Blog Post Module 2
My favorite prediction of Darwin's idea of descent with modification is that Earth and life are old. Although the term "evolution" usually refers to biological organisms, things like planets, stars, galaxies and in essence, the entire universe, continue to evolve throughout time. The changing of the universe, of course, and especially the ecosystems of the Earth, creates natural selection amongst species, which is the driving force of evolution. Whether certain mutations become beneficial for an organism depends on the environment and occurs over numerous generations. During this time, the world these animals live in may evolve as well, creating ecosystems beneficial for certain traits and detrimental for others. Record of life has dated back nearly 3.5 billion years, with the fossils of cyanobacteria being found in what is present day Australia (shown below).
Image Source: https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/bacteria/cyanofr.html
Scientists have estimated that the universe was created around 14 billion years ago and the Earth was created around 4.5 billion years ago. In essence, the universe has allowed ample time for evolution to occur. With so much life coming from the first 3.5 billion years, who knows what will we will evolve into next.
Image Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/12/10/this-is-how-astronomers-know-the-age-of-the-universe-and-you-can-too/?sh=466b37bd16d5
Other Sources
https://www.nap.edu/read/6024/chapter/3
https://www.k-state.edu/biology/p2e/evidence-for-evolution.html
I liked the explanation you gave and the images you used to back your evidence. The fact that earth and life are old is, to me, evidence enough of evolution. Obviously, based on fossil records and the like, we know that the organisms that exists now are not the same organisms that existed billions of years ago. So we must ask ourselves, how did the organisms that we currently have arise from those that once existed?
ReplyDeleteCasey,
ReplyDeleteI like how you bring up something as big picture as how the plants or universe can "evolve" along with living organisms. Also I never really thought about how bacteria could leave fossils so I think it is really interesting that you brought that up and provided a very cool picture of that!
Hi Casey,
ReplyDeleteI like that you chose this idea of decent with modification of Darwin's because I feel like not too many people did. It's interesting to think about how old the universe is and what humanity and life on Earth might evolve into next. Great images, very interesting!