Evolutionary biology
Evolutionary biology is a subfield of biology that studies how species start and change over time; or in other words, how species evolve. Someone who studies evolutionary biology is known as an evolutionary biologist.
History
Evolutionary biology became an academic subject as a result of the modern evolutionary synthesis in the 1930s and 1940s.[1] It was not until the 1970s and 1980s that universities had departments which used the term evolutionary biology in their titles.
As a result of the rapid growth of molecular and cell biology, many universities have split their biology departments into molecular and cell biology-style departments and ecology and evolutionary biology-style departments. These have absorbed older departments such as paleontology, zoology, botany and the like.
Evolutionary Biology Media
Darwin's finches or Galapagos finches. Darwin, 1845. Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the world, under the Command of Capt. Fitz Roy, R.N. 2d edition. * 1. (category) Geospiza magnirostris * 2. (
A phylogenetic tree of living things, based on RNA data and proposed by Carl Woese, showing the separation of bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes. Trees constructed with other genes are generally similar, although they may place some early-branching groups very differently, thanks to long branch attraction.
Related pages
References
- ↑ Sterelny K. 2009. Philosophy of evolutionary thought. In Michael Ruse & Joseph Travis. Evolution: the first four billion years. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. p313/4. ISBN 978-0-674-03175-3