Outline of evolution

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to evolution:

A diagram showing the relationships among various groups of organisms

In biology, evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological organisms over generations due to natural selection, mutation, gene flow, and genetic drift. Also known as descent with modification. Over time these evolutionary processes lead to formation of new species (speciation), changes within lineages (anagenesis), and loss of species (extinction). "Evolution" is also another name for evolutionary biology, the subfield of biology concerned with studying evolutionary processes that produced the diversity of life on Earth.

Fundamentals about evolution

Introduction

Basic principles

  • Macroevolution – Evolution on a scale at or above the level of species
    • Speciation – Evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species
    • Despeciation – Loss of a species of animal due to its combining with another species
    • Anagenesis – Gradual evolutionary change in a species without splitting
    • Extinction – Termination of an organism by the death of its last member
  • Microevolution – Change in allele frequencies that occurs over time within a population
    • Artificial selection – Breeding used to develop desired characteristics
    • Natural selection – Mechanism of evolution by differential reproduction
      • Sexual selection – Mode of natural selection involving the choosing of and competition for mates
    • Mutation – Alteration in the nucleotide sequence of a genome
    • Gene flow – Transfer of genetic variation from one population to another
    • Genetic drift – Concept in genetics

Subfields

History

Evolutionary theory and modelling

See also Basic principles (above)

Population genetics

Evolutionary phenomena

Modelling

  • Emergent evolution – Evolutionary biology
  • Epic of evolution – Mythological narrative inspired by evolution
  • Evolution window – Narrow band of mutation step size that is conducive to significant evolutionary progress
  • Evolutionary dynamics – Study of mathematical principles in evolutionary biology
  • Evolutionary game theory – Application of game theory to evolving populations in biology
  • Evolutionary graph theory – Approach to studying how topology affects evolution of a population
  • Evolutionary invasion analysis – Mathematical modeling of phenotypic evolution
  • Largest-scale trends in evolution – Limits of increased complexity over time

Taxonomy, systematics, and phylogeny

Fundamentals

Basic concepts of phylogenetics

  • Phylogenetic tree – Branching diagram of evolutionary relationships between organisms
  • Phylogenetic network – Graph used to visualize evolutionary relationships, including reticulation events
  • Long branch attraction – Systematic error in phylogenetics
  • Clade – Group of a common ancestor and all descendants
  • Grade – Non-monophyletic grouping of organisms united by morphological or physiological characteristics
  • Ghost lineage – Phylogenetic lineage that is inferred to exist but has no fossil record

Inference methods

  • Maximum parsimony (phylogenetics) – Optimality criterion in which the shortest possible tree that explains the data is considered best
  • Minimum evolution
  • Probabilistic methods
  • Distance matrices in phylogeny – Matrices used in construction of phylogenetic trees
  • Three-taxon analysis – Cladistic based method of phylogenetic reconstruction

Current topics

  • PhyloCode, also known as International Code of Phylogenetic Nomenclature – Proposed code of nomenclature for clades
  • DNA barcoding – Method of species identification using a short section of DNA
  • Molecular phylogenetics – Branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences
  • Phylogenetic comparative methods – Use of information on the historical relationships of lineages to test evolutionary hypotheses
  • Phylogenetic network – Graph used to visualize evolutionary relationships, including reticulation events
  • Phylogenetic niche conservatism – Tendency of lineage to retain ancestral traits
  • List of phylogenetics software – Compilation of software used to produce phylogenetic trees
  • Phylogenomics – Intersection of the fields of evolution and genomics
  • Phylogeography – Subfield of genealogy
  • DNA phylogeny

Group Traits

  • Symplesiomorphy – An ancestral character or trait state shared by two or more taxa
  • Apomorphy – Two concepts on heritable traits
  • Synapomorphy – Two concepts on heritable traits
  • Autapomorphy – Distinctive feature, known as a derived trait, that is unique to a given taxon

Group Types

  • Monophyly – Taxonomic concept
  • Paraphyly – Type of taxonomic group
  • Polyphyly – Property of a group not united by common ancestry

Evolution of biodiversity

Origin and evolutionary history of life

Evolution of organisms

Evolution of tetrapods

Evolution of other animals

Evolution of plants

Evolution of other taxa

Evolution of cells, organs, and systems

Evolution of molecules and genes

Evolution of behaviour

  • Co-operation (evolution) – Evolutionary process where groups of organisms work or act together for common or mutual benefits
  • Evolution of biparental care in tropical frogs – Change in behaviour in frogs for care of offspring
  • Evolution of emotion – Study of the evolution of emotions
  • Evolution of empathy – Capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing
  • Evolution of eusociality – Origins of cooperative brood care
  • Monogamy in animals – Natural history of mating systems in which species pair bond to raise offspring
  • Reciprocal altruism – Form of behaviour between organisms
  • Reciprocity (evolution) – Mechanism favouring cooperative traits

Evolution of other processes

Applications in other disciplines

Evolutionary issues

Controversy about evolution

Religious and philosophical views of evolution

Influence of evolutionary theory

Publications and organizations concerning evolution

Books

Journals

  • Evolution – Monthly journal in the science of evolutionary biology
  • Evolutionary Anthropology – Bimonthly review journal
  • Evolutionary Bioinformatics – Peer-reviewed scientific journal focusing on computational biology in the study of evolution
  • Evolutionary Psychology – Peer-reviewed open access academic journal
  • Journal of Evolutionary Biology – Bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal
  • Journal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research – Quarterly, peer reviewed, scientific journal
  • Trends in Ecology & Evolution (TREE) – Series of review journals

Organizations

  • European Society for Evolutionary Biology – Organisation to support the study of organic evolution
  • Society for the Study of Evolution – Professional organization of evolutionary biologists
  • Evolutionary psychology research groups and centers
  • I. M. Sechenov Institute of Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry – Research facility in Saint Petersburg, Russia
  • Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology – Research institute based in Leipzig, Germany
  • Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology – Research institute located in Plön, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
  • National Evolutionary Synthesis Center – Scientific research center in Durham, North Carolina
  • Systematic and Evolutionary Biogeography Association
  • Evolutionary Informatics Lab – American engineer and intelligent design advocate (born 1950)

Evolution scholars and researchers

  • List of evolutionary psychologists
  • List of members of the National Academy of Sciences (Evolutionary biology)

Prominent evolutionary biologists

See also

  • Outline of biology
  • Biogeography – Study of distribution of species
  • Conscious evolution – Hypothetical ability of the human species to choose what they will become
  • Ecology and Evolutionary Biology – Interdisciplinary field of study
  • Effective evolutionary time – Hypothesis offering a causal explanation of diversity gradients
  • Evolutionary acquisition of neural topologies – Method that evolves both the topology and weights of artificial neural networks
  • Evolutionary anachronism – Attributes of living species that arose due to coevolution with other now-extinct species
  • Evolutionary approaches to depression
  • Evolutionary argument against naturalism – Philosophical argument
  • Evolutionary art – Art generated by an iterated process
    • Evolutionary music – Audio counterpart to evolutionary art
  • Evolutionary baggage – Currently disadvantageous part of the genome
  • Evolutionary Humanism – Life stance that embraces human reason, secular ethics, and philosophical naturalism
  • Evolutionary informatics – Pseudoscientific argument for the existence of God
  • Evolutionary landscape – Metaphor used to visualize the processes of evolution
  • Evolutionary Principle
  • Extinction – Termination of an organism by the death of its last member
  • MEGA, Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis – Software for statistical analysis of molecular evolution
  • Sloshing bucket model of evolution – Theory in evolutionary biology
  • Spandrel (biology) – Evolutionary byproduct of some other characteristic
  • Speculative evolution – Science fiction genre
  • Transitional fossil – Type of fossilized remains
General information
  • Evolution on In Our Time at the BBC
  • "Evolution". New Scientist. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  • "Evolution Resources from the National Academies". U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  • "Understanding Evolution: your one-stop resource for information on Evolution". University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  • "Evolution of Evolution – 150 Years of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species"". National Science Foundation. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  • Human Timeline (Interactive)Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History (August 2016).
Experiments concerning the process of biological evolution
Online lectures