Re: Macroevolution / Transitions

On 8 Oct 2005 14:24:15 -0700, "Jerry Sparks" <ejsparks@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

<snip>

>
>Thanks r norman for these commenst. However, I was not wanting to go
>into great detail regarding "ontogeny recapitualting phylogeny" or any
>of the other great points you brought up. My point was a much simpler
>and less involved one. Even if one argues that "all the information is
>there" (Great thought because obviously it all is) and that
>embryological development does not show ancestral pathways, the fact
>reamins the same...During the devleopment of a human being,
>transformations take place that rival any possible macroevolutionary
>changes one could imagine. Given that this is the case...Why is it so
>hard to imagine the possibility of macroevolutionary change?
>

On this point you are absolutely correct. There are truly amazing
transformations that occur during development. It is true that we
don't know all the details involved, just as we don't know all the
details involved in macroevolution. Still, we have excellent
explanations for the cellular mechanisms involved in producing these
fantastic results, just as we have excellent explanations for the
mechanisms involved in producing microevolutionary changes. The fact
that these molecular and cell biological processes can produce pattern
and organization in the multicellular organism should provide good
evidence that the microevolutionary processes can produce pattern and
organization in macroevolution. (OK, throw in general organismal
level patterns of regulation to cellular ones in development, but then
throw in ecosystem patterns of regulation into evolution.)


.

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