in the universe."<ref name="AP-20151019" /><ref>{{cite news |last=Schouten |first=Lucy |date=October 20, 2015 |title=When did life first emerge on Earth? Maybe a lot earlier than we thought |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/1020/When-did-life-first-emerge-on-Earth-Maybe-a-lot-earlier-than-we-thought |work=[[The Christian Science Monitor]] |location=Boston, Massachusetts |publisher=[[Christian Science Publishing Society]] |issn=0882-7729 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160322214217/http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2015/1020/When-did-life-first-emerge-on-Earth-Maybe-a-lot-earlier-than-we-thought |archive-date=2016-03-22 |dead-url=no |access-date=2018-07-11}}</ref> <!---Nevertheless, [[Late Heavy Bombardment#Geological consequences on Earth|several studies]] suggest that life on Earth may have started even earlier,<ref name="AB-20021014">{{cite web |last=Tenenbaum |first=David |title=When Did Life on Earth Begin? Ask a Rock |url=http://www.astrobio.net/exclusive/293/when-did-life-on-earth-begin-ask-a-rock |date=14 October 2002 |work=Astrobiology Magazine |accessdate=2014-04-13}}</ref> as early as 4.25 billion years ago according to one study,<ref name="NS-20080702">{{cite web |last=Courtland |first=Rachel |title=Did newborn Earth harbour life? |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn14245-did-newborn-earth-harbour-life.html |date=2 July 2008 |work=[[New Scientist]] |accessdate=2014-04-13}}</ref> and 4.4 billion years ago according to another study.<ref name="RN-20090520">{{cite web |last=Steenhuysen |first=Julie |title=Study turns back clock on origins of life on Earth |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/2009/05/20/us-asteroids-idUSTRE54J5PX20090520 |date=20 May 2009 |work=[[Reuters]] |accessdate=2014-04-13}}</ref>---> In July 2016, scientists reported identifying a set of 355 [[gene]]s from the [[last universal common ancestor]] (LUCA) of all organisms living on Earth.<ref name="NYT-20160725">{{cite news |last=Wade |first=Nicholas |authorlink=Nicholas Wade |title=Meet Luca, the Ancestor of All Living Things |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/26/science/last-universal-ancestor.html |date=July 25, 2016 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |location=New York |publisher=[[The New York Times Company]] |issn=0362-4331 |accessdate=2016-07-25 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160728053822/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/26/science/last-universal-ancestor.html |archivedate=July 28, 2016 |df= }}</ref>
 
More than 99 percent of all species, amounting to over five billion species,<ref name="Book-Biology">{{harvnb|McKinney|1997|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=4LHnCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA110&lpg=PA110#v=onepage 110]}}</ref> that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct.<ref name="StearnsStearns1999" /><ref name="NYT-20141108-MJN">{{cite news |last=Novacek |first=Michael J. |date=November 8, 2014 |title=Prehistory’s Brilliant Future |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/opinion/sunday/prehistorys-brilliant-future.html |newspaper=The New York Times |location=New York |publisher=The New York Times Company |issn=0362-4331 |accessdate=2014-12-25 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141229225657/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/opinion/sunday/prehistorys-brilliant-future.html |archivedate=2014-12-29 |df= }}</ref> Estimates on the number of Earth's current species range from 10 million to 14 million,<ref name="PLoS-20110823">{{cite journal |last1=Mora |first1=Camilo |last2=Tittensor |first2=Derek P. |last3=Adl |first3=Sina |last4=Simpson |first4=Alastair G.B. |last5=Worm |first5=Boris |authorlink5=Boris Worm |display-authors=3 |date=August 23, 2011 |title=How Many Species Are There on Earth and in the Ocean? |journal=[[PLOS Biology]] |volume=9 |issue=8 |page=e1001127 |doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.1001127 |issn=1545-7885 |pmc=3160336 |pmid=21886479}}</ref><ref name="MillerSpoolman2012">{{harvnb|Miller|Spoolman|2012|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=NYEJAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA62 62]}}</ref> of which about 1.9 million are estimated to have been named<ref name="Chapman2009">{{harvnb|Chapman|2009}}</ref> and 1.6 million documented in a central database to date,<ref name="col2016">{{cite web |url=http://www.catalogueoflife.org/annual-checklist/2016/info/ac |title=Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life, 2016 Annual Checklist |year=2016 |editor-last=Roskov |editor-first=Y. |editor2-last=Abucay |editor2-first=L. |editor3-last=Orrell |editor3-first=T. |editor4-last=Nicolson |editor4-first=D. |editor5-last=Flann |editor5-first=C. |editor6-last=Bailly |editor6-first=N. |editor7-last=Kirk |editor7-first=P. |editor8-last=Bourgoin |editor8-first=T. |editor9-last=DeWalt |editor9-first=R.E. |editor10-last=Decock |editor10-first=W. |editor11-last=De Wever |editor11-first=A. |display-editors=4 |website=Species 2000 |publisher=[[Naturalis Biodiversity Center]] |location=Leiden, Netherlands |issn=2405-884X |accessdate=2016-11-06 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161112121623/http://www.catalogueoflife.org/annual-checklist/2016/info/ac |archivedate=2016-11-12 |df= }}</ref> leaving at least 80 percent not yet described.
 
Highly energetic chemistry is thought to have produced a self-replicating molecule around 4 billion years ago, and half a billion years later the [[Last universal common ancestor|last common ancestor of all life]] existed.<ref name="Doolittle_2000" /> The current scientific consensus is that the complex biochemistry that makes up life came from simpler chemical reactions.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Peretó |first=Juli |date=March 2005 |title=Controversies on the origin of life |url=http://www.im.microbios.org/0801/0801023.pdf |format=PDF |journal=International Microbiology |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=23–31 |issn=1139-6709 |pmid=15906258 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150824074726/http://www.im.microbios.org/0801/0801023.pdf |archivedate=2015-08-24 |df= }}</ref> The beginning of life may have included self-replicating molecules such as [[RNA]]<ref>{{cite journal |last=Joyce |first=Gerald F. |authorlink=Gerald Joyce |date=July 11, 2002 |title=The antiquity of RNA-based evolution |journal=Nature |volume=418 |issue=6894 |pages=214–221 |bibcode=2002Natur.418..214J |doi=10.1038/418214a |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=12110897}}</ref> and the assembly of simple cells.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Trevors |first1=Jack T. |last2=Psenner |first2=Roland |date=December 2001 |title=From self-assembly of life to present-day bacteria: a possible role for nanocells |journal=FEMS Microbiology Reviews |volume=25 |issue=5 |pages=573–582 |doi=10.1111/j.1574-6976.2001.tb00592.x |issn=1574-6976 |pmid=11742692}}</ref>
 
=== Common descent ===
{{Further|Common descent|Evidence of common descent}}
All organisms on Earth are descended from a common ancestor or ancestral [[gene pool]].<ref name="Penny1999" /><ref>{{cite journal |last=Theobald |first=Douglas L. |date=May 13, 2010 |title=A formal test of the theory of universal common ancestry |journal=Nature |volume=465 |issue=7295 |pages=219–222 |bibcode=2010Natur.465..219T |doi=10.1038/nature09014 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=20463738}}</ref> Current species are a stage in the process of evolution, with their diversity the product of a long series of speciation and extinction events.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bapteste |first1=Eric |last2=Walsh |first2=David A. |date=June 2005 |title=Does the 'Ring of Life' ring true? |journal=[[Trends (journals)|Trends in Microbiology]] |volume=13 |issue=6 |pages=256–261 |doi=10.1016/j.tim.2005.03.012 |issn=0966-842X |pmid=15936656}}</ref> The common descent of organisms was first deduced from four simple facts about organisms: First, they have geographic distributions that cannot be explained by local adaptation. Second, the diversity of life is not a set of completely unique organisms, but organisms that share morphological similarities. Third, vestigial traits with no clear purpose resemble functional ancestral traits and finally, that organisms can be classified using these similarities into a hierarchy of nested groups—similar to a family tree.<ref>{{harvnb|Darwin|1859|p=[http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?itemID=F373&viewtype=text&pageseq=16 1]}}</ref> However, modern research has suggested that, due to horizontal gene transfer, this "tree of life" may be more complicated than a simple branching tree since some genes have spread independently between distantly related species.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Doolittle |first1=W. Ford |last2=Bapteste |first2=Eric |date=February 13, 2007 |title=Pattern pluralism and the Tree of Life hypothesis |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=104 |issue=7 |pages=2043–2049 |bibcode=2007PNAS..104.2043D |doi=10.1073/pnas.0610699104 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=1892968 |pmid=17261804}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kunin |first1=Victor |last2=Goldovsky |first2=Leon |last3=Darzentas |first3=Nikos |last4=Ouzounis |first4=Christos A. |date=July 2005 |title=The net of life: Reconstructing the microbial phylogenetic network |journal=Genome Research |volume=15 |issue=7 |pages=954–959 |doi=10.1101/gr.3666505 |issn=1088-9051 |pmid=15965028 |pmc=1172039}}</ref>
[[File:Ape skeletons.png|upright=1.45|thumb|left|The [[Ape|hominoids]] are descendants of a [[common descent|common ancestor]].]]
Past species have also left records of their evolutionary history. Fossils, along with the comparative anatomy of present-day organisms, constitute the morphological, or anatomical, record.<ref name=Jablonski>{{cite journal |last=Jablonski |first=David |date=June 25, 1999 |title=The Future of the Fossil Record |journal=Science |volume=284 |issue=5423 |pages=2114–2116 |pmid=10381868 |doi=10.1126/science.284.5423.2114 |issn=0036-8075}}</ref> By comparing the anatomies of both modern and extinct species, paleontologists can infer the lineages of those species. However, this approach is most successful for organisms that had hard body parts, such as shells, bones or teeth. Further, as prokaryotes such as bacteria and archaea share a limited set of common morphologies, their fossils do not provide information on their ancestry.
 
More recently, evidence for common descent has come from the study of biochemical similarities between organisms. For example, all living cells use the same basic set of nucleotides and [[amino acid]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mason |first=Stephen F. |date=September 6, 1984 |title=Origins of biomolecular handedness |journal=Nature |volume=311 |issue=5981 |pages=19–23 |bibcode=1984Natur.311...19M |doi=10.1038/311019a0 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=6472461}}</ref> The development of [[molecular genetics]] has revealed the record of evolution left in organisms' genomes: dating when species diverged through the [[molecular clock]] produced by mutations.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wolf |first1=Yuri I. |last2=Rogozin |first2=Igor B. |last3=Grishin |first3=Nick V. |last4=Koonin |first4=Eugene V. |authorlink4=Eugene Koonin |date=September 1, 2002 |title=Genome trees and the tree of life |journal=Trends in Genetics |volume=18 |issue=9 |pages=472–479 |doi=10.1016/S0168-9525(02)02744-0 |issn=0168-9525 |pmid=12175808}}</ref> For example, these DNA sequence comparisons have revealed that humans and chimpanzees share 98% of their genomes and analysing the few areas where they differ helps shed light on when the common ancestor of these species existed.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Varki |first1=Ajit |authorlink1=Ajit Varki |last2=Altheide |first2=Tasha K. |date=December 2005 |title=Comparing the human and chimpanzee genomes: searching for needles in a haystack |journal=Genome Research |volume=15 |issue=12 |pages=1746–1758 |doi=10.1101/gr.3737405 |issn=1088-9051 |pmid=16339373}}</ref>
 
=== Evolution of life ===
{{Main|Evolutionary history of life|Timeline of evolutionary history of life}}
{{PhylomapA|size=320px|align=right|caption=[[Phylogenetic tree|Evolutionary tree]] showing the divergence of modern species from their common ancestor in the centre.<ref name="Ciccarelli">{{cite journal |last1=Ciccarelli |first1=Francesca D. |last2=Doerks |first2=Tobias |last3=von Mering |first3=Christian |last4=Creevey |first4=Christopher J. |last5=Snel |first5=Berend |last6=Bork |first6=Peer |authorlink6=Peer Bork |date=March 3, 2006 |title=Toward Automatic Reconstruction of a Highly Resolved Tree of Life |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=311 |issue=5765 |pages=1283–1287 |bibcode=2006Sci...311.1283C |doi=10.1126/science.1123061 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=16513982 |display-authors=3 |url=http://bioinformatics.bio.uu.nl/pdf/Ciccarelli.s06-311.pdf |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304035346/http://bioinformatics.bio.uu.nl/pdf/Ciccarelli.s06-311.pdf |archivedate=2016-03-04 |df= |citeseerx=10.1.1.381.9514 }}</ref> The three [[Domain (biology)|domains]] are coloured, with [[bacteria]] blue, [[archaea]] green and [[eukaryote]]s red.}}
Prokaryotes inhabited the Earth from approximately 3–4 billion years ago.<ref name="Cavalier-Smith">{{cite journal |last=Cavalier-Smith |first=Thomas |authorlink=Thomas Cavalier-Smith |date=June 29, 2006 |title=Cell evolution and Earth history: stasis and revolution |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=361 |issue=1470 |pages=969–1006 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2006.1842 |issn=0962-8436 |pmc=1578732 |pmid=16754610}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Schopf |first=J. William |date=June 29, 2006 |title=Fossil evidence of Archaean life |journal=Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |volume=361 |issue=1470 |pages=869–885 |doi=10.1098/rstb.2006.1834 |issn=0962-8436 |pmc=1578735 |pmid=16754604}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Altermann |first1=Wladyslaw |last2=Kazmierczak |first2=Józef |date=November 2003 |title=Archean microfossils: a reappraisal of early life on Earth |journal=Research in Microbiology |volume=154 |issue=9 |pages=611–617 |doi=10.1016/j.resmic.2003.08.006 |issn=0923-2508 |pmid=14596897}}</ref> No obvious changes in morphology or cellular organisation occurred in these organisms over the next few billion years.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Schopf |first=J. William |date=July 19, 1994 |title=Disparate rates, differing fates: tempo and mode of evolution changed from the Precambrian to the Phanerozoic |journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. |volume=91 |issue=15 |pages=6735–6742 |bibcode=1994PNAS...91.6735S |doi=10.1073/pnas.91.15.6735 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=44277 |pmid=8041691}}</ref> The eukaryotic cells emerged between 1.6–2.7 billion years ago. The next major change in cell structure came when bacteria were engulfed by eukaryotic cells, in a cooperative association called [[endosymbiont|endosymbiosis]].<ref name="rgruqh">{{cite journal |last1=Poole |first1=Anthony M. |last2=Penny |first2=David |date=January 2007 |title=Evaluating hypotheses for the origin of eukaryotes |journal=BioEssays |volume=29 |issue=1 |pages=74–84 |doi=10.1002/bies.20516 |issn=0265-9247 |pmid=17187354}}</ref><ref name="Dyall">{{cite journal |last1=Dyall |first1=Sabrina D. |last2=Brown |first2=Mark T. |last3=Johnson |first3=Patricia J. |authorlink3=Patricia J. Johnson |date=April 9, 2004 |title=Ancient Invasions: From Endosymbionts to Organelles |journal=Science |volume=304 |issue=5668 |pages=253–257 |bibcode=2004Sci...304..253D |doi=10.1126/science.1094884 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=15073369}}</ref> The engulfed bacteria and the host cell then underwent coevolution, with the bacteria evolving into either mitochondria or [[hydrogenosome]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Martin |first=William |date=October 2005 |title=The missing link between hydrogenosomes and mitochondria |journal=Trends in Microbiology |volume=13 |issue=10 |pages=457–459 |doi=10.1016/j.tim.2005.08.005 |issn=0966-842X |pmid=16109488}}</ref> Another engulfment of [[cyanobacteria]]l-like organisms led to the formation of chloroplasts in algae and plants.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lang |first1=B. Franz |last2=Gray |first2=Michael W. |last3=Burger |first3=Gertraud |date=December 1999 |title=Mitochondrial genome evolution and the origin of eukaryotes |journal=Annual Review of Genetics |volume=33 |pages=351–397 |doi=10.1146/annurev.genet.33.1.351 |issn=0066-4197 |pmid=10690412}}
* {{cite journal |last=McFadden |first=Geoffrey Ian |date=December 1, 1999 |title=Endosymbiosis and evolution of the plant cell |journal=Current Opinion in Plant Biology |volume=2 |issue=6 |pages=513–519 |doi=10.1016/S1369-5266(99)00025-4 |issn=1369-5266 |pmid=10607659}}</ref>
 
The history of life was that of the [[Unicellular organism|unicellular]] eukaryotes, prokaryotes and archaea until about 610 million years ago when multicellular organisms began to appear in the oceans in the [[Ediacara biota|Ediacaran]] period.<ref name="Cavalier-Smith" /><ref>{{cite journal |last1=DeLong |first1=Edward F. |authorlink1=Edward DeLong |last2=Pace |first2=Norman R. |authorlink2=Norman R. Pace |date=August 1, 2001 |title=Environmental Diversity of Bacteria and Archaea |journal=[[Systematic Biology]] |volume=50 |issue=4 |pages=470–478 |doi=10.1080/106351501750435040 |issn=1063-5157 |pmid=12116647 |url=http://sysbio.oxfordjournals.org/content/50/4/470.full.pdf |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160222022557/http://sysbio.oxfordjournals.org/content/50/4/470.full.pdf |archivedate=2016-02-22 |df= |citeseerx=10.1.1.321.8828 }}</ref> The [[Multicellular evolution|evolution of multicellularity]] occurred in multiple independent events, in organisms as diverse as [[sponge]]s, [[brown algae]], cyanobacteria, [[Slime mold|slime moulds]] and [[myxobacteria]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kaiser |first=Dale |authorlink=A. Dale Kaiser |date=December 2001 |title=Building a multicellular organism |journal=Annual Review of Genetics |volume=35 |pages=103–123 |doi=10.1146/annurev.genet.35.102401.090145 |issn=0066-4197 |pmid=11700279}}</ref> In January 2016, scientists reported that, about 800 million years ago, a minor genetic change in a single molecule called GK-PID may have allowed organisms to go from a single cell organism to one of many cells.<ref name="NYT-20160107">{{cite news |last=Zimmer |first=Carl |authorlink=Carl Zimmer |title=Genetic Flip Helped Organisms Go From One Cell to Many |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/science/genetic-flip-helped-organisms-go-from-one-cell-to-many.html |date=January 7, 2016 |newspaper=The New York Times |location=New York |publisher=The New York Times Company |issn=0362-4331 |accessdate=2016-01-07 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107204432/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/12/science/genetic-flip-helped-organisms-go-from-one-cell-to-many.html |archivedate=2016-01-07 |df= }}</ref>
 
Soon after the emergence of these first multicellular organisms, a remarkable amount of biological diversity appeared over approximately 10 million years, in an event called the [[Cambrian explosion]]. Here, the majority of [[Phylum|types]] of modern animals appeared in the fossil record, as well as unique lineages that subsequently became extinct.<ref name="Valentine_1999">{{cite journal |last1=Valentine |first1=James W. |authorlink1=James W. Valentine |last2=Jablonski |first2=David |last3=Erwin |first3=Douglas H. |authorlink3=Douglas Erwin |date=March 1, 1999 |title=Fossils, molecules and embryos: new perspectives on the Cambrian explosion |url=http://dev.biologists.org/content/126/5/851.full.pdf+html |journal=[[Development (journal)|Development]] |volume=126 |issue=5 |pages=851–859 |issn=0950-1991 |pmid=9927587 |accessdate=2014-12-30 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150301063309/http://dev.biologists.org/content/126/5/851.full.pdf+html |archivedate=2015-03-01 |df= }}</ref> Various triggers for the Cambrian explosion have been proposed, including the accumulation of oxygen in the atmosphere from photosynthesis.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ohno |first=Susumu |date=January 1997 |title=The reason for as well as the consequence of the Cambrian explosion in animal evolution |journal=Journal of Molecular Evolution |volume=44 |issue=Suppl. 1 |pages=S23–S27 |doi=10.1007/PL00000055 |issn=0022-2844 |pmid=9071008|bibcode=1997JMolE..44S..23O }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Valentine |first1=James W. |last2=Jablonski |first2=David |title=Morphological and developmental macroevolution: a paleontological perspective |url=http://www.ijdb.ehu.es/web/paper.php?doi=14756327 |year=2003 |journal=The International Journal of Developmental Biology |volume=47 |issue=7–8 |pages=517–522 |issn=0214-6282 |pmid=14756327 |accessdate=2014-12-30 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024234611/http://www.ijdb.ehu.es/web/paper.php?doi=14756327 |archivedate=2014-10-24 |df= }}</ref>
 
About 500 million years ago, plants and fungi colonised the land and were soon followed by arthropods and other animals.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Waters |first=Elizabeth R. |date=December 2003 |title=Molecular adaptation and the origin of land plants |journal=[[Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution]] |volume=29 |issue=3 |pages=456–463 |doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2003.07.018 |issn=1055-7903 |pmid=14615186}}</ref> Insects were particularly successful and even today make up the majority of animal species.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mayhew |first=Peter J. |authorlink=Peter Mayhew (biologist) |date=August 2007 |title=Why are there so many insect species? Perspectives from fossils and phylogenies |journal=Biological Reviews |volume=82 |issue=3 |pages=425–454 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-185X.2007.00018.x |issn=1464-7931 |pmid=17624962}}</ref> [[Amphibian]]s first appeared around 364 million years ago, followed by early [[amniote]]s and birds around 155 million years ago (both from "[[reptile]]"-like lineages), [[mammal]]s around 129 million years ago, [[homininae]] around 10 million years ago and [[Anatomically modern humans|modern humans]] around 250,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Carroll |first=Robert L. |authorlink=Robert L. Carroll |date=May 2007 |title=The Palaeozoic Ancestry of Salamanders, Frogs and Caecilians |journal=[[Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society]] |volume=150 |issue=Supplement s1 |pages=1–140 |doi=10.1111/j.1096-3642.2007.00246.x |issn=1096-3642 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wible |first1=John R. |last2=Rougier |first2=Guillermo W. |last3=Novacek |first3=Michael J. |last4=Asher |first4=Robert J. |date=June 21, 2007 |title=Cretaceous eutherians and Laurasian origin for placental mammals near the K/T boundary |journal=Nature |volume=447 |issue=7147 |pages=1003–1006 |bibcode=2007Natur.447.1003W |doi=10.1038/nature05854 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=17581585}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Witmer |first=Lawrence M. |authorlink=Lawrence Witmer |date=July 28, 2011 |title=Palaeontology: An icon knocked from its perch |journal=Nature |volume=475 |issue=7357 |pages=458–459 |doi=10.1038/475458a |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=21796198}}</ref> However, despite the evolution of these large animals, smaller organisms similar to the types that evolved early in this process continue to be highly successful and dominate the Earth, with the majority of both biomass and species being prokaryotes.<ref name=Schloss/>
 
== Applications ==
{{Main|Applications of evolution|Selective breeding|Evolutionary computation}}
Concepts and models used in evolutionary biology, such as natural selection, have many applications.<ref name="Bull">{{cite journal |last1=Bull |first1=James J. |authorlink1=James J. Bull |last2=Wichman |first2=Holly A. |date=November 2001 |title=Applied evolution |journal=Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics |volume=32 |pages=183–217 |doi=10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.32.081501.114020 |issn=1545-2069}}</ref>
 
Artificial selection is the intentional selection of traits in a population of organisms. This has been used for thousands of years in the [[domestication]] of plants and animals.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Doebley |first1=John F. |last2=Gaut |first2=Brandon S. |last3=Smith |first3=Bruce D. |authorlink3=Bruce D. Smith |date=December 29, 2006 |title=The Molecular Genetics of Crop Domestication |journal=Cell |volume=127 |issue=7 |pages=1309–1321 |doi=10.1016/j.cell.2006.12.006 |issn=0092-8674 |pmid=17190597}}</ref> More recently, such selection has become a vital part of [[genetic engineering]], with [[selectable marker]]s such as antibiotic resistance genes being used to manipulate DNA. Proteins with valuable properties have evolved by repeated rounds of mutation and selection (for example modified enzymes and new [[antibody|antibodies]]) in a process called [[directed evolution]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jäckel |first1=Christian |last2=Kast |first2=Peter |last3=Hilvert |first3=Donald |date=June 2008 |title=Protein Design by Directed Evolution |journal=[[Annual Review of Biophysics]] |volume=37 |pages=153–173 |doi=10.1146/annurev.biophys.37.032807.125832 |issn=1936-122X |pmid=18573077}}</ref>
 
Understanding the changes that have occurred during an organism's evolution can reveal the genes needed to construct parts of the body, genes which may be involved in human [[genetic disorder]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Maher |first=Brendan |date=April 8, 2009 |title=Evolution: Biology's next top model? |journal=Nature |volume=458 |issue=7239 |pages=695–698 |doi=10.1038/458695a |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=19360058}}</ref> For example, the [[Mexican tetra]] is an [[Albinism|albino]] cavefish that lost its eyesight during evolution. Breeding together different populations of this blind fish produced some offspring with functional eyes, since different mutations had occurred in the isolated populations that had evolved in different caves.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Borowsky |first=Richard |date=January 8, 2008 |title=Restoring sight in blind cavefish |journal=Current Biology |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=R23–R24 |doi=10.1016/j.cub.2007.11.023 |issn=0960-9822 |pmid=18177707|bibcode=1996CBio....6.1213A }}</ref> This helped identify genes required for vision and pigmentation.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gross |first1=Joshua B. |last2=Borowsky |first2=Richard |last3=Tabin |first3=Clifford J. |date=January 2, 2009 |editor1-last=Barsh |editor1-first=Gregory S. |title=A novel role for ''Mc1r'' in the parallel evolution of depigmentation in independent populations of the cavefish ''Astyanax mexicanus'' |journal=PLOS Genetics |volume=5 |issue=1 |pages=e1000326 |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1000326 |issn=1553-7390 |pmc=2603666 |pmid=19119422}}</ref>
 
Evolutionary theory has many applications in medicine. Many human diseases are not static phenomena, but capable of evolution. Viruses, bacteria, fungi and [[cancer]]s evolve to be resistant to host [[immune system|immune defences]], as well as [[pharmaceutical drug]]s.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Merlo|first1=Lauren M.F.|last2=Pepper|first2=John W.|last3=Reid|first3=Brian J.|last4=Maley|first4=Carlo C.|date=December 2006|title=Cancer as an evolutionary and ecological process.|url=|journal=[[Nat. Rev. Cancer|Nature Reviews Cancer]]|volume=6|issue=12|pages=924–935|doi=10.1038/nrc2013|issn=1474-175X|pmid=17109012|access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|date=October 2012|title=Understanding the drug resistance mechanism of hepatitis C virus NS3/4A to ITMN-191 due to R155K, A156V, D168A/E mutations: a computational study.|url=|journal=[[Biochim. Biophys. Acta|Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - General Subjects]]|volume=1820|issue=10|pages=1526–1534|doi=10.1016/j.bbagen.2012.06.001|issn=0304-4165|pmid=22698669|access-date=|last1=Pan|first1=Dabo|author2=Weiwei Xue|author3=Wenqi Zhang|author4=Huanxiang Liu|author5=Xiaojun Yao|display-authors=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Woodford |first1=Neil |last2=Ellington |first2=Matthew J. |date=January 2007 |title=The emergence of antibiotic resistance by mutation. |journal=Clinical Microbiology and Infection |volume=13 |issue=1 |pages=5–18 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-0691.2006.01492.x |issn=1198-743X |pmid=17184282}}</ref> These same problems occur in agriculture with [[pesticide]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Labbé |first1=Pierrick |last2=Berticat |first2=Claire |last3=Berthomieu |first3=Arnaud |last4=Unal |first4=Sandra |last5=Bernard |first5=Clothilde |last6=Weill |first6=Mylène |last7=Lenormand |first7=Thomas |date=November 16, 2007 |title=Forty Years of Erratic Insecticide Resistance Evolution in the Mosquito ''Culex pipiens'' |journal=PLOS Genetics |volume=3 |issue=11 |pages=e205 |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.0030205 |issn=1553-7390 |pmid=18020711 |display-authors=3 |pmc=2077897}}</ref> and [[herbicide]]<ref>{{cite journal |last=Neve |first=Paul |date=October 2007 |title=Challenges for herbicide resistance evolution and management: 50 years after Harper |journal=Weed Research |volume=47 |issue=5 |pages=365–369 |doi=10.1111/j.1365-3180.2007.00581.x |issn=0043-1737}}</ref> resistance. It is possible that we are facing the end of the effective life of most of available antibiotics<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rodríguez-Rojas |first1=Alexandro |last2=Rodríguez-Beltrán |first2=Jerónimo |last3=Couce |first3=Alejandro |last4=Blázquez |first4=Jesús |date=August 2013 |title=Antibiotics and antibiotic resistance: A bitter fight against evolution |journal=[[International Journal of Medical Microbiology]] |volume=303 |issue=6–7 |pages=293–297 |doi=10.1016/j.ijmm.2013.02.004 |issn=1438-4221 |pmid=23517688}}</ref> and predicting the evolution and evolvability<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Schenk |first1=Martijn F. |last2=Szendro |first2=Ivan G. |last3=Krug |first3=Joachim |last4=de Visser |first4=J. Arjan G.M. |date=June 28, 2012 |title=Quantifying the Adaptive Potential of an Antibiotic Resistance Enzyme |journal=PLOS Genetics |volume=8 |issue=6 |pages=e1002783 |doi=10.1371/journal.pgen.1002783 |issn=1553-7390 |pmid=22761587 |pmc=3386231}}</ref> of our pathogens and devising strategies to slow or circumvent it is requiring deeper knowledge of the complex forces driving evolution at the molecular level.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Read |first1=Andrew F. |last2=Lynch |first2=Penelope A. |last3=Thomas |first3=Matthew B. |date=April 7, 2009 |title=How to Make Evolution-Proof Insecticides for Malaria Control |journal=PLOS Biology |volume=7 |issue=4 |page=e1000058 |doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.1000058 |issn=1545-7885 |pmid=19355786 |pmc=3279047}}</ref>
 
In [[computer science]], simulations of evolution using [[evolutionary algorithm]]s and [[artificial life]] started in the 1960s and were extended with simulation of artificial selection.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fraser |first=Alex S. |authorlink=Alex Fraser (scientist) |date=January 18, 1958 |title=Monte Carlo Analyses of Genetic Models |journal=Nature |volume=181 |issue=4603 |pages=208–209 |bibcode=1958Natur.181..208F |doi=10.1038/181208a0 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=13504138}}</ref> Artificial evolution became a widely recognised optimisation method as a result of the work of [[Ingo Rechenberg]] in the 1960s. He used [[Evolution strategy|evolution strategies]] to solve complex engineering problems.<ref>{{harvnb|Rechenberg|1973}}</ref> [[Genetic algorithm]]s in particular became popular through the writing of [[John Henry Holland]].<ref>{{harvnb|Holland|1975}}</ref> Practical applications also include [[genetic programming|automatic evolution of computer programmes]].<ref>{{harvnb|Koza|1992}}</ref> Evolutionary algorithms are now used to solve multi-dimensional problems more efficiently than software produced by human designers and also to optimise the design of systems.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Jamshidi |first=Mo |date=August 15, 2003 |title=Tools for intelligent control: fuzzy controllers, neural networks and genetic algorithms |journal=[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A]] |volume=361 |issue=1809 |pages=1781–1808 |bibcode=2003RSPTA.361.1781J |doi=10.1098/rsta.2003.1225 |issn=1364-503X |pmid=12952685}}</ref>
 
== Social and cultural responses ==
{{Further|Social effects of evolutionary theory|1860 Oxford evolution debate|Creation–evolution controversy|Objections to evolution|Evolution in fiction}}
 
[[File:Editorial cartoon depicting Charles Darwin as an ape (1871).jpg|upright|thumb|As evolution became widely accepted in the 1870s, [[caricature]]s of Charles Darwin with an [[ape]] or [[monkey]] body symbolised evolution.<ref>{{harvnb|Browne|2003|pp=376–379}}</ref>]]
 
In the 19th century, particularly after the publication of ''On the Origin of Species'' in 1859, the idea that life had evolved was an active source of academic debate centred on the philosophical, social and religious implications of evolution. Today, the modern evolutionary synthesis is accepted by a vast majority of scientists.<ref name="Kutschera" /> However, evolution remains a contentious concept for some [[Theism|theists]].<ref>For an overview of the philosophical, religious and cosmological controversies, see:
* {{harvnb|Dennett|1995}}
For the scientific and social reception of evolution in the 19th and early 20th centuries, see:
* {{cite book |last=Johnston |first=Ian C. |authorlink=Ian C. Johnston |year=1999 |chapter=Section Three: The Origins of Evolutionary Theory |chapter-url=https://malvma.viu.ca/~johnstoi/darwin/sect3.htm |title=... And Still We Evolve: A Handbook for the Early History of Modern Science |url=https://malvma.viu.ca/~johnstoi/darwin/title.htm |edition=3rd revised |location=Nanaimo, BC |publisher=Liberal Studies Department, [[Vancouver Island University|Malaspina University-College]] |accessdate=2015-01-01 |deadurl=no |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416050826/http://records.viu.ca/~johnstoi/darwin/title.htm |archive-date=2016-04-16}}
* {{harvnb|Bowler|2003}}
* {{cite journal |last=Zuckerkandl |first=Emile |authorlink=Emile Zuckerkandl |date=December 30, 2006 |title=Intelligent design and biological complexity |journal=[[Gene (journal)|Gene]] |volume=385 |pages=2–18 |pmid=17011142 |doi=10.1016/j.gene.2006.03.025 |issn=0378-1119}}</ref>
 
While [[Level of support for evolution#Support for evolution by religious bodies|various religions and denominations]] have reconciled their beliefs with evolution through concepts such as [[theistic evolution]], there are [[creationism|creationists]] who believe that evolution is contradicted by the [[creation myth]]s found in their [[religion]]s and who raise various [[objections to evolution]].<ref name="ScottEC" /><ref name="Ross2005">{{cite journal |last=Ross |first=Marcus R. |authorlink=Marcus R. Ross |date=May 2005 |title=Who Believes What? Clearing up Confusion over Intelligent Design and Young-Earth Creationism |url=http://www.nagt.org/files/nagt/jge/abstracts/Ross_v53n3p319.pdf |format=PDF |journal=Journal of Geoscience Education |volume=53 |issue=3 |pages=319–323 |issn=1089-9995 |accessdate=2008-04-28 |bibcode=2005JGeEd..53..319R |doi=10.5408/1089-9995-53.3.319 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080511204303/http://nagt.org/files/nagt/jge/abstracts/Ross_v53n3p319.pdf |archivedate=2008-05-11 |df= |citeseerx=10.1.1.404.1340 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Hameed |first=Salman |date=December 12, 2008 |title=Bracing for Islamic Creationism |url=http://helios.hampshire.edu/~sahCS/Hameed-Science-Creationism.pdf |format=PDF |journal=Science |volume=322 |issue=5908 |pages=1637–1638 |doi=10.1126/science.1163672 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=19074331 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141110031233/http://helios.hampshire.edu/~sahCS/Hameed-Science-Creationism.pdf |archivedate=2014-11-10 |df= }}</ref> As had been demonstrated by responses to the publication of ''[[Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation]]'' in 1844, the most controversial aspect of evolutionary biology is the implication of [[human evolution]] that humans share common ancestry with apes and that the mental and [[Evolution of morality|moral faculties]] of humanity have the same types of natural causes as other inherited traits in animals.<ref>{{harvnb|Bowler|2003}}</ref> In some countries, notably the United States, these tensions between science and religion have fuelled the current creation–evolution controversy, a religious conflict focusing on [[politics]] and [[creation and evolution in public education|public education]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Miller |first=Jon D. |last2=Scott |first2=Eugenie C. |last3=Okamoto |first3=Shinji |date=August 11, 2006 |title=Public Acceptance of Evolution |journal=Science |volume=313 |issue=5788 |pages=765–766 |doi=10.1126/science.1126746 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=16902112}}</ref> While other scientific fields such as [[physical cosmology|cosmology]]<ref name="wmap">{{cite journal |last1=Spergel |first1=David Nathaniel |authorlink1=David Spergel |last2=Verde |first2=Licia |last3=Peiris |first3=Hiranya V. |last4=Komatsu |first4=Eiichiro |last5=Nolta |first5=Michael R. |last6=Bennett |first6=Charles L. |authorlink6=Charles L. Bennett |last7=Halpern |first7=Mark |last8=Hinshaw |first8=Gary |last9=Jarosik |first9=Norman |year=2003 |title=First-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Determination of Cosmological Parameters |journal=[[The Astrophysical Journal|The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series]] |volume=148 |issue=1 |pages=175–194 |arxiv=astro-ph/0302209 |bibcode=2003ApJS..148..175S |doi=10.1086/377226 |display-authors=3}}</ref> and [[Earth science]]<ref name="zircon">{{cite journal |last1=Wilde |first1=Simon A. |last2=Valley |first2=John W. |last3=Peck |first3=William H. |last4=Graham |first4=Colin M. |date=January 11, 2001 |title=Evidence from detrital zircons for the existence of continental crust and oceans on the Earth 4.4 Gyr ago |journal=Nature |volume=409 |issue=6817 |pages=175–178 |doi=10.1038/35051550 |issn=0028-0836 |pmid=11196637}}</ref> also conflict with literal interpretations of many [[religious text]]s, evolutionary biology experiences significantly more opposition from religious literalists.
 
The teaching of evolution in American secondary school biology classes was uncommon in most of the first half of the 20th century. The [[Scopes Trial]] decision of 1925 caused the subject to become very rare in American secondary biology textbooks for a generation, but it was gradually re-introduced later and became legally protected with the 1968 ''[[Epperson v. Arkansas]]'' decision. Since then, the competing religious belief of creationism was legally disallowed in secondary school curricula in various decisions in the 1970s and 1980s, but it returned in [[Pseudoscience|pseudoscientific]] form as [[intelligent design]] (ID), to be excluded once again in the 2005 ''[[Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District]]'' case.<ref name="BioScience">{{cite journal |last=Branch |first=Glenn |authorlink=Glenn Branch |date=March 2007 |title=Understanding Creationism after ''Kitzmiller'' |journal=[[BioScience]] |volume=57 |issue=3 |pages=278–284 |doi=10.1641/B570313 |issn=0006-3568|bibcode=1985BioSc..35..499W }}</ref> The debate over Darwin's ideas did not generate significant controversy in China. <ref>https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-for-the-history-of-science/article/translation-and-transmutation-the-origin-of-species-in-china/3F5AED9F9D60EF2D7265927BB2B6AB3A</ref>
 
== See also ==
{{Wikipedia books|Evolution}}
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Argument from poor design]]
* [[Dual inheritance theory|Biocultural evolution]]
* [[Biological classification]]
* [[Evidence of common descent]]
* [[Evolution in Variable Environment]]
* [[Evolutionary anthropology]]
* [[Evolutionary ecology]]
* [[Evolutionary epistemology]]
* [[Evolutionary neuroscience]]
* [[Evolution of biological complexity]]
* [[Evolution of plants]]
* [[Project Steve]]
* [[Timeline of the evolutionary history of life]]
* [[Universal Darwinism]]
{{div col end}}
 
== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}
 
== Bibliography ==
{{Refbegin|30em}}
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* {{cite book |editor1-last=Ayala |editor1-first=Francisco J. |editor1-link=Francisco J. Ayala |editor2-last=Avise |editor2-first=John C. |editor2-link=John Avise |year=2014 |title=Essential Readings in Evolutionary Biology |location=Baltimore, Maryland |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-1-4214-1305-1 |lccn=2013027718 |oclc=854285705 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last1=Birdsell |first1=John A. |last2=Wills |first2=Christopher |authorlink2=Christopher Wills |year=2003 |chapter=The Evolutionary Origin and Maintenance of Sexual Recombination: A Review of Contemporary Models |editor1-last=MacIntyre |editor1-first=Ross J. |editor2-last=Clegg |editor2-first=Michael T. |title=Evolutionary Biology |series=Evolutionary Biology |volume=33 |location=New York |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media]] |isbn=978-1-4419-3385-0 |issn=0071-3260 |oclc=751583918 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Bowler |first=Peter J. |authorlink=Peter J. Bowler |year=1989 |title=The Mendelian Revolution: The Emergence of Hereditarian Concepts in Modern Science and Society |location=Baltimore, Maryland |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |isbn=978-0-8018-3888-0 |lccn=89030914 |oclc=19322402 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Bowler |first=Peter J. |year=2003 |title=Evolution: The History of an Idea |edition=3rd completely rev. and expanded |location=Berkeley, California |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |isbn=978-0-520-23693-6 |lccn=2002007569 |oclc=49824702 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Browne |first=Janet |authorlink=Janet Browne |year=2003 |title=Charles Darwin: The Power of Place |volume=2 |location=London |publisher=[[Random House|Pimlico]] |isbn=978-0-7126-6837-8 |lccn=94006598 |oclc=52327000 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Burkhardt |editor1-first=Frederick |editor1-link=Frederick Burkhardt |editor2-last=Smith |editor2-first=Sydney |year=1991 |title=The Correspondence of Charles Darwin |series=The Correspondence of Charles Darwin |volume='''7''': 1858–1859 |location=Cambridge |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-38564-0 |lccn=84045347 |oclc=185662993 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last1=Carroll |first1=Sean B. |authorlink1=Sean B. Carroll |last2=Grenier |first2=Jennifer K. |last3=Weatherbee |first3=Scott D. |year=2005 |title=From DNA to Diversity: Molecular Genetics and the Evolution of Animal Design |edition=2nd |location=Malden, Massachusetts |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell|Blackwell Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-4051-1950-4 |lccn=2003027991 |oclc=53972564 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Chapman |first=Arthur D. |year=2009 |title=Numbers of Living Species in Australia and the World |edition=2nd |url=https://www.environment.gov.au/science/abrs/publications/other/numbers-living-species/ |accessdate=2016-11-06 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161225064434/http://www.environment.gov.au/science/abrs/publications/other/numbers-living-species |archivedate=2016-12-25 |df= |location=Canberra |publisher=[[Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts]]: [[Australian Biological Resources Study]] |isbn=978-0-642-56860-1 |oclc=780539206 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Coyne |first=Jerry A. |authorlink=Jerry Coyne |year=2009 |title=Why Evolution is True |location=New York |publisher=[[Viking Press|Viking]] |isbn=978-0-670-02053-9 |lccn=2008033973 |oclc=233549529 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Cracraft |editor1-first=Joel |editor2-last=Bybee |editor2-first=Rodger W. |year=2005 |title=Evolutionary Science and Society: Educating a New Generation |url=http://www.amnh.org/learn/resources/bscs_evolution.pdf |format=PDF |location=Colorado Springs, Colorado |publisher=[[Biological Sciences Curriculum Study]] |isbn=978-1-929614-23-3 |oclc=64228003 |accessdate=2014-12-06 |ref=harv}} "Revised Proceedings of the BSCS, AIBS Symposium November 2004, Chicago, Illinois"
* {{cite book |last=Dalrymple |first=G. Brent |authorlink=Brent Dalrymple |year=2001 |chapter=The age of the Earth in the twentieth century: a problem (mostly) solved |editor1-last=Lewis |editor1-first=C.L.E. |editor2-last=Knell |editor2-first=S.J. |title=The Age of the Earth: from 4004 BC to AD 2002 |journal=Geological Society, London, Special Publications |series=Geological Society Special Publication |volume=190 |issue=1 |pages=205–221 |bibcode=2001GSLSP.190..205D |doi=10.1144/gsl.sp.2001.190.01.14 |isbn=978-1-86239-093-5 |lccn=2003464816 |oclc=48570033 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Darwin |first=Charles |authorlink=Charles Darwin |year=1859 |title=On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life |edition=1st |location=London |publisher=[[John Murray (publisher)|John Murray]] |lccn=06017473 |oclc=741260650 |ref=harv|title-link=On the Origin of Species }} The book is available from [http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=1&itemID=F373&viewtype=side The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online]. Retrieved 2014-11-21.
* {{cite book |last=Darwin |first=Charles |date=1872 |title=The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals |location=London |publisher=John Murray |lccn=04002793 |oclc=1102785 |ref=harv|title-link=The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals }}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Darwin |editor-first=Francis |editor-link=Francis Darwin |year=1909 |title=The foundations of The origin of species, a sketch written in 1842 |url=http://darwin-online.org.uk/converted/pdf/1909_Foundations_F1555.pdf |format=PDF |location=Cambridge |publisher=Printed at the University Press |lccn=61057537 |oclc=1184581 |accessdate=2014-11-27 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Dawkins |first=Richard |authorlink=Richard Dawkins |year=1990 |title=The Blind Watchmaker |series=Penguin Science |location=London |publisher=[[Penguin Books]] |isbn=978-0-14-014481-9 |oclc=60143870 |ref=harv|title-link=The Blind Watchmaker }}
* {{cite book |last=Dennett |first=Daniel |authorlink=Daniel Dennett |year=1995 |title=Darwin's Dangerous Idea: Evolution and the Meanings of Life |location=New York |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |isbn=978-0-684-80290-9 |lccn=94049158 |oclc=31867409 |ref=harv|title-link=Darwin's Dangerous Idea }}
* {{cite book |last=Dobzhansky |first=Theodosius |authorlink1=Theodosius Dobzhansky |year=1968 |chapter=On Some Fundamental Concepts of Darwinian Biology |editor1-last=Dobzhansky |editor1-first=Theodosius |editor2-last=Hecht |editor2-first=Max K. |editor3-last=Steere |editor3-first=William C. |title=Evolutionary Biology. Volume 2 |pages=1–34 |edition=1st |location=New York |publisher=[[Appleton-Century-Crofts]] |doi=10.1007/978-1-4684-8094-8_1 |oclc=24875357 |ref=harv|isbn=978-1-4684-8096-2 }}
* {{cite book |last=Dobzhansky |first=Theodosius |year=1970 |title=Genetics of the Evolutionary Process |location=New York |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=978-0-231-02837-0 |lccn=72127363 |oclc=97663 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last1=Eldredge |first1=Niles |authorlink1=Niles Eldredge |last2=Gould |first2=Stephen Jay |authorlink2=Stephen Jay Gould |year=1972 |chapter=Punctuated equilibria: an alternative to phyletic gradualism |editor1-last=Schopf |editor1-first=Thomas J.M. |title=Models in Paleobiology |location=San Francisco, California |publisher=Freeman, Cooper |isbn=978-0-87735-325-6 |lccn=72078387 |oclc=572084 |ref=harv}}
** {{cite book |last=Eldredge |first=Niles |year=1985 |title=Time Frames: The Rethinking of Darwinian Evolution and the Theory of Punctuated Equilibria |location=New York |publisher=[[Simon & Schuster]] |isbn=978-0-671-49555-8 |lccn=84023632 |oclc=11443805}}
* {{cite book |author=Ewens |first=Warren J. |authorlink=Warren Ewens |year=2004 |title=Mathematical Population Genetics |series=Interdisciplinary Applied Mathematics |volume='''I'''. Theoretical Introduction |edition=2nd |location=New York |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer-Verlag New York]] |isbn=978-0-387-20191-7 |lccn=2003065728 |oclc=53231891 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Futuyma |first=Douglas J. |authorlink=Douglas J. Futuyma |year=2004 |chapter=The Fruit of the Tree of Life: Insights into Evolution and Ecology |editor1-last=Cracraft |editor1-first=Joel |editor2-last=Donoghue |editor2-first=Michael J. |title=Assembling the Tree of Life |location=Oxford; New York |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-19-517234-8 |lccn=2003058012 |oclc=61342697 |ref=harv}} "Proceedings of a symposium held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, 2002."
* {{cite book |last=Futuyma |first=Douglas J. |year=2005 |title=Evolution |location=Sunderland, Massachusetts |publisher=[[Sinauer Associates]] |isbn=978-0-87893-187-3 |lccn=2004029808 |oclc=57311264 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Gould |first=Stephen Jay |year=2002 |title=The Structure of Evolutionary Theory |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=[[Harvard University Press|Belknap Press of Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-00613-3 |lccn=2001043556 |oclc=47869352 |ref=harv|title-link=The Structure of Evolutionary Theory }}
* {{cite book |last=Gray |first=Peter |authorlink=Peter Gray (psychologist) |year=2007 |title=Psychology |edition=5th |location=New York |publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers (United States)|Worth Publishers]] |isbn=978-0-7167-0617-5 |lccn=2006921149 |oclc=76872504 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last1=Hall |first1=Brian K. |authorlink1=Brian K. Hall |last2=Hallgrímsson |first2=Benedikt |title=Strickberger's Evolution |year=2008 |edition=4th |location=Sudbury, Massachusetts |publisher=Jones and Bartlett Publishers |isbn=978-0-7637-0066-9 |lccn=2007008981 |oclc=85814089 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Hennig |first=Willi |authorlink=Willi Hennig |year=1999 |origyear=Originally published 1966 (reprinted 1979); translated from the author's unpublished revision of ''Grundzüge einer Theorie der phylogenetischen Systematik'', published in 1950 |title=Phylogenetic Systematics |others=Translation by D. Dwight Davis and Rainer Zangerl; foreword by Donn E. Rosen, Gareth Nelson, and [[Colin Patterson (biologist)|Colin Patterson]] |edition=Reissue |location=Urbana, Illinois |publisher=[[University of Illinois Press]] |isbn=978-0-252-06814-0 |lccn=78031969 |oclc=722701473 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Holland |first=John H. |authorlink=John Henry Holland |year=1975 |title=Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems: An Introductory Analysis with Applications to Biology, Control, and Artificial Intelligence |location=Ann Arbor, Michigan |publisher=[[University of Michigan Press]] |isbn=978-0-472-08460-9 |lccn=74078988 |oclc=1531617 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last1=Jablonka |first1=Eva |authorlink1=Eva Jablonka |last2=Lamb |first2=Marion J. |authorlink2=Marion J. Lamb |year=2005 |title=Evolution in Four Dimensions: Genetic, Epigenetic, Behavioral, and Symbolic Variation in the History of Life |others=Illustrations by Anna Zeligowski |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=[[MIT Press]] |isbn=978-0-262-10107-3 |lccn=2004058193 |oclc=61896061 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Kampourakis |first=Kostas |year=2014 |title=Understanding Evolution |location=Cambridge; New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-03491-4 |lccn=2013034917 |oclc=855585457 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last1=Kirk |first1=Geoffrey |authorlink1=Geoffrey Kirk |last2=Raven |first2=John |authorlink2=John Raven |last3=Schofield |first3=Malcolm |year=1983 |title=The Presocratic Philosophers: A Critical History with a Selection of Texts |edition=2nd |location=Cambridge; New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-27455-5 |lccn=82023505 |oclc=9081712 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Koza |first=John R. |authorlink=John Koza |year=1992 |title=Genetic Programming: On the Programming of Computers by Means of Natural Selection |series=Complex Adaptive Systems |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-11170-6 |lccn=92025785 |oclc=26263956 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Lamarck |first=Jean-Baptiste |authorlink=Jean-Baptiste Lamarck |year=1809 |title=Philosophie Zoologique |location=Paris |publisher=Dentu et L'Auteur |oclc=2210044 |ref=harv|title-link=Philosophie Zoologique }} {{Internet Archive|id=philosophiezool06unkngoog|name=Philosophie zoologique (1809)}}. Retrieved 2014-11-29.
* {{cite book |last=Lane |first=David H. |year=1996 |title=The Phenomenon of Teilhard: Prophet for a New Age |edition=1st |location=Macon, Georgia |publisher=[[Mercer University Press]] |isbn=978-0-86554-498-7 |lccn=96008777 |oclc=34710780 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |author=Lucretius |authorlink=Lucretius |chapter=Book V, lines 855–877 |chapterurl=http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0131%3Abook%3D5%3Acard%3D855 |title=De Rerum Natura |website=[[Perseus Project|Perseus Digital Library]] |others=Edited and translated by [[William Ellery Leonard]] (1916) |location=Medford/Somerville, Massachusetts |publisher=[[Tufts University]] |oclc=33233743 |accessdate=2014-11-25 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140904053325/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0131%3Abook%3D5%3Acard%3D855 |archivedate=2014-09-04 |ref=harv|title-link=De rerum natura }}
* {{cite book |last=Magner |first=Lois N. |year=2002 |title=A History of the Life Sciences |edition=3rd rev. and expanded |location=New York |publisher=[[Marcel Dekker]] |isbn=978-0-8247-0824-5 |lccn=2002031313 |oclc=50410202 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Mason |first=Stephen F. |year=1962 |title=A History of the Sciences |series=Collier Books. Science Library, CS9 |edition=New rev. |location=New York |publisher=[[Collier Books]] |lccn=62003378 |oclc=568032626 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Maynard Smith |first=John |authorlink=John Maynard Smith |year=1978 |title=The Evolution of Sex |location=Cambridge; New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-29302-0 |lccn=77085689 |oclc=3413793 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Maynard Smith |first=John |year=1998 |chapter=The Units of Selection |editor1-last=Bock |editor1-first=Gregory R. |editor2-last=Goode |editor2-first=Jamie A. |title=The Limits of Reductionism in Biology |journal=Novartis Foundation Symposium |series=Novartis Foundation Symposia |volume=213 |pages=203–221 |location=Chichester, England |publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons]] |doi=10.1002/9780470515488.ch15 |isbn=978-0-471-97770-4 |lccn=98002779 |oclc=38311600 |pmid=9653725 |ref=harv}} "Papers from the Symposium on the Limits of Reductionism in Biology, held at the Novartis Foundation, London, May 13–15, 1997."
* {{cite book |last=Mayr |first=Ernst |authorlink=Ernst Mayr |year=1942 |title=Systematics and the Origin of Species from the Viewpoint of a Zoologist |series=Columbia Biological Series |volume=13 |location=New York |publisher=Columbia University Press |lccn=43001098 |oclc=766053 |ref=harv|title-link=Systematics and the Origin of Species }}
* {{cite book |last=Mayr |first=Ernst |year=1982 |title=The Growth of Biological Thought: Diversity, Evolution, and Inheritance |others=Translation of [[John Ray]] by E. Silk |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=[[Harvard University Press|Belknap Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-36445-5 |lccn=81013204 |oclc=7875904 |ref=harv|title-link=The Growth of Biological Thought }}
* {{cite book |last=Mayr |first=Ernst |year=2002 |origyear=Originally published 2001; New York: [[Basic Books]] |title=What Evolution Is |series=Science Masters |location=London |publisher=[[Weidenfeld & Nicolson]] |isbn=978-0-297-60741-0 |lccn=2001036562 |oclc=248107061 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=McKinney |first=Michael L. |year=1997 |chapter=How do rare species avoid extinction? A paleontological view |editor1-last=Kunin |editor1-first=William E. |editor2-last=Gaston |editor2-first=Kevin J. |title=The Biology of Rarity: Causes and consequences of rare—common differences |edition=1st |location=London; New York |publisher=[[Chapman & Hall]] |isbn=978-0-412-63380-5 |lccn=96071014 |oclc=36442106 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=G. Tyler |last2=Spoolman |first2=Scott E. |year=2012 |title=Environmental Science |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NYEJAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA62 |edition=14th |location=Belmont, California |publisher=[[Cengage Learning|Brooks/Cole]] |isbn=978-1-111-98893-7 |lccn=2011934330 |oclc=741539226 |accessdate=2014-12-27 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last1=Moore |first1=Randy |last2=Decker |first2=Mark |last3=Cotner |first3=Sehoya |year=2010 |title=Chronology of the Evolution-Creationism Controversy |location=Santa Barbara, California |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group|Greenwood Press]]/[[ABC-CLIO]] |isbn=978-0-313-36287-3 |lccn=2009039784 |oclc=422757410 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last1=Nardon |first1=Paul |last2=Grenier |first2=Anne-Marie |year=1991 |chapter=Serial Endosymbiosis Theory and Weevil Evolution: The Role of Symbiosis |editor1-last=Margulis |editor1-first=Lynn |editor2-last=Fester |editor2-first=René |title=Symbiosis as a Source of Evolutionary Innovation: Speciation and Morphogenesis |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-13269-5 |lccn=90020439 |oclc=22597587 |ref=harv}} "Based on a conference held in Bellagio, Italy, June 25–30, 1989"
* {{cite book |author1=National Academy of Sciences |authorlink1=National Academy of Sciences |author2=Institute of Medicine |authorlink2=Institute of Medicine |year=2008 |title=Science, Evolution, and Creationism |url=http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11876 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=National Academy Press |isbn=978-0-309-10586-6 |lccn=2007015904 |oclc=123539346 |accessdate=2014-11-22 |ref=NAS 2008}}
* {{cite book |last=Odum |first=Eugene P. |authorlink=Eugene Odum |year=1971 |title=Fundamentals of Ecology |edition=3rd |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |publisher=[[Saunders (imprint)|Saunders]] |isbn=978-0-7216-6941-0 |lccn=76081826 |oclc=154846 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Okasha |first=Samir |year=2006 |title=Evolution and the Levels of Selection |location=Oxford; New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-926797-2 |lccn=2006039679 |oclc=70985413 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Panno |first=Joseph |title=The Cell: Evolution of the First Organism |year=2005 |series=Facts on File science library |location=New York |publisher=[[Infobase Publishing|Facts on File]] |isbn=978-0-8160-4946-2 |lccn=2003025841 |oclc=53901436 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last1=Piatigorsky |first1=Joram |last2=Kantorow |first2=Marc |last3=Gopal-Srivastava |first3=Rashmi |last4=Tomarev |first4=Stanislav I. |year=1994 |chapter=Recruitment of enzymes and stress proteins as lens crystallins |editor1-last=Jansson |editor1-first=Bengt |editor2-last=Jörnvall |editor2-first=Hans |editor3-last=Rydberg |editor3-first=Ulf |editor4-last=Terenius |editor4-first=Lars |editor5-last=Vallee |editor5-first=Bert L. |display-editors=3 |title=Toward a Molecular Basis of Alcohol Use and Abuse |journal=Exs |series=Experientia |volume=71 |pages=241–50 |location=Basel; Boston |publisher=[[Birkhäuser|Birkhäuser Verlag]] |doi=10.1007/978-3-0348-7330-7_24 |isbn=978-3-7643-2940-2 |lccn=94010167 |oclc=30030941 |pmid=8032155 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Pigliucci |editor1-first=Massimo |editor1-link=Massimo Pigliucci |editor2-last=Müller |editor2-first=Gerd B. |editor2-link=Gerd B. Müller |year=2010 |title=Evolution, the Extended Synthesis |url=http://muse.jhu.edu/books/9780262315142 |deadurl=no |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150918231401/http://muse.jhu.edu/books/9780262315142 |archivedate=2015-09-18 |df= |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-51367-8 |lccn=2009024587 |oclc=804875316 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last1=Pocheville |first1=Arnaud |last2=Danchin |first2=Étienne |date=2017 |chapter=Chapter 3: Genetic assimilation and the paradox of blind variation |chapterurl=https://www.academia.edu/21713421 |editor-last1=Huneman |editor-first1=Philippe |editor-last2=Walsh |editor-first2=Denis M. |title=Challenging the Modern Synthesis |location=New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-937717-6 |lccn=2017448929 |oclc=1001337947 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Provine |first=William B. |authorlink=Will Provine |year=1971 |title=The Origins of Theoretical Population Genetics |series=Chicago History of Science and Medicine |edition=2nd |location=Chicago, Illinois |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |isbn=978-0-226-68464-2 |lccn=2001027561 |oclc=46660910 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Provine |first=William B. |year=1988 |chapter=Progress in Evolution and Meaning in Life |editor-last=Nitecki |editor-first=Matthew H. |title=Evolutionary Progress |location=Chicago, Illinois |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-58693-9 |lccn=88020835 |oclc=18380658 |ref=harv}} "This book is the result of the Spring Systematics Symposium held in May, 1987, at the Field Museum in Chicago"
* {{cite book |last=Quammen |first=David |authorlink=David Quammen |year=2006 |title=The Reluctant Mr. Darwin: An Intimate Portrait of Charles Darwin and the Making of His Theory of Evolution |series=Great Discoveries |edition=1st |location=New York |publisher=Atlas Books/[[W.W. Norton & Company]] |isbn=978-0-393-05981-6 |lccn=2006009864 |oclc=65400177 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last1=Raven |first1=Peter H. |authorlink1=Peter H. Raven |last2=Johnson |first2=George B. |authorlink2=George B. Johnson |year=2002 |title=Biology |edition=6th |location=Boston, Massachusetts |publisher=[[McGraw-Hill Education|McGraw-Hill]] |isbn=978-0-07-112261-0 |lccn=2001030052 |oclc=45806501 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Ray |first=John |authorlink=John Ray |year=1686 |title=Historia Plantarum |trans-title=History of Plants |volume=I |location=Londini |publisher=Typis Mariæ Clark |lccn=agr11000774 |oclc=2126030 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Rechenberg |first=Ingo |authorlink=Ingo Rechenberg |year=1973 |title=Evolutionsstrategie; Optimierung technischer Systeme nach Prinzipien der biologischen Evolution |type=PhD thesis |series=Problemata |language=German |volume=15 |others=Afterword by [[Manfred Eigen]] |location=Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt |publisher=Frommann-Holzboog |isbn=978-3-7728-0373-4 |lccn=74320689 |oclc=9020616 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Ridley |first=Matt |authorlink=Matt Ridley |year=1993 |title=The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature |location=New York |publisher=Viking |isbn=978-0-670-84357-2 |oclc=636657988 |ref=harv|title-link=The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature }}
* {{cite book |last1=Stearns |first1=Beverly Peterson |last2=Stearns |first2=Stephen C. |author-link2=Stephen C. Stearns |year=1999 |title=Watching, from the Edge of Extinction |location=New Haven, Connecticut |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=978-0-300-08469-6 |lccn=98034087 |oclc=803522914 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Stevens |first=Anthony |authorlink=Anthony Stevens (Jungian analyst) |year=1982 |title=Archetype: A Natural History of the Self |location=London |publisher=[[Routledge|Routledge & Kegan Paul]] |isbn=978-0-7100-0980-7 |lccn=84672250 |oclc=10458367 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=West-Eberhard |first=Mary Jane |authorlink=Mary Jane West-Eberhard |year=2003 |title=Developmental Plasticity and Evolution |location=Oxford; New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-512235-0 |lccn=2001055164 |oclc=48398911 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last1=Wiley |first1=E. O. |authorlink1=Edward O. Wiley |last2=Lieberman |first2=Bruce S. |year=2011 |title=Phylogenetics: Theory and Practice of Phylogenetic Systematics |edition=2nd |location=Hoboken, New Jersey |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |isbn=978-0-470-90596-8 |lccn=2010044283 |oclc=741259265 |doi=10.1002/9781118017883 |ref=harv}}
* {{cite book |last=Wright |first=Sewall |authorlink=Sewall Wright |year=1984 |title=Genetic and Biometric Foundations |series=Evolution and the Genetics of Populations |volume=1 |location=Chicago, Illinois |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-91038-3 |lccn=67025533 |oclc=246124737 |ref=harv}}
{{Refend}}
 
== Further reading ==
{{further|Bibliography of biology}}
{{Library resources box
|onlinebooks=yes
|by=no
|lcheading=Evolution (Biology)
|label=Evolution
}}
{{refbegin}}
 
'''Introductory reading'''
* {{cite book |editor1-last=Barrett |editor1-first=Paul H. |editor2-last=Weinshank |editor2-first=Donald J. |editor3-last=Gottleber |editor3-first=Timothy T. |year=1981 |title=A Concordance to Darwin's Origin of Species, First Edition |location=Ithaca, New York |publisher=[[Cornell University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8014-1319-3 |lccn=80066893 |oclc=610057960}}
* {{cite book |last=Carroll |first=Sean B. |year=2005 |title=Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The New Science of Evo Devo and the Making of the Animal Kingdom |others=illustrations by Jamie W. Carroll, Josh P. Klaiss, Leanne M. Olds |edition=1st |location=New York |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-06016-4 |lccn=2004029388 |oclc=57316841}}
* {{cite book |last1=Charlesworth |first1=Brian |authorlink1=Brian Charlesworth |last2=Charlesworth |first2=Deborah |authorlink2=Deborah Charlesworth |year=2003 |title=Evolution: A Very Short Introduction |series=Very Short Introductions |location=Oxford; New York |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-280251-4 |lccn=2003272247 |oclc=51668497}}
* {{cite book |last=Gould |first=Stephen Jay |year=1989 |title=Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History |edition=1st |location=New York |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-02705-1 |lccn=88037469 |oclc=18983518|title-link=Wonderful Life (book) }}
* {{cite book |last=Jones |first=Steve |authorlink=Steve Jones (biologist) |year=1999 |title=Almost Like a Whale: The Origin of Species Updated |location=London; New York |publisher=[[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] |isbn=978-0-385-40985-8 |lccn=2002391059 |oclc=41420544|title-link=Almost Like a Whale }}
** {{cite book |last=Jones |first=Steve |year=2000 |title=Darwin's Ghost: The Origin of Species Updated |edition=1st |location=New York |publisher=[[Random House]] |isbn=978-0-375-50103-6 |lccn=99053246 |oclc=42690131 |author-mask=2}} American version.
* {{cite book |last=Mader |first=Sylvia S. |title=Biology |year=2007 |others=Significant contributions by Murray P. Pendarvis |edition=9th |location=Boston, Massachusetts |publisher=[[McGraw-Hill Education|McGraw-Hill Higher Education]] |isbn=978-0-07-246463-4 |lccn=2005027781 |oclc=61748307}}
* {{cite book |last=Maynard Smith |first=John |year=1993 |title=The Theory of Evolution |edition=Canto |location=Cambridge; New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-45128-4 |lccn=93020358 |oclc=27676642|title-link=The Theory of Evolution }}
* {{cite book |last=Pallen |first=Mark J. |year=2009 |title=The Rough Guide to Evolution |series=Rough Guides Reference Guides |location=London; New York |publisher=[[Rough Guides]] |isbn=978-1-85828-946-5 |lccn=2009288090 |oclc=233547316}}
 
'''Advanced reading'''
* {{cite book |last1=Barton |first1=Nicholas H. |authorlink1=Nick Barton |last2=Briggs |first2=Derek E.G. |authorlink2=Derek Briggs |last3=Eisen |first3=Jonathan A. |authorlink3=Jonathan Eisen |last4=Goldstein |first4=David B. |last5=Patel |first5=Nipan H. |year=2007 |title=Evolution |location=Cold Spring Harbor, New York |publisher=Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press |isbn=978-0-87969-684-9 |lccn=2007010767 |oclc=86090399 |display-authors=3}}
* {{cite book |last1=Coyne |first1=Jerry A. |last2=Orr |first2=H. Allen |authorlink2=H. Allen Orr |year=2004 |title=Speciation |location=Sunderland, Massachusetts |publisher=Sinauer Associates |isbn=978-0-87893-089-0 |lccn=2004009505 |oclc=55078441}}
* {{cite book |last1=Bergstrom |first1=Carl T. |authorlink1=Carl Bergstrom |last2=Dugatkin |first2=Lee Alan |year=2012 |title=Evolution |edition=1st |location=New York |publisher=W.W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-91341-5 |lccn=2011036572 |oclc=729341924}}
* {{cite book |last=Gould |first=Stephen Jay |year=2002 |title=The Structure of Evolutionary Theory |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-00613-3 |lccn=2001043556 |oclc=47869352}}
* {{cite book |editor-last1=Hall |editor-first1=Brian K. |editor-last2=Olson |editor-first2=Wendy |year=2003 |title=Keywords and Concepts in Evolutionary Developmental Biology |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-00904-2 |lccn=2002192201 |oclc=50761342}}
* {{cite book |last=Kauffman |first=Stuart A. |authorlink1=Stuart Kauffman |year=1993 |title=The Origins of Order: Self-organization and Selection in Evolution |url=https://books.google.com/?id=lZcSpRJz0dgC&printsec=frontcover |location=New York; Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-507951-7 |lccn=91011148 |oclc=895048122}}
* {{cite book |last1=Maynard Smith |first1=John |last2=Szathmáry |first2=Eörs |authorlink2=Eörs Szathmáry |year=1995 |title=The Major Transitions in Evolution |location=Oxford; New York |publisher=W.H. Freeman Spektrum |isbn=978-0-7167-4525-9 |lccn=94026965 |oclc=30894392|title-link=The Major Transitions in Evolution }}
* {{cite book |last=Mayr |first=Ernst |year=2001 |title=What Evolution Is |location=New York |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-04426-9 |lccn=2001036562 |oclc=47443814}}
* {{cite book |last=Minelli |first=Alessandro |authorlink=Alessandro Minelli |year=2009 |title=Forms of Becoming: The Evolutionary Biology of Development |others=Translation by Mark Epstein |location=Princeton, New Jersey; Oxford |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |isbn=978-0-691-13568-7 |lccn=2008028825 |oclc=233030259}}
{{refend}}
 
== External links ==
<!-- IMPORTANT! Please do not add any links before discussing them on the talk page. -->
{{Spoken Wikipedia|Evolution.ogg|2005-04-18}} <!-- updated changed sections 2005-04-18 -->
{{Sister project links|evolution|voy=no}}
;General information
* {{In Our Time|"Evolution"|p00545gl}}
* {{cite journal |url=https://www.newscientist.com/topic/evolution |title=Evolution |journal=[[New Scientist]] |issn= 0262-4079 |accessdate=2011-05-30}}
* {{cite web |url=http://nationalacademies.org/evolution/ |title=Evolution Resources from the National Academies |publisher=[[National Academy of Sciences]] |location=Washington, DC |accessdate=2011-05-30}}
* {{cite web |url=http://evolution.berkeley.edu/ |title=Understanding Evolution: your one-stop resource for information on evolution |publisher=[[University of California, Berkeley]] |location=Berkeley, California |accessdate=2011-05-30}}
* {{cite web |url=https://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/darwin/textonly/index.jsp |title=Evolution of Evolution – 150 Years of Darwin's 'On the Origin of Species' |publisher=[[National Science Foundation]] |location=Arlington County, Virginia |accessdate=2011-05-30}}
* {{cite web |url=http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-evolution-timeline-interactive |title=Human Evolution Timeline Interactive |publisher=[[Smithsonian Institution]], [[National Museum of Natural History]] |accessdate=2018-07-14|date=2010-01-28 }} Adobe Flash required.
;Experiments concerning the process of biological evolution
* {{cite web |url=http://myxo.css.msu.edu/index.html |title=Experimental Evolution |last=Lenski |first=Richard E |authorlink=Richard Lenski |publisher=[[Michigan State University]] |location=East Lansing, Michigan |accessdate=2013-07-31}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Chastain |first1=Erick |last2=Livnat |first2=Adi |last3=Papadimitriou |first3=Christos |authorlink3=Christos Papadimitriou |last4=Vazirani |first4=Umesh |authorlink4=Umesh Vazirani |date=July 22, 2014 |title=Algorithms, games, and evolution |url=http://www.pnas.org/content/111/29/10620.full |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.]] |volume=111 |issue=29 |pages=10620–10623 |bibcode=2014PNAS..11110620C |doi=10.1073/pnas.1406556111 |pmid=24979793 |issn=0027-8424 |accessdate=2015-01-03|pmc=4115542}}
;Online lectures
* {{cite web |url=https://online-learning.harvard.edu/course/evolution-matters-lecture-series-0 |title=Evolution Matters Lecture Series |website=Harvard Online Learning Portal |publisher=[[Harvard University]] |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171218132454/https://online-learning.harvard.edu/course/evolution-matters-lecture-series-0 |archive-date=2017-12-18 |dead-url=no |accessdate=2018-07-15}}
* {{cite web |url=https://oyc.yale.edu/ecology-and-evolutionary-biology/eeb-122 |title=EEB 122: Principles of Evolution, Ecology and Behavior |last=Stearns |first=Stephen C |authorlink=Stephen C. Stearns |website=[[Open Yale Courses]] |publisher=[[Yale University]] |location=New Haven, Connecticut |accessdate=2018-07-14 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201233654/https://oyc.yale.edu/ecology-and-evolutionary-biology/eeb-122 |dead-url=no |archivedate=2017-12-01 |df= }}
 
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[[Category:Biology theories]]
[[Category:Evolutionary biology|*]]
[[Category:Evolution| ]]
{{redirige aquí|Evolución}}
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