Evidence for Evolution

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Evolution is the theory that species change over
time. New species form from existing species through
variation and natural selection. The evolutionary
process is very slow and the transformation of one
species into another requires
thousands of years

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 Evolution refers to the cumulative change in a
population of organisms over time. Several
evidences are used to prove evolution and
somehow reconstruct how this process occur.
Fossil Records
Fossils are mineralized/hardened traces of dead organisms most
commonly found in layers of sedimentary rocks. Fossils are formed when
organisms, footprints, or burrows are buried in sand or sediment. After a
period of time, these sedimentary layers become rock. Many years later,
geologic forces may expose these layers and fossilized remains. The
fossils and the order in which fossils appear are called fossil record. It
provides evidence of when organisms lived on Earth, how species have
evolved, and how some species have gone extinct. It also shows how
environmental conditions of Earth may have changed over time. 4
Relative dating and absolute dating methods are used to
determine the age of fossils. Relative dating determines
whether the fossil is older or younger than the other fossils
found in the stratified rock layers. Absolute dating
determines the actual age of fossil based on the decay rate
of certain radioactive isotope. Carbon 14 is used to
determine the age of fossils fewer than 50 000 years old.

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Comparative Anatomy
Comparative anatomy is the study of the similarities and differences in the
structures of different species.
1. Homologous structures are structures that are similar in related
organisms because they were inherited from a common ancestor. These
structures may or may not have the same function in the descendants.
Hands that can manipulate objects, cat’s front leg can run very fast,
flippers of a whale for swimming and wings of bat for flying are made up
of same skeletal structure.
2. Analogous structures are structures that are similar in unrelated
organisms. The structures are the same and serve the same function. The
flippers of dolphins, wings of penguins, and fins of sharks for swimming
3. Vestigial structures are structures that have no function. Vestigial organs
are often homologous to organs that are useful in other species. The wisdom
tooth and appendix for humans. 6
Similarity of Embryos
An embryo is an unborn (unhatched) animal in its earliest phases.
Notice that all the embryos have gill slits. The gill slits develop into
gills in fish and disappear in the chicken, pig and human before
birth. The embryos look similar to each other in very early stages
but none of them look like their adult forms. These early similarities
are evidence that all vertebrates share a common ancestor.

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Biochemical Evidence
Biochemistry reveals similarities between organisms of different
species. Closely-related species will show more similarities in the
amino acid sequences of their proteins. It reflects the nucleotide
sequence of the gene coding for that protein. If the genes of
several species are compared, closely-related species would show
more similarities in their nucleotide sequences that distantly-related
species..

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Geographical Evidence
The geographical distribution of organisms also revealed
something about how organism evolved in their natural
environments. Aside from understanding where species live,
biogeography also tries to examine what led to the worldwide
distribution patterns on species on the planet. One most common
knowledge is the Continental Drift Theory that states that as
bigger solid rock called plates move, continents move with them
and species were distributed in the process.

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Origin and Extinction
of Species
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 Divergent Evolution
Divergent evolution occurs when closely related
species divert to new habitats often as a result of
diverging lifestyles, ultimately producing distinct
species. A classic example is the evolution of
humans and apes came from a common
primate ancestor.
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 Convergent Evolution
In convergent evolution, groups of distantly
related lineages tend to evolve similar
structures as adaptations to a similar habitat or
way of life. Flippers of whales (mammal) or fins
of sharks (fish) shared an analogous trait but
different in morphological ancestry.
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 Adaptive Radiation
This occurs when ancestral species invades a new
territory with no known competitors allowing it to
exploit the resources of the said environment and
occupy a specific niche. The colorful birds that
inhabited the Hawaiian Islands are the original bird
species radiated into different kinds all adapted to
different types of food as seen from the evolution
of their beak structure.
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 Coevolution
Coevolution is observed in predatory-prey
relationships as well as those species with
very close interspecific interactions such as
mutualism and competition.

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 All life on earth can be traced back to its evolutionary
existence through a common ancestor. The tree of life
concept was first proposed by Charles Darwin in his book
the On the Origin of Species which he used the tree as an
analogy to demonstrate that all of the species originated
from one or two species.

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 A phylogenetic tree is an illustration or a diagram used to visually
present the evolutionary relationships among groups of organisms. It
focuses on key characters that some organisms share because they have
inherited them from a common ancestor.

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A cladogram is a branching diagram used to represent hypothetical
relationship between groups of animals called phylogeny. It is used by
scientist to visualize the groups of organisms being compared, how are they
related and their most common ancestors.
It consists of organisms being studied, lines and nodes where those line
cross. The line represents evolutionary time or a series of organisms that
lead to the population it connects to. Nodes represent common ancestors
between species. Some cladograms show longer lines meaning more
evolutionary time, show extinct species while other omit them.

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