Talk:Evolution

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Changes that I think need some discussions:

  • "...changing the individuals of the population of said species over thousands to millions of years."
    • Shouldn't that be many generations? For instance the time frame of fly or bacterial evolution is much shorter.
  • "Evolution by means of Natural Selection is a process in which, over many generations a species of creatures gradually changes into others."
    • That sounds more like speciation. Natural Selection can also just change the common characteristics of a certain population. For example animals isolated on islands often undergo size changes relative to the original population.
    • I think a better intro is something like this. "Evolution by Natural Selection is a process which selects for favorable survival traits. Environmental factors determine the desirability of certain characteristics, and influence the survival chances of individuals in a population. Selective pressures include (but are not limited to) food supply, predation, population density, parasites, and sexual selection by mates. Traits that poorly adapt to any of those conditions make it less likely for the possessor to breed. Over time this tends to push a population towards better adaptation for their environment."
  • I think it may be better to include this as a section under an Evolution page, and then mention other mechanisms of evolution including mutation, genetic drift and isolation .

--Jon