About the BioLogos Forum
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The BioLogos Forum is designed to foster a serious and comprehensive discussion of Christian faith and the sciences. We believe that charitable engagement of different perspectives within the Church helps sharpen our thinking and deepen our commitment to the truth that is hidden in Christ. So while many of the articles and videos under the distinctive Forum banner come from BioLogos staff and Senior Fellows, we feature a range of voices, including those that disagree with us and with each other. Unless otherwise noted, views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of The BioLogos Foundation. You can read more about what we believe here, and join the conversation in the comments section at the end of each post.
Evolution Basics
Written by BioLogos Fellow of Biology Dennis Venema, this series of posts is intended as a basic introduction to the science of evolution for non-specialists.
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Evolution Basics: A New Introductory Course on Evolutionary Biology
The goal of this course is straightforward: to provide evangelical Christians with a step-by-step introduction to the science of evolutionary biology. This will provide benefits beyond just the joy of learning more about God’s wonderful creation. An understanding of the basic science of evolution is of great benefit for reflecting on its theological implications.
Evolution Basics: Evolution as a Scientific Theory
In common English usage, “theory” means something like “guess” or “hunch”. It means something speculative, uncertain. In science, however, the meaning is almost exactly the opposite. In science, a theory is an idea that has stood the test of time. This difference between the common usage and the scientific usage of the word is a frequent source of confusion for nonscientists.
Evolution Basics: Darwin’s Early Observations on Biogeography
For Darwin, both of these observations (that oceanic islands lacked terrestrial mammals, and that endemic species on islands were most similar to a species on the closest mainland) had the same explanation: his hypothesis that endemic, oceanic species were the modified descendants of a colonizing species from the nearest continent.
Evolution Basics: An Introduction to Variation, Artificial Selection and Natural Selection
Rather than a breeder choosing which individuals to mate, the ability of different variants to reproduce in a given natural setting would allow some to reproduce at a greater rate than others. Since their traits would be heritable, this would drive changes in traits over time in the population experiencing “natural selection”, a term Darwin coined as an analogy to human, or artificial, selection.
Evolution Basics: Artificial Selection and the Origins of the Domestic Dog
Here in the early 21st century we are beginning to see the genetic underpinnings of artificial selection at a genome-wide level, and the results are absolutely in keeping with Darwin’s ideas: that populations contain significant diversity, and that artificial selection can act on that diversity over time to promote the reproduction of certain variants over others, and thus shift average characteristics of a population.
Evolution Basics: New Genes, A New Diet, and Implications for Dog Origins
While the mutation that led to shortened legs in some dog breeds is a particularly dramatic example of a new variation arising (since it involves the birth of what is effectively a new gene), there were many other genomic regions selected during the creation of dog breeds. … the main theme is clear: small changes in DNA, combined with artificial selection, can add up to large changes in form within a population in a short amount of time.
Evolution Basics: Natural Selection and the Human Lineage, Part 1
I’ve often encountered the misconception among non-biologists that mutations are always harmful, or always remove functions and information. However, in many cases mutations can be beneficial, add gene copies, and new functions and information to the organism as well.
Evolution Basics: Natural Selection and the Human Lineage, Part 2
Variation, of course, is only one part of the recipe for evolutionary change. In order to shift average characteristics of a population over time, natural selection needs to be acting on that variation.
Evolution Basics: The Basis of Heritable Variation, Part 1
Taken together, the properties of DNA match what we observe in nature: faithful reproduction of form, but not perfect reproduction of form. At its base, constancy and heritable variation in biological populations trace back to how DNA functions.
Evolution Basics: The Basis of Heritable Variation, Part 2
Taken together, these mechanisms introduce variation into populations, and since that variation is in DNA, the variation is heritable. Variation at the chromosome level may influence the function of genes, and ultimately traits at the level of the organism.
Evolution Basics: From Variation to Speciation, Part 1
…in small populations, drift can have a large impact on allele frequencies from one generation to the next. In large populations, natural selection predominates, and drift has little impact. Both of these mechanisms can contribute to changing allele frequencies over time within populations, and as such both can be factors that contribute to speciation events.
Evolution basics: From variation to speciation, Part 2
Once separated from the larger population, the smaller “founding” group no longer received new alleles from it, nor passed new alleles that arose back to it. Despite being two populations of the same species, they were now genetically sealed off from one another, and differences in allele frequencies began to accrue between them.