Question

Imagine a space alien, Flapper, lands on the planet, and asks about the history of life on earth. You are tasked with providing Flapper evidence of evolution, using examples from biology, and are given unlimited resources to show and tell whatever you would like that helps you explain.What are 2 different types of evidence supporting the evolutionary concept of descent with modification that you would use? Please describe how you would explain them to Flapper, using specific examples.

Answer 1

To explain this we have to understand what is descent with modification means. According to darwin species change over a period of, give rise to new species and shares a common ancestor. This evolution of new species from already existed species and sharing a common ancestor is called descent with modification.

evidence fro supporting this concept:

1. Speciation: Speciation is the evolutionary process by which two different populations of the same species evolve to become distinct species. A good example of this is study of 13 species of finches studied by Darwin on the Galápagos Islands, now known as Darwin's finches. The ancestors of all these species were the same in past but these species involved due to different habitats, diets and behaviours.

2. Homologous Structures: If two or more species share a unique physical structure, such as bone structure, they may all have inherited this feature from a common ancestor. A good example of this is bat wing, a mouse forelimb, and a human arm serving very different purposes, but having the same basic components. The similarities between these organisms arise due to sharing of a common four-limbed vertebrate ancestor.

3. Molecular Biology: Scientists often compare the sequences of related genes found in different species to figure out how these total different species are evolutionarily related to one another. The basic idea behind this approach is that these species have the same gene because they inherited it from a common ancestor. A most common example is gene of insulin hormone which is present in humans, cows, chickens, and chimpanzees and this gene are present in their last common ancestor.