ANT203H5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Chronospecies, Darwin'S Finches, Stratum
Document Summary
When so-called creation scientists dispute evolution, they generally mean macroevolution. Creationism argues that we cannot directly observe changes over millions of years and therefore cannot conduct scientific tests. We rely on some record geologic strata or stellar configurations. Evolutionary science takes what we know about microevolution and extends it to explain the long-term pattern of macroevolution. The origin of new species has been observed in historical times and in the present. Charles darwin sought to explain the basic nature of evolutionary change, believing that extension of these principles could explain the formation of new species. These matings must occur in nature and take place naturally (ie. tiger and lions mate in zoos but don"t breed together in nature). The offspring must be fertile, capable of producing further offspring. The biological species concept assumes that two organisms either belong or do not belong to the same species (no intermediate state)
