Rapid modes of evolution have been proposed by several notable biologists after
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
proposed his theory of
evolutionary descent by
natural selection
Natural selection is the differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in phenotype. It is a key mechanism of evolution, the change in the heritable traits characteristic of a population over generations. Cha ...
. In his book ''
On the Origin of Species
''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''),The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by Me ...
'' (1859), Darwin stressed the gradual nature of descent, writing:
:It may be said that natural selection is daily and hourly scrutinizing, throughout the world, every variation, even the slightest; rejecting that which is bad, preserving and adding up all that is good; silently and insensibly working, whenever and wherever opportunity offers, at the improvement of each organic being in relation to its organic and inorganic conditions of life. We see nothing of these slow changes in progress, until the hand of time has marked the long lapses of ages, and then so imperfect is our view into long past geological ages, that we only see that the forms of life are now different from what they formerly were. (1859)
Evolutionary developmental biology
Work in
developmental biology has identified dynamical and physical mechanisms of
tissue morphogenesis that may underlie such abrupt morphological transitions. Consequently, consideration of mechanisms of phylogenetic change that are actually (not just apparently) non-gradual is increasingly common in the field of
evolutionary developmental biology, particularly in studies of the origin of morphological novelty. A description of such mechanisms can be found in the multi-authored volume ''
Origination of Organismal Form''.
See also
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Evolution
Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...
*
Evolutionary developmental biology
*
Otto Schindewolf
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Punctuated equilibrium
In evolutionary biology, punctuated equilibrium (also called punctuated equilibria) is a theory that proposes that once a species appears in the fossil record, the population will become stable, showing little evolutionary change for most of i ...
*
Quantum evolution
Quantum evolution is a component of George Gaylord Simpson's multi-tempoed theory of evolution proposed to explain the rapid emergence of higher taxonomic groups in the fossil record. According to Simpson, evolutionary rates differ from group to ...
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Richard Goldschmidt
Richard Benedict Goldschmidt (April 12, 1878 – April 24, 1958) was a German-born American geneticist. He is considered the first to attempt to integrate genetics, development, and evolution. He pioneered understanding of reaction norms, gen ...
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Saltationism
In biology, saltation () is a sudden and large mutational change from one generation to the next, potentially causing single-step speciation. This was historically offered as an alternative to Darwinism. Some forms of mutationism were effectively ...
Bibliography
*
Darwin, C. (1859) ''
On the Origin of Species
''On the Origin of Species'' (or, more completely, ''On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life''),The book's full original title was ''On the Origin of Species by Me ...
'' London: Murray.
*
Goldschmidt, R. (1940) ''The Material Basis of Evolution''. New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press.
*
Gould, S. J. (1977
"The Return of Hopeful Monsters"Natural History 86 (June/July): 22-30.
*
Gould, S. J. (2002) ''
The Structure of Evolutionary Theory
''The Structure of Evolutionary Theory'' (2002) is Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould's technical book on macroevolution and the historical development of evolutionary theory. The book was twenty years in the making, published just two mo ...
''. Cambridge MA: Harvard Univ. Press.
*
Müller, G. B. and
Newman, S. A., eds. (2003) ''
Origination of Organismal Form: Beyond the Gene in Developmental and Evolutionary Biology''. Cambridge: The MIT Press.
*
Schindewolf, O. H. (1963) Neokatastrophismus? ''Zeits. Deutsch. Geol. Res.'' 114: 430-435.
*{{cite book, author=West-Eberhard, M. J., author-link=Mary Jane West-Eberhard, year=2003 , title=Developmental Plasticity and Evolution , publisher=Oxford University Press
*
Newman, S. A. and Bhat, R. (2009
Dynamical patterning modules: a "pattern language" for development and evolution of multicellular form.''Int. J. Dev. Biol.'' 53: 693-705
Evolutionary biology