10 Free Evolution Strategies All The Experts Recommend

What is Free Evolution?

Free evolution is the notion that the natural processes that organisms go through can lead to their development over time. This includes the appearance and development of new species.

This has been demonstrated by many examples of stickleback fish species that can live in salt or fresh water, and walking stick insect types that prefer specific host plants. These reversible traits can't, however, explain fundamental changes in body plans.

Evolution through Natural Selection

Scientists have been fascinated by the evolution of all living creatures that inhabit our planet for centuries. The most well-known explanation is Darwin's natural selection, which is triggered when more well-adapted individuals live longer and reproduce more effectively than those less well-adapted. Over time, a community of well adapted individuals grows and eventually creates a new species.

Natural selection is an ongoing process and involves the interaction of 3 factors including reproduction, variation and inheritance. Variation is caused by mutation and sexual reproduction both of which enhance the genetic diversity of a species. Inheritance refers the transmission of genetic traits, which include recessive and dominant genes and their offspring. Reproduction is the process of creating fertile, viable offspring. This can be done by both asexual or sexual methods.

Natural selection is only possible when all these elements are in harmony. If, for example the dominant gene allele causes an organism reproduce and survive more than the recessive allele then the dominant allele is more common in a population. If the allele confers a negative advantage to survival or reduces the fertility of the population, it will disappear. The process is self-reinforced, meaning that a species that has a beneficial trait is more likely to survive and reproduce than an individual with an unadaptive characteristic. The higher the level of fitness an organism has which is measured by its ability to reproduce and survive, is the greater number of offspring it will produce. People with good traits, like the long neck of the giraffe, or bright white patterns on male peacocks are more likely to others to reproduce and survive which eventually leads to them becoming the majority.

Natural selection is only an aspect of populations and not on individuals. This is a significant distinction from the Lamarckian theory of evolution which claims that animals acquire characteristics by use or inactivity. For example, if a giraffe's neck gets longer through stretching to reach prey its offspring will inherit a larger neck. The length difference between generations will persist until the neck of the giraffe becomes too long to no longer breed with other giraffes.

Evolution through Genetic Drift

Genetic drift occurs when alleles from the same gene are randomly distributed in a group. Eventually, only one will be fixed (become common enough that it can no longer be eliminated through natural selection), and the other alleles diminish in frequency. This could lead to dominance at the extreme. The other alleles are eliminated, and heterozygosity is reduced to zero. In a small number of people, this could lead to the complete elimination of recessive alleles. This is called a bottleneck effect, and it is typical of the kind of evolutionary process that occurs when a large amount of individuals move to form a new population.

A phenotypic  bottleneck may also occur when survivors of a disaster such as an outbreak or mass hunt event are concentrated in an area of a limited size. The survivors are likely to be homozygous for the dominant allele meaning that they all have the same phenotype, and thus have the same fitness characteristics. This can be caused by earthquakes, war or even a plague. The genetically distinct population, if left, could be susceptible to genetic drift.

Walsh Lewens, Walsh, and Ariew define drift as a deviation from the expected value due to differences in fitness. They provide a well-known example of twins that are genetically identical and have identical phenotypes, and yet one is struck by lightning and dies, whereas the other lives and reproduces.

This type of drift is crucial in the evolution of a species. However, it's not the only way to evolve. Natural selection is the primary alternative, where mutations and migration maintain the phenotypic diversity of a population.

Stephens argues that there is a major distinction between treating drift as a force or a cause and considering other causes of evolution like selection, mutation and migration as causes or causes. He claims that a causal mechanism account of drift allows us to distinguish it from the other forces, and that this distinction is crucial. He further argues that drift has a direction, that is, it tends to eliminate heterozygosity. It also has a magnitude, which is determined by population size.

Evolution through Lamarckism

When students in high school take biology classes, they are frequently introduced to the work of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744 - 1829). His theory of evolution, also referred to as “Lamarckism” is based on the idea that simple organisms develop into more complex organisms through adopting traits that result from an organism's use and disuse. Lamarckism can be illustrated by a giraffe extending its neck to reach higher branches in the trees.  에볼루션코리아  causes the longer necks of giraffes to be passed to their offspring, who would grow taller.

Lamarck was a French Zoologist. In his opening lecture for his course on invertebrate Zoology at the Museum of Natural History in Paris on the 17th May 1802, he presented an original idea that fundamentally challenged the previous understanding of organic transformation. In his view living things evolved from inanimate matter through a series of gradual steps. Lamarck wasn't the first to suggest this, but he was widely regarded as the first to provide the subject a thorough and general explanation.

The prevailing story is that Lamarckism was a rival to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution through natural selection, and that the two theories fought out in the 19th century. Darwinism eventually won, leading to the development of what biologists today refer to as the Modern Synthesis. The theory argues that acquired characteristics can be inherited, and instead argues that organisms evolve by the symbiosis of environmental factors, including natural selection.

While Lamarck supported the notion of inheritance by acquired characters and his contemporaries offered a few words about this idea however, it was not a major feature in any of their theories about evolution. This is partly because it was never scientifically validated.

However, it has been more than 200 years since Lamarck was born and in the age genomics, there is a large body of evidence supporting the possibility of inheritance of acquired traits. This is referred to as "neo Lamarckism", or more often epigenetic inheritance. This is a version that is as reliable as the popular neodarwinian model.

Evolution through Adaptation

One of the most commonly-held misconceptions about evolution is its being driven by a struggle for survival. In reality, this notion is a misrepresentation of natural selection and ignores the other forces that are driving evolution. The struggle for survival is more effectively described as a struggle to survive within a particular environment, which could be a struggle that involves not only other organisms, but also the physical environment itself.

To understand how evolution operates it is beneficial to consider what adaptation is. It refers to a specific feature that allows an organism to survive and reproduce in its environment. It could be a physical structure, like fur or feathers. It could also be a trait of behavior, like moving towards shade during hot weather or coming out to avoid the cold at night.

The ability of a living thing to extract energy from its surroundings and interact with other organisms, as well as their physical environments is essential to its survival. The organism needs to have the right genes to produce offspring, and must be able to access sufficient food and other resources. The organism should also be able reproduce at an amount that is appropriate for its specific niche.

These factors, together with mutations and gene flow can cause a shift in the proportion of different alleles in the population's gene pool. The change in frequency of alleles could lead to the development of novel traits and eventually new species as time passes.

A lot of the traits we appreciate in plants and animals are adaptations. For instance, lungs or gills that draw oxygen from air feathers and fur for insulation, long legs to run away from predators, and camouflage to hide. However, a thorough understanding of adaptation requires attention to the distinction between the physiological and behavioral traits.

Physiological adaptations, such as thick fur or gills, are physical traits, whereas behavioral adaptations, such as the desire to find companions or to retreat to shade in hot weather, aren't. It is also important to keep in mind that insufficient planning does not make an adaptation. In fact, failing to think about the implications of a decision can render it unadaptable despite the fact that it appears to be logical or even necessary.