Joey and Ecolog
I am the author of question 3, and the point is exactly the one made by
Smokey, with which I fully agree. There do seem to be people who seem to be
of the opinion that evolution IS progress, however. I posted this question
to a well-known evolutionary biology forum and Richard Dawkins replied in
the affirmative; when I asked for further clarification, there was no
response (except one which agreed with my point; several others were
outraged, and I ended up having to issue an "apology." David Attenborough,
in one of his excellent TV programs used the term "advance," in discussing
the matter with one of the world's top paleontologists, whom I emailed the
raw question; he responded in the affirmative, that the creatures he was
most famous for studying did "advance." When I responded by asking if he
would then conclude that the genus Homo would then be an example of
"evolutionary advance," the correspondence was terminated.
My straw polling amongst "the public" tilts strongly in favor of "progress"
or "advancement" with time, and while I'm not sure of all the sources that
have contributed to this impression, the Time-Life book "Human Evolution,"
with its famous/infamous "March of Progress" illustration beginning with a
quadruped ape and ending with an upright, apparently Aryan male. I know of
no studies that have been done on this issue, and attempting to raise the
discussion on respected websites causes more blowback than the kind of
clarity that Smokey's concise statement brings to the discussion.
Ecolog is a respected and large listserv. Will there be further comments,
either in support or in refutation of Smokey's explanation, or is this
subject one of those academic "third rails" that no one dare touch? Those
who fear posting their comments here could send Smokey and me their comments
directly if they want to avoid reprisals (the subject of reprisals for posts
reared its ugly head several months ago, and believe it or not, the emails I
received were not limited to students; I got several from professors).
On the other hand, if this subject is considered unimportant, "proper"
actions can be taken, eh?
WT
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joey Smokey" <northwestbird...@gmail.com>
To: <ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, December 04, 2012 1:51 PM
Subject: Re: [ECOLOG-L] Discussion Panel Topic Suggestions
Jason,
I strongly advise against the third question. Evolution is not
directional,
and the question is worded to suggest that it is. If the point of the
question is to dispel the idea of evolution being directional, then it
would be fine.
There are many common misconceptions of organisms "progressing" through
evolution. The most common is the typical classroom image of human
evolution moving from ape-like toward human-like over time. Transition
species in the fossil record do not suggest a progressive change from one
type of body form into another. The transition to terrestrial life is the
same way; transition species such as Tiktaalik, Eusthenopteron, and
Ichthyostega did not "march along" until they were well-adapted for life
on
land. Evolution does not craft "improved" species or "advanced" species.
It
simply results in organisms being well-adapted for their environment at a
given time.
In regards to the fourth question, ecological time refers to immediate
interactions between organisms and their environment. It does lead into
evolutionary time and the change in allelic frequencies through
generations. So, ecological interactions can and do have meaningful impact
on evolutionary trajectories of species.
I think the first two questions will lead into some good discussion.
Best of luck on your discussion panel,
Joey Smokey
WSU Vancouver
On Tue, Dec 4, 2012 at 8:37 AM, jason.strickland <
jason.strickl...@knights.ucf.edu> wrote:
Dear group,
I have compiled some of the ideas that were given to me about my
discussion panel. The response was much lower than I expected so if you
have any ideas, feel free to share those as well. Thank you to all those
that contributed.
1. Will most organisms be capable of adapting quickly enough to
respond to climate change/sea level rise to be evolutionarily relevant?
2. What impact will Genetically Modified Organisms have on the
ecology and evolution of the modified species and other species?
3. Do organisms progress/improve/advance through evolution?
4. Do ecological processes/interactions last long enough to have
any
meaningful impact on the evolutionary trajectory of a species?
Please share your thoughts on these topics or suggest others.
Cheers,
Jason Strickland
jason.strickl...@knights.ucf.edu
From: jason.strickland
Sent: Tuesday, October 30, 2012 3:59 PM
To: ECOLOG-L@LISTSERV.UMD.EDU
Subject: Discussion Panel Topic Suggestions
Dear group,
I am currently working on forming a discussion panel that will include
two
ecologists and two evolutionary biologists to discuss topics that involve
merging ecology and evolution. The discussion will be in front of 150-200
students ranging from undergraduates to post-docs (all in biology). The
panel will happen on a Saturday morning so it needs to be an exciting
discussion to hold the audience's interest and cause them to ask
questions.
I am looking for topics/questions that the two fields do not completely
agree on. The goal is to have the panel disagree on topics to allow the
students to learn and be entertained. If anyone can suggest topics or
questions that ecologists and evolutionary biologists have different
viewpoints on, they would be greatly appreciated. I have a few topics
already, but wanted to ask a larger audience to suggest topics to
determine
if there are certain topics/questions that come up frequently. Feel free
to
email me directly (jason.strickl...@knights.ucf.edu<mailto:
jason.strickl...@knights.ucf.edu>) or respond to this post with your
suggestions.
Thank you in advance for your help,
Jason Strickland
jason.strickl...@knights.ucf.edu<mailto:jason.strickl...@knights.ucf.edu>
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