Evolutionary Concepts Activity 6 Essay

In junior high school, I have learned the Continental Drift Theory, and my geography teacher told me there was a new theory based on the Continental Theory, i.e. Plate Tectonics. I accessed to the Internet to find the information about Plate Tectonics.

Plate tectonics is the scientific theory that attempts to explain the movements of the Earth's lithosphere that have formed the landscape features we see across the globe today” (Briney). Geology defines “plate” as a large slab of solid rock, and “tectonics” is part of the Greek root word for “to build.” Together the words define how the Earth’s surface is built up of moving plates. The theory of plate tectonics dictates that individual plates, broken down into large and small sections of rock, form Earth’s lithosphere. These fragmented bodies of rock move along each other atop the Earth’s liquid lower mantle to create the plate boundaries that have shaped Earth’s landscape. Plate tectonics originated from meteorologist Alfred Wegener’s theory, developed in the early 20th century. In 1912, he realized that the east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa appeared to piece together like a jigsaw puzzle. He further examined the globe and deduced that all of Earth’s continents could somehow be assembled together and proposed the idea that the continents had once been linked in a single supercontinent called Pangaea. To explain today’s position of the continents, Wegener theorized that they began to drift apart approximately 300 million years ago. This theory

Define evolution? A slow change of something into better form. The word evolution means change, and the process of evolution reflects this definition as it applies to populations of organisms. Biological populations are groups of individuals of the same species that are sub-divided from other populations by geography and are somewhat independent of other groups. Biological evolution, then, is a change in the characteristics of a biological population that occurs over the course of generations. The changes in populations that are considered evolutionary are those that are inherited via genes. Changes that may take place in populations due only to short-term changes in their environment are not

The Plate Tectonic Theory developed in the late 1960’s, when people noticed how continents either side of the Atlantic Ocean seemed to almost fit together. Francis Bacon, an English Philosopher was aware of this as early as 1620. Topographical and geological evidence built up and allowed Alfred Wegener to publish a theory in 1912, suggesting that the continents were once all joined together in a supercontinent he called Pangaea. Wegener proposed that at some time, the land masses had drifted apart until they occupied their current positions on the globe. There was lots of evidence to support his theory including

A German meteorologist and explorer Alfred Wegener put forth the theory of continental drift in the early 1900’s. Wegener pointed out that the earth’s continents looked as if they were all connected at one point in time. He also pointed out that some of earth’s features, including the long S-shaped mountain structure formed on the Atlantic seafloor, could fit snugly against the corresponding western seafloor of Europe and Africa (Sieh and LeVay 1998). Wegener proposed that all of the earth’s continents once formed one single landmass, which he named Pangaea or “all-land”. He concluded that Pangaea had broken up and separated due to the unidentifiable forces estimated 300 million years ago (Sieh and LeVay 1998). Geologists did not fully understand at the time that Earth’s continents could drift (Hazen 2012). After all, the continents do not float in the oceans. They are made from a solid material connecting to the mantle, a sphere of solid rock

After reading the article, “Continents Adrift”, we learn that our planet is constantly changing, and that this change has to do with continental drift. As noted on page 196, “About 250 million years ago, most of the land on Earth was clumped together. Instead of the seven continents, there was a single large landmass called Pangaea. Over time, Pangaea split apart.” The idea that the continents are drifting or moving apart has been studied by scientists since the late 1700s. For instance, scientists such as Georges-Louis Leclerc Buffon and Alfred Wegener theorized that continents were drifting apart. Although these scientists had the right idea, people did not believe them because their proof wasn’t strong enough. As more scientists

Continental drift is the gradual movement of the continents across the earth's surface over time. It explains that at one point, all the continents were stuck together as one big continent and have since drifted apart, forming the seven continents we have today. It shows how the continents have shifted position on Earth’s surface. Continental drift supports the theory of plate tectonics because the plate boundaries are where each of the continents split apart. For example, where South America broke off of Africa, there is a plate boundary that has moved around across the surface of the Earth. This is why

Alfred Wegener suggested that the continents have moved about the earth. Wegener carefully compiled evidence for continental drift that eventually became universally accepted in the scientific community. This lab also helped support the theory of continental drift. In this lab, we created a map of Earth 225 million years ago. This map indicates that South America, Africa, India, Antarctica, and Australia all used to be a part of a landmass called pangaea.

The theory of plate tectonics evolved out of the theory of continental drift. Alfred Wegener originally proposed the theory that continents move over time in 1912 after observing that many coastlines on opposite sides of the ocean appeared to match up like puzzle pieces. He formed the theory of continental drift based on evidence, such as the fact that fossils of the same species of plant or land animals are found across oceans, on different continents. Unfortunately, Wegener's theory was largely ignored in part because it did not explain how or why the continents moved. Over the next 50 years, however, scientists continued to collect evidence that suggested he may have been right. For example,

The theory of continental drift was first put forward by Alfred Wegener, a meteorologist and geologist in Germany. The theory stated that the land on Earth’s crust slowly drifted apart. Alfred Wegener formulated the hypothesis that the modern day continents were once combined about 200 million years ago. He called this supercontinent Pangaea meaning “ all-land”. Then, he claimed that Pangaea began to break up into the continents Gondwanaland and Laurasia due to the parts of Pangaea slowly drifting apart. Millions of years later, the modern day 7 continents were formed. There are 4 main pieces of evidence to support Pangaea’s existence. One piece of evidence would be that the modern continents have a puzzle-like fit. If the continents can fit together, it

Natural selection is the cause of evolution, environmental factors to determine which phenotypes are successful can be bred and pass on to the successful allele to the offspring. This means that the amount of successful alleles will increase in the gene pools be unsuccessful will decrease. As environments change so so successful phenotypes, removing unsuccessful ones from the gene pool. This is called microevolution. Microevolution will occur if there is a presence of variation in alleles variation will be from gene mutation and arrangement of genes and Gene analysis. Evolution by natural selection is a slow process as new species emerge. To Speed up this process humans begin the process of selective breeding, this is when individuals with

Darwin’s theory of natural selection is the process of heritable genes or traits passed on from each generation that is best suited for the environment it is living in and that will able survive. These genes or traits that are reproduce will continue to be passed on while other genes and traits that are not able to survive in the environment will soon go extinct. New traits will be reproduced in different environments which essentially will be “selected” for. The theory of evolution is the process by which organisms change over time (Than, 2015). In evolution there will be change in the physical and behavioral traits that are passed on to the next generations. Natural selection and evolution correlate with each other by having a domino effect. What this means is that by having natural selection it automatically will have changed the evolution process. For example, natural selection had chosen for humans to walk on two legs, so as we evolved to be the species that we are today, we now walk in an upright position on two legs instead of four like a gorilla. Evolution can happen because of natural selection in that a trait is need for survival in a particular environment, so the organism living there had to evolve and change.

The theory of plate tectonics, which use to be called continental drift, is described as the movement of the continents and sea floor across the surface of the Earth. The theory explains many odd facts about Earth’s geology, such as the present arrangement of landmasses which have stated that the Earth’s crust slowly drifts atop a liquid core. 2. What was Alfred Wegener’s hypothesis for continental drift, and why was his idea not accepted?

How do mutation, migration, and genetic drift cause the evolution of populations? Be specific and provide examples of all three cases? Genetic drift, This usually means any random things that can cause a certain gene to become more popular or less popular in a population. This may just be random mattings. Alternatively if a natural disaster just wipe out the population of one side of an area where most the population had one color of eyes leaving the overall population with a smaller percentage of that one color, the gene frequency of the population is changed ... that is evolution. Mutation, This will NOT cause evolution by itself, but only when it is combined with any of the other three. Mutation will introduces a new gene into an individual,

Evolutionary theory was developed by Charles Darwin and documented in his book ‘On the Origin of Species’ (1859). In it’s most simplistic terms it explains how and why animals, including humans, have changed and evolved over time to become the way they are. One of his more well known and supported theories illustrated in his book is the theory of evolution by natural selection. This says that within species certain individuals will hold more beneficial traits than others, these individuals will then go on to outlive other individuals who hold fewer desirable traits. They will then mate and produce offspring who will carry forward their genetics increasing the likelihood of the next generation also possessing the desirable traits. For example, during the Industrial Revolution in the 1800’s peppered moths which would usually have black and white speckles on their wings, started turning black. The increased use