BIOL1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: North Asia, Falsifiability, Biogeography
Document Summary
The evidence for evolution: phylogeny = the evolutionary relationships between organisms, usually depicted as a branching tree diagram, large numbers of people do not believe in evolutionary theory/ understand the concept. Eg: 40% of americans: the evidence is strong and multi-faceted nb: in some ways stronger than evidence for planetary motion, evolution = falsifiable. Hierarchical organization of life: species are readily classified as a result of divergence and branching from a common ancestor, ribosomal subunits of all life analyzed where most similar group together. Embryology: ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny = embryos of different creatures are all similar- indicating a common ground plan. Vestigial organs: vestigial organs = rudimentary organs with no apparent function- suggests species have evolved from ancestors where the organ was functional, examples, humans have an appendix, australian pythons have vestigial legs. Intermediate forms: we can see a link between ancestors- suggesting evolution.
