Outline of evolution

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to evolution:

A diagram showing the relationships between various groups of organisms
See also: Index of evolutionary biology articles and Evolution (disambiguation)

Evolution – change in heritable traits of biological organisms over generations due to natural selection, mutation, gene flow, and genetic drift. Also known as descent with modification. Over time these evolutionary processes lead to formation of new species (speciation), changes within lineages (anagenesis), and loss of species (extinction). "Evolution" is also another name for evolutionary biology, the subfield of biology concerned with studying evolutionary processes that produced the diversity of life on Earth.

Fundamentals about evolution

Introduction
  • Introduction to evolution – non-technical overview of the subject of biological evolution
  • Evolution – change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations
  • Evolution as fact and theory – A discussion of the meaning and usage of the terms evolution, fact and theory

Basic principles
  • Macroevolution – Evolution on a scale at or above the level of species
    • Speciation – Evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species
      • Natural speciation
        • Allopatric speciation – Speciation that occurs between geographically isolated populations
        • Peripatric speciation – Speciation in which a new species is formed from an isolated smaller peripheral population
        • Parapatric speciation – Speciation within a population where subpopulations are reproductively isolated
        • Sympatric speciation – A process through which new species evolve from a single ancestral species while inhabiting the same geographic region
      • Artificial speciation
        • Animal husbandry – Management, selective breeding, and care of farm animals by humans
        • Plant breeding – The art and science of changing the traits of plants in order to produce desired characteristics
        • Genetic engineering – Direct manipulation of an organism's genome using biotechnology
      • Hybrid speciation – Form of speciation involving hybridization between two different species
    • Despeciation – The loss of a unique species of animal due to its combining with another previously distinct species
    • Anagenesis – Gradual evolutionary change in a species without splitting
    • Extinction – Termination of a taxon by the death of the last member
  • Microevolution – change in allele frequencies that occurs over time within a population
    • Artificial selection – Process by which humans use animal and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits
    • Natural selection – Mechanism of evolution by differential survival and reproduction of individuals
      • Sexual selection – Mode of natural selection involving the choosing of and competition for mates
    • Mutation – Alteration in the nucleotide sequence of a genome
    • Gene flow – The transfer of genetic variation from one population to another
    • Genetic drift – The change in the frequency of an existing gene variant in a population

Subfields
  • Biogeography – The study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time
  • Ecological genetics – The study of genetics in natural populations
  • Evolutionary biology – The study of the processes that produced the diversity of life
  • Evolutionary ecology – Study of how interactions among species and between species and their environment affect species through selection and adaptation
  • Evolutionary physiology – Study of changes in a population's functional characteristics in response to selection over time
  • Evolutionary taxonomy – Classification of organisms based on shared descent, serial descent, and degree of evolutionary change
  • Experimental evolution – Use of laboratory and field experiments to explore evolutionary dynamics
  • Molecular evolution – process of change in the sequence composition of cellular molecules across generations
  • Phylogenetics – Study of evolutionary relationships between organisms
  • Population genetics – Study of genetic differences within and between populations including the study of adaptation, speciation, and population structure
  • Paleontology – The scientific study of life prior to roughly 11,700 years ago
  • Systematics – The study of the diversification and relationships among living things through time

History

Evolutionary theory and modelling

See also Basic principles (above)

Population genetics
  • Population genetics – Study of genetic differences within and between populations including the study of adaptation, speciation, and population structure
  • Process
    • Mutation – Alteration in the nucleotide sequence of a genome
    • Selection
      • Natural selection – Mechanism of evolution by differential survival and reproduction of individuals
        • Sexual selection – Mode of natural selection involving the choosing of and competition for mates
      • Artificial selection – Process by which humans use animal and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits
      • Ecological selection – Natural selection without sexual selection
    • Gene flow – The transfer of genetic variation from one population to another
    • Genetic drift – The change in the frequency of an existing gene variant in a population
      • Small population size – Statistical effects of small numbers on a population
      • Population bottleneck – The effects of a sharp reduction in numbers on the diversity and robustness of a population
      • Founder effect – Loss of genetic variation that occurs when a new population is established by a very small number of individuals
      • Coalescent theory – A model for tracing the history of genetic variation
  • Variation
    • Genetic variation – The concept and mechanisms of variation in alleles of genes
      • Genetic diversity – The total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species
      • Gene frequency – The relative frequency of a variant of a gene at a particular locus in a population
      • Polymorphism (biology) – Occurrence of two or more clearly different morphs or forms in the population of a species
  • Key concepts
  • Effects of selection
  • Related topics
    • Microevolution – change in allele frequencies that occurs over time within a population
    • Evolutionary game theory – The application of game theory to evolving populations in biology
    • Fitness landscape – Model used to visualise relationship between genotypes and reproductive success
    • Genetic genealogy – The use of DNA testing in combination with traditional genealogical methods to infer relationships between individuals and find ancestors
    • Quantitative genetics – The study of the inheritance of continuously variable traits

Evolutionary phenomena
  • Adaptation – Trait with a current functional role in the life history of an organism maintained and evolved by natural selection
  • Adaptive radiation – A process in which organisms diversify rapidly from an ancestral species
  • Coevolution – Two or more species influencing each other's evolution
  • Concerted evolution
  • Convergent evolution – Independent evolution of similar features in species of different lineages which creates analogous structures
  • Divergent evolution – Accumulation of differences between closely related species populations, leading to speciation
    • Divergent evolution in animals
  • Evolution of ageing – Study of the evolutionary development of ageing processes
  • Evolution of biological complexity – The tendency for maximum complexity to increase over time, though without any overall direction
  • Evolution of multicellularity – The development of organisms that consists of more than one cell from unicellular ancestors
  • Evolution of photosynthesis – The origin and subsequent evolution of the process by which light energy is used to synthesize sugars
  • Evolution of sexual reproduction – How sexually reproducing multicellular organisms could have evolved from a common ancestor species
  • Evolutionary arms race – The competition of sets of genes, traits, or species, that develop adaptations and counter-adaptations against each other
  • Evolutionary capacitance – Hypothetical mechanism to activate and deactivate phenotypic effect of accumulated genetic variation
  • Evolutionary fauna
  • Evolutionary pressure – Any cause that reduces reproductive success in a proportion of a population
  • Evolutionary radiation – An increase in taxonomic diversity or morphological disparity, due to adaptive change or the opening of ecospace
  • Evolutionary trap – Cases in which an evolved, and presumably adaptive, trait has suddenly become maladaptive
  • Evolvability – The capacity of a system for adaptive evolution
  • Exaptation – A shift in the function of a trait during evolution
  • Extinction – Termination of a taxon by the death of the last member
  • Fitness (biology) – Expected reproductive success
    • Inclusive fitness – A measure of evolutionary success based on the number of offspring the individual supports
      • Kin selection – The evolutionary strategy that favours the reproductive success of an organism's relatives, even at a cost to the organism's own survival and reproduction
    • Reproductive success – The passing of genes on to the next generation in a way that they too can pass on those genes
  • Genetic recombination – The production of offspring with combinations of traits that differ from those found in either parent
  • Horizontal gene transfer in evolution – The evolutionary consequences of transfer of genetic material between organisms of different taxa
  • Human evolution (origins of society and culture)
  • Inversion (evolutionary biology) – Hypothesis that during the course of chordate evolution, the structures along the dorsoventral axis have taken on an orientation opposite that of the ancestral form
  • Mosaic evolution – Evolution of characters at various rates both within and between species
  • Parallel evolution – Similar development of a trait in distinct species that are not closely related, in response to similar evolutionary pressure
  • Quantum evolution – Evolution where transitional forms are particularly unstable and do not last long
  • Recurrent evolution – The repeated evolution of a particular character
  • Robustness (evolution)
  • Speciation – Evolutionary process by which populations evolve to become distinct species

Modelling
  • Emergent evolution – The hypothesis that, in the course of evolution, some entirely new properties, such as mind and consciousness, appear at certain critical points
  • Epic of evolution – A narrative that blends religious and scientific views of cosmic, biological and sociocultural evolution in a mythological manner
  • Evolution window – A narrow band of mutation step size that is conducive to significant evolutionary progress
  • Evolutionary dynamics – The study of the mathematical principles according to which biological organisms and cultural ideas evolve
  • Evolutionary game theory – The application of game theory to evolving populations in biology
  • Evolutionary graph theory – An approach to studying how topology affects evolution of a population
  • Evolutionary invasion analysis – Mathematical modeling techniques that use differential equations to study the long-term evolution of traits in asexually reproducing populations
  • Largest-scale trends in evolution – The low end minimum limit for complexity of living organisms may result in a general gradual trend for increased complexity over time

Taxonomy, systematics, and phylogeny

Fundamentals
  • Taxonomy – Science of naming, defining and classifying organisms
  • Systematics – The study of the diversification and relationships among living things through time
    • Cladogram – A diagram used to show relations among groups of organisms with common origins
    • Phylogenetic tree – Branching diagram of evolutionary relationships between organisms
  • Phylogenetics – Study of evolutionary relationships between organisms
    • Cladistics – A method of biological systematics in evolutionary biology
    • Computational phylogenetics – The application of computational algorithms, methods, and programs to phylogenetic analyses
    • Common descent – Characteristic of a group of organisms with a common ancestor
    • Evidence of common descent – Evidence that a given group of organisms have a common ancestor, and therefore that evolution has taken place.
    • Evolutionary grade – Non-monophyletic grouping of organisms united by morphological or physiological characteristics
    • Lineage (evolution) – Sequence of populations, organisms, cells, or genes that form a line of descent
    • Molecular phylogenetics – The branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences
    • Most recent common ancestor – Most recent individual from which all organisms in a group are directly descended

Basic concepts of phylogenetics
  • Phylogenetic tree – Branching diagram of evolutionary relationships between organisms
  • Phylogenetic network
  • Long branch attraction – A form of systematic error whereby distantly related lineages are incorrectly inferred to be closely related
  • Clade – A group of organisms that consists of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants
  • Grade – Non-monophyletic grouping of organisms united by morphological or physiological characteristics
  • Ghost lineage – A phylogenetic lineage that is inferred to exist but has no fossil record.

Inference methods

Current topics

Group Traits
  • Symplesiomorphy – An ancestral character or trait state shared by two or more taxa
  • Apomorphy – A shared characteristic that differs from the earlier ancestors that distinguishes a clade from other organisms
  • Synapomorphy – A shared characteristic that differs from the earlier ancestors that distinguishes a clade from other organisms
  • Autapomorphy – A distinctive feature, known as a derived trait, that is unique to a given taxon

Group Types
  • Monophyly – Property of a group of including all taxa descendant from a common ancestral species
  • Paraphyly – Property of a group which includes only descendants of a common ancestor, but excludes at least one monophyletic subgroup
  • Polyphyly – A set of organisms that do not share an immediate common ancestor

Evolution of biodiversity

Origin and evolutionary history of life

Evolution of organisms

Evolution of tetrapods
  • Evolution of tetrapods – The evolution of four legged vertebrates and their derivatives
    • Evolution of dinosaurs – An outline and examples of dinosaur evolution
      • Evolution of birds – Derivation of birds from a dinosaur precursor, and the adaptive radiation of bird species
    • Evolution of mammals – Derivation of mammals from a synapsid precursor, and the adaptive radiation of mammal species
      • Evolution of cetaceans – Derivation of cetaceans from an artiodactyl precursor, and the adaptive radiation of cetacean species
      • Evolution of horses – Derivation of horses from an ungulate precursor
      • Evolution of primates – The origin and diversification of primates through geologic time
        • Evolution of humans – Evolutionary process leading up to the appearance of anatomically modern humans
          • Evolution of human intelligence – The development of intelligence in humans and association with evolution of the brain and the origin of language
          • Human evolutionary genetics – study of differences between human genomes
          • Sexual selection in human evolution – The evolutionary effects of sexual selection on humans
          • Timeline of human evolution – Chronological outline of major events in the development of the human species
        • Evolution of lemurs – History of primate evolution on Madagascar
      • Evolution of sirenians – Development from a Tethytherian ancestor and radiation of species
    • Evolution of reptiles – The origin and diversification of reptiles through geologic time

Evolution of other animals

Evolution of plants
  • Evolution of plants – The origin and diversification of plants through geologic time

Evolution of other taxa

Evolution of cells, organs, and systems

Evolution of molecules and genes
  • Directed evolution – A method used in protein engineering that mimics the process of natural selection to steer proteins or nucleic acids toward a user-defined goal
  • Error threshold (evolution) – A limit on the number of base pairs a self-replicating molecule may have before mutation will destroy the information in subsequent generations of the molecule
  • Evolution of DNA
  • Gene-centered view of evolution – Reasoning that since heritable information is passed from generation to generation almost exclusively by DNA, natural selection and evolution are best considered from the perspective of genes
  • Genome evolution – The process by which a genome changes in structure or size over time
  • Hologenome theory of evolution – Evolutionary view of an individual multicellular organism as a community of the host plus all of its symbiotic microbes
  • Molecular evolution – process of change in the sequence composition of cellular molecules across generations
  • Neutral network (evolution) – A set of genes all related by point mutations that have equivalent function or fitness
  • RNA-based evolution – A theory that posits that RNA is a dynamic and independent role-player in determining phenotype

Evolution of behaviour
  • Co-operation (evolution) – Evolutionary process where groups of organisms work or act together for common or mutual benefits
  • Evolution of biparental care in tropical frogs – The evolution of the behaviour in frogs in which both the mother and father raise their offspring
  • Evolution of emotion – Study of the evolution of emotions
  • Evolution of empathy – The capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing
  • Evolution of eusociality – Origins of cooperative brood care, overlapping generations within a colony of adults, and a division of labor into reproductive and non-reproductive groups.
  • Monogamy in animals – The natural history of mating systems in which species pair bond to raise offspring
  • Reciprocal altruism – Behaviour whereby an organism acts in a manner that temporarily reduces its fitness while increasing another organism's fitness in the expectation of reciprocity
  • Reciprocity (evolution) – Mechanisms whereby the evolution of cooperative or altruistic behaviour may be favoured by the probability of future mutual interactions

Evolution of other processes

Applications in other disciplines

Evolutionary issues

Controversy about evolution

Religious and philosophical views of evolution
  • Acceptance of evolution by religious groups – General review of religious attitudes towards evolution
  • Atheistic evolution
  • Conscious evolution – The hypothetical ability of the human species to choose what they will become
  • Buddhism and evolution – As no major principles of Buddhism contradict it, many Buddhists tacitly accept the theory of evolution
  • Catholic Church and evolution
  • Hindu views on evolution – Range of viewpoints about the origin of life, creationism and evolution
  • Islamic views on evolution – Islamic views on evolution are diverse, ranging from theistic evolution to Old Earth creationism
  • Jewish views on evolution – Jewish views on evolution includes a continuum of views about the theory of evolution
  • Mormon views on evolution – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints takes no official position on whether or not biological evolution has occurred
  • Theistic evolution – Views that regard religious teachings about God as compatible with modern scientific understanding about biological evolution

Influence of evolutionary theory

Publications and organizations concerning evolution

Books

Journals

Organizations

Evolution scholars and researchers

Prominent evolutionary biologists

See also


  • Biogeography – The study of the distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time
  • Conscious evolution – The hypothetical ability of the human species to choose what they will become
  • Ecology and Evolutionary Biology – University degree program title offering integrated studies in the disciplines of ecology and evolutionary biology
  • Effective evolutionary time – Hypothesis offering a causal explanation of diversity gradients
  • Evolutionary acquisition of neural topologies – A method that evolves both the topology and weights of artificial neural networks
  • Evolutionary anachronism – Attributes of living species that are best explained as having been favorably selected due to coevolution with other species that have since become extinct
  • Evolutionary approaches to depression – Attempts by evolutionary psychologists to use the theory of evolution to shed light on the problem of mood disorders
  • Evolutionary argument against naturalism – A philosophical argument asserting a problem with believing both evolution and philosophical naturalism simultaneously
  • Evolutionary art – A branch of generative art where a system generates the art with an iterated process of selection by the artist and modification
  • Evolutionary baggage – The part of the genome of a population that was advantageous in past circumstances but is currently disadvantageous
  • Evolutionary Humanism
  • Evolutionary informatics
  • Evolutionary landscape – A metaphor used to visualize the processes of evolution
  • Evolutionary Principle – A largely psychological doctrine that when a species is removed from the habitat in which it evolved, it will develop maladaptive behavior
  • Evolutionary Synthetic Biology
  • Extinction – Termination of a taxon by the death of the last member
    • Extinction event – Widespread and rapid decrease in the biodiversity on Earth
    • Human extinction – The hypothetical end of the human species
    • Local extinction – The condition of a taxon ceasing to exist in a region which it previously inhabited
  • MEGA, Molecular Evolutionary Genetics Analysis
  • Spandrel (biology)
  • Transitional fossil – Fossilized remains of a life form that exhibits traits common to both an ancestral group and its derived descendant group
General information
  • Evolution on In Our Time at the BBC
  • "Evolution". New Scientist. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  • "Evolution Resources from the National Academies". U.S. National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  • "Understanding Evolution: your one-stop resource for information on Evolution". University of California, Berkeley. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  • "Evolution of Evolution – 150 Years of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species"". National Science Foundation. Retrieved May 30, 2011.
  • Human Timeline (Interactive) – Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History (August 2016).
Experiments concerning the process of biological evolution
Online lectures
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