Arguing for Evolution: An Encyclopedia for Understanding Science

346 Pages·2011·4.37 MB·English

by  Sehoya Cotner

Arguing for Evolution

Arguing for Evolution
AN ENCYCLOPEDIA FOR
UNDERSTANDING SCIENCE
Sehoya Cotner and Randy Moore
Copyright 2011 by Sehoya Cotner and Randy Moore
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for
the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in
writing from the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Cotner, Sehoya.
Arguing for evolution : an encyclopedia for understanding science /
Sehoya Cotner and Randy Moore.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-313-35947-7 (hardcopy : alk. paper) —
ISBN 978-0-313-35948-4 (ebook)
1. Evolution (Biology) 2. Natural selection. I. Moore, Randy.
II. Title.
QH366.2.C735 2011
576.8—dc22 2011009608
ISBN: 978-0-313-35947-7
EISBN: 978-0-313-35948-4
15 14 13 12 11 1 2 3 4 5
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Every reasonable effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright
materials in this book, but in some instances this has proven impossible.
The authors and publisher will be glad to receive information leading to
more complete acknowledgments in subsequent printings of the book
and in the meantime extend their apologies for any omissions.
For Jim, with love and thanks . . . for the patience,
and for the fi tness!—SC
For Maryuri, Javier, and Alfredo, and the good times
we’ve had through the years in Galápagos.—RM

Contents
Quick A-Z Guide to the Evidence xvii
Acknowledgments xxi
Introduction: Evolution as a Predictive Science xxiii
1 Understanding the Natural World:
Evolution and the Process of Science 1
Defi nitions of Science and Scientifi c Theory 1
Defi nition of Evolution 2
How Evolution Occurs 3
Adaptation and Natural Selection 3
Natural Selection and Fitness 5
Proximate versus Ultimate Causation 6
Products of Evolution 7
Transitional Forms 7
Complexity 7
Extinction 8
Artifi cial Selection 8
Adaptive Radiation 8
Homologous and Analogous Features 8
Exaptations 9
Vestigial Traits 9
Evolution in Action: The Modern Threat of Antibiotic Resistance 9
Summary 12
2 Age of Earth 13
Prediction 13
Theories of Earth’s Age 14
vii
viii Contents
Scriptural Claims about Earth’s Age 14
Using Seas and Salt to Estimate Earth’s Age 18
Sedimentation Rates as a Measure of Time 19
Geological Formations as Evidence of Earth’s History 23
Earth’s Age as a Function of Temperature 25
Radioactivity and Radiometric Dating 26
Radioactivity 26
Radiometric Dating 27
What Isotopes Occur in Nature? 28
Using Radioactivity to Determine the Ages of Rocks 29
Other Radiometric Methods 33
Fission-Track Dating 33
Thermoluminescence 33
Paleomagnetism 33
Creationists’ Claims about Radiometric Dating 34
The Age of Earth 34
Summary 35
3 Fossils 37
Predictions 37
We See Direct Evidence of the History of Life on Earth 40
How and Where Do Fossils Form? 40
Is the Fossil Record Complete? 44
The Fossil Record Can Be Matched with Geologic
Evidence to Describe the History of Life on Earth 45
Fossils in the Sediments and Biostratigraphy 46
Creationists’ Objections to Biostratigraphy 49
Fossilized Invertebrates 52
Evolutionary Lineages for Vertebrates 53
The Fossil Record, “Sudden Appearance,”
and the Cambrian Explosion 55
The Fossil Record Includes Transitional
Forms Linking Different Groups of Organisms 57
Missing Links 57
Transitional Forms 58
Archaeopteryx: From Dinosaurs to Birds 58
Tiktaalik: From Fish to Land Vertebrates 60
Contents ix
Environmental Changes and Competition
Inherent in Natural Selection Produce Extinctions 63
Fossils as Evidence of Extinction 63
Cuvier’s Theory of Extinction 63
Background Extinction 65
Mass Extinction 66
The K-T Extinction 66
The Permian-Triassic Extinction 68
Human-Caused Extinction 72
Summary 75
4 Biogeography 77
Predictions 77
Darwin’s Observations of Life’s Diversity 77
Life Is Extremely Diverse, and This Diversity Is
Infl uenced by Geologic History 78
Earth’s Biodiversity 78
Biogeography 80
Early Theories of Biogeography 83
Species That Are Most Alike Usually Live Near
Each Other Geographically, Regardless of
Differences in Environment 84
Biogeography in the Age of Exploration 84
Biogeography and Geology 86
Major, Long-term Changes in the Distribution
of Life’s Diversity Are Infl uenced by Plate Tectonics 87
Continental Geography 87
Continental Drift 88
Geologic Evidence of Continental Movement 90
Paleomagnetism 92
Radiometric Dating of the Seafl oor 92
Pangaea and Biogeography 92
Tectonic Movement and Evolution 94
Different Species in Similar Habitats Often
Evolve Similar Adaptations 95
Convergent Evolution 95