Evolution ¶ Evolución
Science is the poetry of reality.
Richard Dawkins
«Entre todas las cosas que conoce la ciencia, la evolución es tan cierta como cualquier cosa que sepamos».
Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
«Entre todas las cosas que conoce la ciencia, la evolución es tan cierta como cualquier cosa que sepamos».
Richard Dawkins
La evolución biológica es el conjunto de cambios en caracteres fenotípicos y genéticos de poblaciones biológicas a través de generaciones. Dicho proceso ha originado la diversidad de formas de vida que existen sobre la Tierra a partir de un antepasado común.12 Los procesos evolutivos han producido la biodiversidad en cada nivel de la organización biológica, incluyendo los de especie, población, organismos individuales y molecular (evolución molecular).3 Toda la vida en la Tierra procede de un último antepasado común universal que existió entre hace 3800 y 3500 millones de años.45
La palabra evolución se utiliza para describir los cambios y fue aplicada por primera vez en el siglo XVIII por un biólogo suizo, Charles Bonnet, en su obra Consideration sur les corps organisés.67 No obstante, el concepto de que la vida en la Tierra evolucionó a partir de un ancestro común ya había sido formulado por varios filósofos griegos,8 y la hipótesis de que las especies se transforman continuamente fue postulada por numerosos científicos de los siglos XVIII y XIX, a los cuales Charles Darwin citó en el primer capítulo de su libro El origen de las especies.9 Sin embargo, fue el propio Darwin en 1859,10 quien sintetizó un cuerpo coherente de observaciones y aportó un mecanismo de cambio, al que llamó selección natural; lo que consolidó el concepto de la evolución biológica en una verdadera teoría científica.2
La evolución como propiedad inherente a los seres vivos no es materia de debate en la comunidad científica dedicada a su estudio;2 sin embargo, los mecanismos que explican la transformación y diversificación de las especies se hallan bajo intensa y continua investigación científica.
Dos naturalistas, Charles Darwin y Alfred Russel Wallace, propusieron en forma independiente en 1858 que la selección natural era el mecanismo básico responsable del origen de nuevas variantes genotípicas y en última instancia, de nuevas especies.1112 Actualmente, la teoría de la evolución combina las propuestas de Darwin y Wallace con las leyes de Mendel y otros avances posteriores en la genética; por eso se la denomina síntesis moderna o «teoría sintética».2 Según esta teoría, la evolución se define como un cambio en la frecuencia de los alelos de una población a lo largo de las generaciones. Este cambio puede ser causado por diferentes mecanismos, tales como la selección natural, la deriva genética, la mutación y la migración o flujo genético. La teoría sintética recibe en la actualidad una aceptación general de la comunidad científica, aunque también algunas críticas. Los avances de otras disciplinas relacionadas, como la biología molecular, la genética del desarrollo o la paleontología han enriquecido la teoría sintética desde su formulación, en torno a 1940.13 Actualmente siguen surgiendo hipótesis sobre los mecanismos del cambio evolutivo basadas en datos empíricos tomados de organismos vivos.141
La palabra evolución se utiliza para describir los cambios y fue aplicada por primera vez en el siglo XVIII por un biólogo suizo, Charles Bonnet, en su obra Consideration sur les corps organisés.67 No obstante, el concepto de que la vida en la Tierra evolucionó a partir de un ancestro común ya había sido formulado por varios filósofos griegos,8 y la hipótesis de que las especies se transforman continuamente fue postulada por numerosos científicos de los siglos XVIII y XIX, a los cuales Charles Darwin citó en el primer capítulo de su libro El origen de las especies.9 Sin embargo, fue el propio Darwin en 1859,10 quien sintetizó un cuerpo coherente de observaciones y aportó un mecanismo de cambio, al que llamó selección natural; lo que consolidó el concepto de la evolución biológica en una verdadera teoría científica.2
La evolución como propiedad inherente a los seres vivos no es materia de debate en la comunidad científica dedicada a su estudio;2 sin embargo, los mecanismos que explican la transformación y diversificación de las especies se hallan bajo intensa y continua investigación científica.
Dos naturalistas, Charles Darwin y Alfred Russel Wallace, propusieron en forma independiente en 1858 que la selección natural era el mecanismo básico responsable del origen de nuevas variantes genotípicas y en última instancia, de nuevas especies.1112 Actualmente, la teoría de la evolución combina las propuestas de Darwin y Wallace con las leyes de Mendel y otros avances posteriores en la genética; por eso se la denomina síntesis moderna o «teoría sintética».2 Según esta teoría, la evolución se define como un cambio en la frecuencia de los alelos de una población a lo largo de las generaciones. Este cambio puede ser causado por diferentes mecanismos, tales como la selección natural, la deriva genética, la mutación y la migración o flujo genético. La teoría sintética recibe en la actualidad una aceptación general de la comunidad científica, aunque también algunas críticas. Los avances de otras disciplinas relacionadas, como la biología molecular, la genética del desarrollo o la paleontología han enriquecido la teoría sintética desde su formulación, en torno a 1940.13 Actualmente siguen surgiendo hipótesis sobre los mecanismos del cambio evolutivo basadas en datos empíricos tomados de organismos vivos.141
HUMAN by Yann Arthus-Bertrand - Genesis of the film
Turn on the Closed Captions (CC) to know the countries where the images were filmed and the first name of the interviewees. What is it that makes us human? Is it that we love, that we fight ? That we laugh ? Cry ? Our curiosity ? The quest for discovery ?
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations.[1][2] Evolutionary processes give rise to biodiversity at every level of biological organisation, including the levels of species, individual organisms, and molecules.[3]
Repeated formation of new species (speciation), change within species (anagenesis), and loss of species (extinction) throughout the evolutionary history of life on Earth are demonstrated by shared sets of morphological and biochemical traits, including shared DNA sequences.[4] These shared traits are more similar among species that share a more recent common ancestor, and can be used to reconstruct a biological "tree of life" based on evolutionary relationships (phylogenetics), using both existing species and fossils. The fossil record includes a progression from early biogenic graphite,[5] to microbial mat fossils,[6][7][8] to fossilised multicellular organisms. Existing patterns of biodiversity have been shaped both by speciation and by extinction.[9]
In the mid-19th century, Charles Darwin formulated the scientific theory of evolution by natural selection, published in his book On the Origin of Species (1859). Evolution by natural selection is a process first demonstrated by the observation that often, more offspring are produced than can possibly survive. This is followed by three observable factsabout living organisms: 1) traits vary among individuals with respect to morphology, physiology, and behaviour (phenotypic variation), 2) different traits confer different rates of survival and reproduction (differential fitness), and 3) traits can be passed from generation to generation (heritability of fitness).[10] Thus, in successive generations members of a population are replaced by progeny of parents better adapted to survive and reproduce in the biophysical environment in which natural selection takes place.
This teleonomy is the quality whereby the process of natural selection creates and preserves traits that are seemingly fitted for the functional roles they perform.[11] The processes by which the changes occur, from one generation to another, are called evolutionary processes or mechanisms.[12] The four most widely recognised evolutionary processes are natural selection (including sexual selection), genetic drift, mutation and gene migration due to genetic admixture.[12] Natural selection and genetic drift sort variation; mutation and gene migration create variation.[12]
Consequences of selection can include meiotic drive[13] (unequal transmission of certain alleles), nonrandom mating[14] and genetic hitchhiking. In the early 20th century the modern evolutionary synthesis integrated classical genetics with Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection through the discipline of population genetics. The importance of natural selection as a cause of evolution was accepted into other branches of biology. Moreover, previously held notions about evolution, such as orthogenesis, evolutionism, and other beliefs about innate "progress" within the largest-scale trends in evolution, became obsolete.[15] Scientists continue to study various aspects of evolutionary biology by forming and testing hypotheses, constructing mathematical models of theoretical biology and biological theories, using observational data, and performing experiments in both the field and the laboratory.
All life on Earth shares a common ancestor known as the last universal common ancestor (LUCA),[16][17][18] which lived approximately 3.5–3.8 billion years ago.[19] A December 2017 report stated that 3.45 billion-year-old Australian rocks once contained microorganisms, the earliest direct evidence of life on Earth.[20][21] Nonetheless, this should not be assumed to be the first living organism on Earth; a study in 2015 found "remains of biotic life" from 4.1 billion years ago in ancient rocks in Western Australia.[22][23] In July 2016, scientists reported identifying a set of 355 genes from the LUCA of all organisms living on Earth.[24] More than 99 percent of all species that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct.[25][26] Estimates of Earth's current species range from 10 to 14 million,[27][28] of which about 1.9 million are estimated to have been named[29] and 1.6 million documented in a central database to date.[30] More recently, in May 2016, scientists reported that 1 trillion species are estimated to be on Earth currently with only one-thousandth of one percent described.[31]
In terms of practical application, an understanding of evolution has been instrumental to developments in numerous scientific and industrial fields, including agriculture, human and veterinary medicine, and the life sciences in general.[32][33][34] Discoveries in evolutionary biology have made a significant impact not just in the traditional branches of biology but also in other academic disciplines, including biological anthropology, and evolutionary psychology.[35][36] Evolutionary computation, a sub-field of artificial intelligence, involves the application of Darwinian principles to problems in computer science.
Repeated formation of new species (speciation), change within species (anagenesis), and loss of species (extinction) throughout the evolutionary history of life on Earth are demonstrated by shared sets of morphological and biochemical traits, including shared DNA sequences.[4] These shared traits are more similar among species that share a more recent common ancestor, and can be used to reconstruct a biological "tree of life" based on evolutionary relationships (phylogenetics), using both existing species and fossils. The fossil record includes a progression from early biogenic graphite,[5] to microbial mat fossils,[6][7][8] to fossilised multicellular organisms. Existing patterns of biodiversity have been shaped both by speciation and by extinction.[9]
In the mid-19th century, Charles Darwin formulated the scientific theory of evolution by natural selection, published in his book On the Origin of Species (1859). Evolution by natural selection is a process first demonstrated by the observation that often, more offspring are produced than can possibly survive. This is followed by three observable factsabout living organisms: 1) traits vary among individuals with respect to morphology, physiology, and behaviour (phenotypic variation), 2) different traits confer different rates of survival and reproduction (differential fitness), and 3) traits can be passed from generation to generation (heritability of fitness).[10] Thus, in successive generations members of a population are replaced by progeny of parents better adapted to survive and reproduce in the biophysical environment in which natural selection takes place.
This teleonomy is the quality whereby the process of natural selection creates and preserves traits that are seemingly fitted for the functional roles they perform.[11] The processes by which the changes occur, from one generation to another, are called evolutionary processes or mechanisms.[12] The four most widely recognised evolutionary processes are natural selection (including sexual selection), genetic drift, mutation and gene migration due to genetic admixture.[12] Natural selection and genetic drift sort variation; mutation and gene migration create variation.[12]
Consequences of selection can include meiotic drive[13] (unequal transmission of certain alleles), nonrandom mating[14] and genetic hitchhiking. In the early 20th century the modern evolutionary synthesis integrated classical genetics with Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection through the discipline of population genetics. The importance of natural selection as a cause of evolution was accepted into other branches of biology. Moreover, previously held notions about evolution, such as orthogenesis, evolutionism, and other beliefs about innate "progress" within the largest-scale trends in evolution, became obsolete.[15] Scientists continue to study various aspects of evolutionary biology by forming and testing hypotheses, constructing mathematical models of theoretical biology and biological theories, using observational data, and performing experiments in both the field and the laboratory.
All life on Earth shares a common ancestor known as the last universal common ancestor (LUCA),[16][17][18] which lived approximately 3.5–3.8 billion years ago.[19] A December 2017 report stated that 3.45 billion-year-old Australian rocks once contained microorganisms, the earliest direct evidence of life on Earth.[20][21] Nonetheless, this should not be assumed to be the first living organism on Earth; a study in 2015 found "remains of biotic life" from 4.1 billion years ago in ancient rocks in Western Australia.[22][23] In July 2016, scientists reported identifying a set of 355 genes from the LUCA of all organisms living on Earth.[24] More than 99 percent of all species that ever lived on Earth are estimated to be extinct.[25][26] Estimates of Earth's current species range from 10 to 14 million,[27][28] of which about 1.9 million are estimated to have been named[29] and 1.6 million documented in a central database to date.[30] More recently, in May 2016, scientists reported that 1 trillion species are estimated to be on Earth currently with only one-thousandth of one percent described.[31]
In terms of practical application, an understanding of evolution has been instrumental to developments in numerous scientific and industrial fields, including agriculture, human and veterinary medicine, and the life sciences in general.[32][33][34] Discoveries in evolutionary biology have made a significant impact not just in the traditional branches of biology but also in other academic disciplines, including biological anthropology, and evolutionary psychology.[35][36] Evolutionary computation, a sub-field of artificial intelligence, involves the application of Darwinian principles to problems in computer science.
