Outline of evolution

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to evolution:

A diagram showing the relationships between various groups of organisms

Evolution – change in heritable traits of biological organisms over generations due to natural selection, mutation, gene flow, and genetic drift. Also known as descent with modification. Over time these evolutionary processes lead to formation of new species (speciation), changes within lineages (anagenesis), and loss of species (extinction). "Evolution" is also another name for evolutionary biology, the subfield of biology concerned with studying evolutionary processes that produced the diversity of life on Earth.

Fundamentals about evolution

Introduction

  • Introduction to evolution  Non-technical overview of the subject of biological evolution
  • Evolution  Change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations
  • Evolution as fact and theory  Discussion of the meaning and usage of the terms evolution, fact and theory

Basic principles

  • Macroevolution  Evolution on a scale at or above the level of species
    • Speciation  Evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species
      • Natural speciation
        • Allopatric speciation  Speciation that occurs between geographically isolated populations
        • Peripatric speciation  Speciation in which a new species is formed from an isolated smaller peripheral population
        • Parapatric speciation  Speciation within a population where subpopulations are reproductively isolated
        • Sympatric speciation  Process through which new species evolve from a single ancestral species while inhabiting the same geographic region
      • Artificial speciation
        • Animal husbandry  Management, selective breeding, and care of farm animals by humans
        • Plant breeding  Art and science of changing the traits of plants in order to produce desired characteristics
        • Genetic engineering  Direct manipulation of an organism's genome using biotechnology
      • Hybrid speciation  Form of speciation involving hybridization between two different species
    • Despeciation  Loss of a unique species of animal due to its combining with another previously distinct species
    • Anagenesis  Gradual evolutionary change in a species without splitting
    • Extinction  Termination of a taxon by the death of the last member
  • Microevolution  Change in allele frequencies that occurs over time within a population
    • Artificial selection  Breeding used to develop desired characteristics
    • Natural selection  Mechanism of evolution by differential survival and reproduction of individuals
      • Sexual selection  Mode of natural selection involving the choosing of and competition for mates
    • Mutation  Alteration in the nucleotide sequence of a genome
    • Gene flow  Transfer of genetic variation from one population to another
    • Genetic drift  Change in the frequency of an existing gene variant in a population

Subfields

History

Evolutionary theory and modelling

See also Basic principles (above)

Population genetics

Evolutionary phenomena

Modelling

Taxonomy, systematics, and phylogeny

Fundamentals

Basic concepts of phylogenetics

  • Phylogenetic tree  Branching diagram of evolutionary relationships between organisms
  • Phylogenetic network  Graph used to visualize evolutionary relationships, including reticulation events
  • Long branch attraction  Form of systematic error whereby distantly related lineages are incorrectly inferred to be closely related
  • Clade  Group of a common ancestor and all descendants
  • Grade  Non-monophyletic grouping of organisms united by morphological or physiological characteristics
  • Ghost lineage  Phylogenetic lineage that is inferred to exist but has no fossil record

Inference methods

Current topics

Group Traits

Group Types

  • Monophyly  Property of a group of including all taxa descendant from a common ancestral species
  • Paraphyly  Property of a group which includes only descendants of a common ancestor, but excludes at least one monophyletic subgroup
  • Polyphyly  Set of organisms that do not share an immediate common ancestor

Evolution of biodiversity

Origin and evolutionary history of life

Evolution of tetrapods

Evolution of other animals

Evolution of plants

Evolution of other taxa

Evolution of cells, organs, and systems

Evolution of molecules and genes

Evolution of behaviour

Evolution of other processes

Applications in other disciplines

Evolutionary issues

Controversy about evolution

Religious and philosophical views of evolution

Influence of evolutionary theory

Publications and organizations concerning evolution

Books

Journals

Organizations

Evolution scholars and researchers

Prominent evolutionary biologists

See also

General information
  • Evolution on In Our Time at the BBC
  • "Evolution". New Scientist. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  • "Evolution Resources from the National Academies". U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  • "Understanding Evolution: your one-stop resource for information on Evolution". University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  • "Evolution of Evolution – 150 Years of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species"". National Science Foundation. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  • Human Timeline (Interactive)Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History (August 2016).
Experiments concerning the process of biological evolution
Online lectures
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