What is the modern definitions of evolution?

Question

Theory of Evolution

Answer 1

First of all, evolution is not a "theory". If evolution is a theory the world being round is a theory.

Evolution is change in the properties of populations of organisms or groups of such populations, over the course of generations. The development, or ontogeny, of an individual organism is not considered evolution: individual organisms do not evolve. The changes in populations that are considered evolutionary are those that are ‘heritable' via the genetic material from one generation to the next. Biological evolution may be slight or substantial; it embraces everything from slight changes in the proportions of different forms of a gene within a population, such as the alleles that determine the different human blood types, to the alterations that led from the earliest organisms to dinosaurs, bees, snapdragons, and humans.

Answer 2

i think evolution is

a theory with absolutely no proof, excepting billions of fossils, bacteria, finches, tortoises, pigeons, insects—all living creatures in fact–single point mutations, cellular automata, peas, the laws of physics, and common sense; aside from that, evolution doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

Answer 3

"the process by which different kinds of living organisms are thought to have developed and diversified from earlier forms during the history of the earth."

Answer 4

This page will give you some idea of traditional definitions and how they are misinterpreted:

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/evolutio...

But modern biological thinking has moved beyond a one-liner definition for such a broad theory. The modern synthesis of evolution and genetics is a combination of principles from natural selection, genetics, paleontology, comparative anatomy, and population biology to form a comprehensive evolutionary theory.

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/modern-s...

Answer 5

http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Evolution

Answer 6

Evolution can only happen during the lifetime of any one species, It cannot change one species into another. A Chimpanzee has always been a Chimpanzee, as a Gorilla has always been a Gorilla. Nothing came before them to turn them into what they are today, just as there are no pre-humans. A species , just like a person has only one lifetime on this planet. There is absolutely no evidence for all the assumptions of the Evolutionists.

Answer 7

is the process of change in the inherited traits of a population of organisms from one generation to the next. Though changes between generations are relatively minor, differences accumulate with each subsequent generation and can, over time, cause substantial changes in the organisms. Inherited traits come from the genes that are passed on to offspring during reproduction. Mutations in genes can produce new or altered traits in individuals, resulting in the appearance of heritable differences between organisms, but new traits also come from the transfer of genes between populations, as in migration, or between species, in horizontal gene transfer. In species that reproduce sexually, new combinations of genes are produced by genetic recombination, which can increase the variation in traits between organisms. Evolution occurs when these heritable differences become more common or rare in a population, either non-randomly through natural selection or randomly through genetic drift.

Natural selection is a process by which heritable traits that are helpful for survival and reproduction become more common in a population, while harmful traits become more rare. This occurs because individuals with advantageous traits are more likely to reproduce successfully, so that more individuals in the next generation inherit these traits.[1][2] Over many generations, adaptations occur through a combination of successive, small, random changes in traits, and natural selection of those variants best-suited for their environment.[3] In contrast, genetic drift produces random changes in the frequency of traits in a population. Genetic drift arises from the role chance plays in whether a given individual will survive and reproduce.

One definition of a species is a group of organisms that can reproduce with one another and produce fertile offspring. When a species is separated into populations that are prevented from interbreeding, mutations, genetic drift, and the selection of novel traits cause the accumulation of differences over generations and the emergence of new species.[4] The similarities between organisms suggest that all known species are descended from a common ancestor (or ancestral gene pool) through this process of gradual divergence.[1]

Studies of the fossil record and the diversity of living organisms had convinced most scientists by the mid-nineteenth century that species changed over time.[5][6] However, the mechanism driving these changes remained unclear until the 1859 publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, detailing the theory of evolution by natural selection.[7] Darwin's work soon led to overwhelming acceptance of evolution within the scientific community.[8][9][10][11] In the 1930s, Darwinian natural selection was combined with Mendelian inheritance to form the modern evolutionary synthesis,[12] in which the connection between the units of evolution (genes) and the mechanism of evolution (natural selection) was made. This powerful explanatory and predictive theory has become the central organizing principle of modern biology, providing a unifying explanation for the diversity of life on Earth.