15 EVOLUTIONARY GEMS : Classic examples of Evolution
Year 2009 holds a special place in the field of Evolution as it celebrates 200 years of Charles Darwin’s Birth(12 February 2009) and 150 years of Publication of one of the greatest books “Origin of species”(24 November 2009).To celebrate these events and to create more awareness among the general public by providing evidence for evolution by natural selection,the editors of Nature(Henry Gee, Rory Howlett and Philip Campbell) came out with a compilation of some great examples of evolution.These enlightening examples were part of Nature’s issue during the last decade,which displays breadth, depth and power of evolutionary thinking and will definitely help teachers to spread the current knowledge favouring evolution by natural selection.Given the situation of schools in United states and many parts of world this effort by the editors will be most welcome,especially for for those people who are who aren’t sure about evolution -which is a majority (around 55%) according to some surveys.
The examples are divided into three parts depending on data available on Fossils, habitat and molecular process.Fossils offer exceptional evidence for evolution in action,giving us the minute details of creatures which became extinct long back.
Gems from the fossil record
1 Land-living ancestors of whales
2 From water to land
3 The origin of feathers
4 The evolutionary history of teeth
5 The origin of the vertebrate skeleton
Gems from habitats
6 Natural selection in speciation
7 Natural selection in lizards
8 A case of co-evolution
9 Differential dispersal in wild birds
10 Selective survival in wild guppies
11 Evolutionary history matters
Gems from molecular processes
12 Darwin’s Galapagos finches
13 Microevolution meets macroevolution
14 Toxin resistance in snakes and clams
15 Variation versus stability
This resource is available free from Nature group and can downloaded from their webpage by clicking HERE. Help spreading the word.
Credit : Feeding sequence of the reticulated moray eel taken by Rita Mehta at UC Davis.
Image Credit: Sebastian / FlicR
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