evolutionists
Natural selection proponents
Evolutionists are people who accept or advocate the theory of biological evolution—the scientific understanding that species change over time through natural selection and other mechanisms.
The term appears most often in debates between science and creationism, where opponents use it to frame evolution as merely one belief system among others: Evolutionists claim humans descended from apes.
Scientists themselves rarely use the label, since accepting evolution is simply the default position in biology.
Differential reproductive success
- survival of the fittestAdaptive advantage perpetuates species
- common ancestorOrigin point of descendants
- GalapagosEcuadorian Pacific archipelago
- finchesSmall seed-eating birds
Beagle · transmutation · sexual selection · tree of life · gradualism · Wallace · Huxley · Darwinism
Good physical shape
- traitsDistinguishing personal features
- variationChange from a norm
- phenotypeObservable characteristics of organism
- genotypeOrganism's complete allele set
reproductive success · camouflage · mimicry · gene pool · survival · specialization · coevolution · convergence
Remains documenting prehistoric life
- extinctionComplete vanishing of a species
- speciationFormation of distinct species
- phylogenyEvolutionary relationships among organisms
- cladisticsClassification by common descent
homology · vestigial structures · comparative anatomy · biogeography · embryology · missing link · Cambrian explosion · mass extinction
Divine origin doctrine
- intelligent designPurposeful cause over randomness
- social DarwinismMisapplied natural selection to society
- controversyProlonged public disagreement
- apologeticsSystematic doctrine defense
Dawkins · scientific consensus · evidence · falsifiability · peer review · academia · secularism · fundamentalism
Permanent DNA alteration
- allelesVariant forms of genes
- heritabilityGenetic share of variation
- genetic driftRandom allele frequency change
- gene flowAllele transfer between populations
recombination · chromosomes · DNA · inheritance · bottleneck · genomics · selfish gene · Mendel
natural selection
Differential reproductive success
- survival of the fittestAdaptive advantage perpetuates species
- common ancestorOrigin point of descendants
- GalapagosEcuadorian Pacific archipelago
finches · Beagle · transmutation · sexual selection · tree of life · gradualism · Wallace · Huxley · Darwinism · neo-Darwinism
fitness
Good physical shape
- traitsDistinguishing personal features
- variationChange from a norm
- phenotypeObservable characteristics of organism
genotype · reproductive success · camouflage · mimicry · gene pool · survival · specialization · coevolution · convergence · plasticity
fossil record
Remains documenting prehistoric life
- extinctionComplete vanishing of a species
- speciationFormation of distinct species
- phylogenyEvolutionary relationships among organisms
cladistics · homology · vestigial structures · comparative anatomy · biogeography · embryology · missing link · Cambrian explosion · mass extinction · stratigraphy
creationism
Divine origin doctrine
- intelligent designPurposeful cause over randomness
- social DarwinismMisapplied natural selection to society
- controversyProlonged public disagreement
apologetics · Dawkins · scientific consensus · evidence · falsifiability · peer review · academia · secularism · fundamentalism · culture war
mutation
Permanent DNA alteration
- allelesVariant forms of genes
- heritabilityGenetic share of variation
- genetic driftRandom allele frequency change
gene flow · recombination · chromosomes · DNA · inheritance · bottleneck · genomics · selfish gene · Mendel · genomes