Question

Name two types of evidence used to support the theory of evolution

Answer 1

The theory of evolution was proposed by Charles Darwin. He was also the scientist who proposed natural selection, which supported his theory of evolution. Natural selection is a theory that states that over time, the animals with the traits that are best for their adaptation to their environment will survive, so the animals with the less useful traits will die out until the species only has the best trait. This means an animal will change over time to become more suited to its environment. Darwin noticed this is species of finches on nearby islands. I don't know of a second reason, but I hope this helps!

Answer 2

thank you emilycs713

Answer 3

fossil records show signs of evolution. Similarities between related organisms, along with DNA testing can help support the theory of evolution as well. There are however more types of evidence that can answer this question. I just chose the ones that I think were best :)

Answer 4

thank you that did help

Answer 5

@$Ryan$ @emilycs713 Natural selection does not state anything about the "best adaptation". Natural selection means organisms with the highest fitness will contribute more to the gene pool of a population/species and that the biased nature of this means that the trait(s) associated with the highest fitness will tend to, but not always, increase in the population/species over time.

Fitness is the ability of an organism to reproduce and have offspring that are viable. Let's look at a made-up, extremely exaggerated example: If for some reason mules (hybrid between horse and donkey) are able to digest food 100x more efficiency than either horse and donkeys we would assume that under the trait-centric statement above that mules would become dominant. Here is the problem with that, mules have a fitness of zero because they are sterile.

Now, this is an insanely exaggerated example but it does apply to all populations/species. The point is that despite what many people say, evolution and natural selection are not a process that generates the best adapted—it produces the most fit. A very fine difference, but a fundamental one.

Answer 6

how long did it take you to type all that and thank you for doing it.

Answer 7

@$Ryan$ Oh, not too long. I am watching a movie with my fiance or I would have had it done faster. I am a 5th year PhD student and I focus on evolutionary systematics and systematic ecology of the Boletales (Agaricomycotineae, Fungi). I mostly deal in phylogenetic methods to understand evolution of habitat, fruiting body morphology and nutritional mode in the order. So I am well versed in evolution.