BIOL 2400 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1.1: Synapomorphy, Ambulocetus, Estuary
30 Sep 2016
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Chapter 1: the whale and the virus how scientists study evolution. Viruses infect almost every species of animal, plant, fungus, protozoan and bacteria on earth. Viruses and whales may seem different but they are both the product of evolution. Biological evolution = any change in the inherited traits of a population that occurs from one gene to the next (ex. over a time period longer than the lifetime of an individual in the population) By understanding evolution, we can understand why the natural world is the way it is. Whales, dolphins and porpoises are known as cetaceans. Have shlike bodies but also possess many traits found only in mammals. Darwin proposed an explanation for these similarities cetaceans defended from mammals that lived on land and their lineage evolved into marine mammals through a process he dubbed natural selection. Lineage = chain of ancestors and their descendants.
