The Importance Of Biological Evolution Of Species

Register to read the introduction… It might also explain the location (distribution) of species throughout the planet. Naturalists can hypothesize that if organisms are evolving through time, then current species will differ considerably from their extinct ancestors. The theory of biological evolution brought about the idea for a record of the progressive changes an early, extinct species underwent. Through use of this fossil record paleontologists are able to classify species according to their similarity to ancestral predecessors, and thereby determine which species might be related to one another. Determination of the age of each fossil will concurrently indicate the rate of evolution, as well as precisely which ancestors preceded one another and consequently which characteristics are retained or selected against. Generally this holds true: probable ancestors do occur earlier in the fossil record, prokaryotes precede eukaryotes in the fossil record. There are however, significant "missing links" throughout the fossil record resulting from species that were, perhaps, never fossilized - …show more content…
Darwin faith! fully maintained this method of interpreting facts - by seeking explanations of past events by observing occurrences in present time - throughout his life31. The lucid writing style of Lyell and straightforward conclusions influence all of his work. When unearthing remains of extinct animals in Argentina he noted that their remains more closely resembled those of contemporary South American mammals than any other animals in the world. He noted "that existing animals have a close relation in form with extinct species", and deduced that this would be expected "if the contemporary species had evolved form South American ancestors" not however, if thereexisted an ideal biota for each environment. When he arrived on the
Galapagos islands (islands having been formed at about the same time and characteristically similar),