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Evolution Myths and Misconceptions Individuals Evolve • WRONG – Why is this wrong? • Change can only be measured in a population when the particular adaptation becomes more common. – EX: peppered moths • Just because one individual has a new adaptation does not mean that they have evolved – Adaptation may not be useful – Adaptation does not give reproductive advantage – Adaptation may not be heritable • CORRECT: POPULATIONS Evolve Evolution Produces Perfection • WRONG – Why is this wrong? – No organism is perfectly adapted – Every adaptation has a cost and a benefit • EX: Turtle shell • CORRECT: Organisms are not perfectly adapted. Evolution can produce brand new adaptations from nothing. • WRONG – Why is this wrong? • Evolution and natural selection can only work on genes that are present in the population; it cann not produce new adaptations • Evolution “tinkers”. It remodels old adaptations which are beneficial in changing environments – EX: human limbs and vestigial organs • Correct: Evolution is best described as descent with modification. In other words, evolution remodels old adaptations. More Evolved Equals Better • WRONG – Why is this wrong? • Any living species is alive because it has survived in it’s environment and reproduced • “Recently” evolved species are not “better” because they are “newer” • EX: Bacteria vs. Humans—Who will be more successful? • CORRECT: New species are NOT better than older species. Evolution has a Purpose for Every Organism • WRONG – Why is this wrong? • How evolution acts upon an organism depends on the environment AT THE TIME • Useful adaptations in one environment can be useless in another – EX: Polar bears, white rabbits, albinos, Darwin’s finches • An organism’s phenotype is determined randomly (due to laws of segregation and independent assortment and crossing over. – Natural selection selects phenotypes that give organisms a reproductive advantage. If the environment changes, the adaptation may be useless. • CORRECT: Evolution is situational. Organisms do not have adaptations because they “need” them. What is the Misconception? • Humans are better adapted to survive on Earth because we are very complex organisms. • The ancestors of birds grew feathers because they wanted to fly. • If a cow produces more and more nutritious milk than others in the herd, it has evolved. • Humans represent the best adaptations that evolution has produced. • Human adaptations will work in any environment.