Patterns of Evolution

When it comes to natural selection, humans are subject to some of the same pressures, but not all of them. According to The University of California Museum of Paleontology (2010), organisms such as the beetle, face the challenge of variation, differential reproduction, and heredity, with an end result of evolution by natural selection. Humans, however, face more control over their environments; resulting in a change of evolution. A prime example of how humans control and alter evolution would be the medical technology that is now available. Certain technologies have made it possible for an individual to reproduce when they wouldn’t naturally be able to do so. There are also technologies and medication that keep people living when the odds are against them. Considering the fact that natural selection is basically the survival of the fittest, we must also consider that humans are at the top of the food chain; humans are guaranteed to survive environmental change.

There are different types of evolution. Convergent evolution is the “process of unrelated organisms evolving similar adaptive characteristics” (Pruitt &Underwood, 2006, pg. 38). An example of this would be sharks and dolphins. Sharks are fish, and dolphins are mammals, but they live in similar environments and share some of the same evolved characteristics (Pruitt & Underwood, 2006). Divergent evolution is when two closely related species that live in different territories stray from each other. As time passes, their characteristics become more different until a new species is created (Pruitt & Underwood, 2006). Adaptive radiation is an extreme case of divergent evolution. This is where several different species adapt from one ancestral species (Pruitt & Underwood, 2006). An example of this would be the honeycreeper birds from the Hawaiian Islands (Pruitt & Underwood, 2006). Coevolution is immensely important to all organisms, even humans. According to Dictionary.com (2010), coevolution is the process of...