Evolution Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Evolution - Term Paper Example This is unlike many treatments of evolution where readers are often confused as a result of being conflated with different definitions of the term. The decision to divide â€Å"Darwinism† into six components makes the understanding of various concepts easy (Coyne, 2009). It is indeed true that, over time, allele rate of recurrence change in an inhabitants. It is also true that different organisms have occupied the earth at different times. The critical role of natural selection is in this is also an undisputed fact. Common ancestry is received positively by a majority within the scientific field (Coyne, 2009). My reflection on common descent is that while it is a defensible position, it is not as much supported as it is made out. Consequently, the points of concern in this chapter, in my view, include the extent to which gradualism is true and the sufficiency of natural selection. The second chapter of the book is ‘written in the rocks.’ It uses fossil evidence to justify common descent. It is indeed true that fossil records show a tendency where simpler organisms precede more complex ones. This is also exactly what one would anticipate as a result of a common origin (Coyne, 2009). A feature that would be absent in Darwin’s theory, but would be the noticeable pattern of morphological difference preceding diversity (Coyne, 2009). In my view, an interesting aspect of the fossil record is that, unlike Darwin’s theory, it ranks the higher taxonomic categories first and, consequently makes them appear first in the taxonomic ranking. There are three main evolutionary transition trends specified by the fossil record i.e. fish to amphibians evolution, reptiles to birds and whales to terrestrial mammals evolution (Coyne, 2009). Accordingly, there are three important insights that emerge from the fossil record. Firstly is that the fossil spells out the evolution process (Coyne, 2009). The records within rocks provide a great deal of