Evolutionary Beginnings

 

Before taking this course, I did not know that evolution occurred at both a macro and a micro-scale. However, the dependent relationship between the two was understandable. This made sense to me because microevolution isn’t happening in just one thing, it collectively occurring to everything always. Then all the changes that occur here get carried forward to other generations, and eventually turn into our past/history which is what created. As time passes the changes that have already occurred shape or constrain what evolutionary changes can be made in the future or the direction that evolution will take in species.

https://youtu.be/M8V_glRW1hA

Before the video began, I assumed that the Earth’s history would be broken into yard sections, and I was very surprised when the video started that it was broken into inches across the football field. It also amazed me how long it took for oxygen to be present on Earth since it is something that we take for granted now, and I assumed I probably always been present. In the video, it also mentioned the meteor that crashed into Earth and mentioned that armadillos survived this. I found that part both intriguing and funny.

EvolutionTalk:

I really like the way they explained fitness. I thought it was fun that they changed it from survival of the fittest to “survival of the good enough.” This not only made it fun but also made it easier to understand because it isn’t that those that are superiorly better than everyone survive but that those plus those that are seemingly average have the capabilities of producing viable offspring. It was refreshing to hear an attitude that was more like you are lucky to survive rather than you were chosen to survive.