Species

Brian Switek, the author of How Giraffes Became Winner by a neck, writes about the evolution of the giraffe and its neck length. The article starts off by explaining the theories of Darwin and Wallace compared to Lamarck. In most textbook cases, Darwin and Wallace are correct, since textbooks usually only show the modern giraffe, Giraffa Camelopardalis, but in this situation, Lamarck’s theory is more correct. The example of the question would be, picture a proto giraffe looking up in a tree for…

some animals that have visible evolutions between their species. When we look at fossil records we can see the big picture of how different animals were able to adapt to their ever changing surroundings. Darwin was able to see the visible changes between his finches, but looking at fossil records of the birds he could have seen how their evolution came to be. Darwin only scratched the surface, he was unable to see the major changes between species since he could not look at the fossils of passed…

During a series of ecological disasters including an ice age and a period of extensive solar radiation, the tardigrade, one of nature’s “extremophiles”, was able to evolve physically to the extent where the microscopic organism can decrease its metabolism to a miniscule amount making it able to survive whatever conditions it faces. As it is unknown to how the tardigrade was able to evolve to that extent, a plausible answer is contingency, a theory that evolution sometimes occurs by chance.…

Species go through several adaptations and variation genetically that fit their living conditions. In fact, scientific method emphasizes that a single answer cannot depict the whole picture of the biological evolution. The reproductive barriers and the spread…

The genetic differences or the changes on genes are modified through mechanisms such as mutation, gene flow, genetic drift, and natural selection. How variation or heredity effects in evolution by the process of natural selection or how different species can affect each other's evolution through coevolution can…

Animals and humans seem to be a completely different species. Growing up, children are taught that animals are entirely unlike humans, and that they are an inferior species even though humans evolved from apes and chimpanzees. However, we are not very different. Humans need nutrients to survive; animals need food as well. Water is a necessity for animals and humans alike. Both have an intrinsic need to procreate in order to keep the species going. Nonetheless, there is one essential difference.…

The Great Barrier Reef (GBR) is home to hundreds of species of coral, fish, and other animals. Its total area is roughly the same as that of Italy or Germany. As the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem, the GBR supports more species per unit area than any other marine ecosystem. The reef also contributes around 6 billion dollars annually to Australia’s economy. However, the reef is under considerable stress due to a recently increasing trend in sea temperature, ocean acidification, sea level,…

The earth contains a massive amount of biodiversity, like other animals on this planet, humans are just a member of the animal species. We tend to think or see ourselves as more superior to other living organisms because we have special features that allow us to function somewhat different from the rest of the animals. But still we are not different from the other animals, especially our closest living primate relatives, the bonobos and chimpanzees. To understand ourselves and what our place in…

Title: To investigate the reproductive structures of the plants and to understand its importance in the survival of plant species. Introduction: Angiosperms are the dominant form of plant life in most terrestrial ecosystems, comprising about 90 percent of all plant species. Most crop and ornamental plants are angiosperms. Their success results, in part, from two innovative structures: the flower and the fruit. Flowers are derived evolutionarily from modified leaves. The main parts of a flower…

Millepora is just one of the many types of coral species in the world that are affected by coral bleaching. As the previous section looked at the organismal level of these particular species, this section will now take the perspective at the population level. Population ecology is defined in the book of Environmental Science as “ the study of factors that cause populations to increase or decrease” ( Friedland 151). These factors may include what enables species to thrive in a certain…