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Macroevolution
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Macroevolution
Macroevolution comprises the evolutionary processes and patterns which occur at and above the species level. In contrast, microevolution is evolution occurring within the population(s) of a single species. In other words, microevolution is the scale of evolution that is limited to intraspecific (within-species) variation, while macroevolution extends to interspecific (between-species) variation. The evolution of new species (speciation) is an example of macroevolution. This is the common definition for 'macroevolution' used by contemporary scientists. However, the exact usage of the term has varied throughout history.
Macroevolution addresses the evolution of species and higher taxonomic groups (genera, families, orders, etc) and uses evidence from phylogenetics, the fossil record, and molecular biology to answer how different taxonomic groups exhibit different species diversity and/or morphological disparity.
After Charles Darwin published his book On the Origin of Species in 1859, evolution was widely accepted to be real phenomenon. However, many scientists still disagreed with Darwin that natural selection was the primary mechanism to explain evolution. Prior to the modern synthesis, during the period between the 1880s to the 1930s (dubbed the 'Eclipse of Darwinism') many scientists argued in favor of alternative explanations. These included 'orthogenesis', and among its proponents was the Russian entomologist Yuri A. Filipchenko.
Filipchenko appears to have been the one who coined the term 'macroevolution' in his book Variabilität und Variation (1927). While introducing the concept, he claimed that the field of genetics is insufficient to explain "the origin of higher systematic units" above the species level.
— Yuri Filipchenko, Variabilität und Variation (1927), pages 93-94
Filipchenko believed that the origin of families must require the sudden appearance of new traits which are different in greater magnitude compared to the characters required for the origin of a genus or species. However, this view is no longer consistent with contemporary understanding of evolution. Furthermore, the Linnaean ranks of 'genus' (and higher) are not real entities but arbitrary concepts.
The term macroevolution was adopted by Filipchenko's protégé Theodosius Dobzhansky in his book 'Genetics und the Origin of Species' (1937) and in The Material Basis of Evolution (1940) by the geneticist Richard Goldschmidt, a close friend of Filipchenko. Goldschmidt suggested saltational evolutionary changes which found a moderate revival in the hopeful monster concept of evolutionary developmental biology (or evo-devo). Occasionally such dramatic changes can lead to novel features that survive.
As an alternative to saltational evolution, Dobzhansky suggested that the difference between macroevolution and microevolution reflects essentially a difference in time-scales, and that macroevolutionary changes were simply the sum of microevolutionary changes over geologic time. This view became broadly accepted in the middle of the last century but it has been challenged by a number of scientists who claim that microevolution is necessary but not sufficient to explain macroevolution. This is the decoupled view (see below).
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Macroevolution
Macroevolution comprises the evolutionary processes and patterns which occur at and above the species level. In contrast, microevolution is evolution occurring within the population(s) of a single species. In other words, microevolution is the scale of evolution that is limited to intraspecific (within-species) variation, while macroevolution extends to interspecific (between-species) variation. The evolution of new species (speciation) is an example of macroevolution. This is the common definition for 'macroevolution' used by contemporary scientists. However, the exact usage of the term has varied throughout history.
Macroevolution addresses the evolution of species and higher taxonomic groups (genera, families, orders, etc) and uses evidence from phylogenetics, the fossil record, and molecular biology to answer how different taxonomic groups exhibit different species diversity and/or morphological disparity.
After Charles Darwin published his book On the Origin of Species in 1859, evolution was widely accepted to be real phenomenon. However, many scientists still disagreed with Darwin that natural selection was the primary mechanism to explain evolution. Prior to the modern synthesis, during the period between the 1880s to the 1930s (dubbed the 'Eclipse of Darwinism') many scientists argued in favor of alternative explanations. These included 'orthogenesis', and among its proponents was the Russian entomologist Yuri A. Filipchenko.
Filipchenko appears to have been the one who coined the term 'macroevolution' in his book Variabilität und Variation (1927). While introducing the concept, he claimed that the field of genetics is insufficient to explain "the origin of higher systematic units" above the species level.
— Yuri Filipchenko, Variabilität und Variation (1927), pages 93-94
Filipchenko believed that the origin of families must require the sudden appearance of new traits which are different in greater magnitude compared to the characters required for the origin of a genus or species. However, this view is no longer consistent with contemporary understanding of evolution. Furthermore, the Linnaean ranks of 'genus' (and higher) are not real entities but arbitrary concepts.
The term macroevolution was adopted by Filipchenko's protégé Theodosius Dobzhansky in his book 'Genetics und the Origin of Species' (1937) and in The Material Basis of Evolution (1940) by the geneticist Richard Goldschmidt, a close friend of Filipchenko. Goldschmidt suggested saltational evolutionary changes which found a moderate revival in the hopeful monster concept of evolutionary developmental biology (or evo-devo). Occasionally such dramatic changes can lead to novel features that survive.
As an alternative to saltational evolution, Dobzhansky suggested that the difference between macroevolution and microevolution reflects essentially a difference in time-scales, and that macroevolutionary changes were simply the sum of microevolutionary changes over geologic time. This view became broadly accepted in the middle of the last century but it has been challenged by a number of scientists who claim that microevolution is necessary but not sufficient to explain macroevolution. This is the decoupled view (see below).