Evolution, Theory Of Evolution, Natural Selection....

[Stark]

Evolution generally refers to any process of change over time. In the context of life science, evolution is a change in the genetic makeup of a population of interbreeding individuals within a species. Since the emergence of modern genetics in the 1940s, evolution has been defined more specifically as a change in the frequency of alleles from one generation to the next.

Evolution

Natural selection is the primary mechanism within the scientific theory of evolution, i.e. it alters the frequency of alleles within a population. After a century of obscure and vague preliminary formulations, it was proposed as the main mechanism of evolution by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace in 1858. Natural selection can be subdivided into two types; ecological selection, and sexual selection. Natural selection is distinguished from artificial selection by humans. Other mechanisms of evolution include genetic drift and gene flow. Mutations create the genetic variation on which natural selection acts.

It is important to note that the term "natural selection" is often used in the inaccurate yet fairly harmless metaphorical sense as having causal status. To be precise, natural selection is not truly a "mechanism" in itself, as opposed to something like gravity. Instead, natural selection is the result of genetic and environmental forces acting upon an organism.

natural selection

Scientific theory
The prevailing formulation of the theory of evolution is the modern synthesis, which brings together Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection and Gregor Mendel's theory of inherited characteristics, now called genes. In the modern synthesis, "evolution" means a change in the frequency of an allele within a gene pool. This change may be caused by a number of different mechanisms: natural selection, genetic drift or changes in population structure (gene flow).

Modern synthesis theory has three major aspects:

1. The common descent of all organisms from a single ancestor.
2. The origin of novel traits in a lineage.
3. The mechanisms that cause some traits to persist while others perish.

Theory

 

[Yaotl]

Originally posted by: hpkeeper
Why is it that evolution is refered to as the "theory of evolution"

but it's never the "theory of creationism"?

they're both theories.

Because Creationism can't ever be tested.

 

[hpkeeper]

Originally posted by: Yaotl

Originally posted by: hpkeeper
Why is it that evolution is refered to as the "theory of evolution"

but it's never the "theory of creationism"?

they're both theories.

Because Creationism can't ever be tested.

how does one test evolution?

 

[Yaotl]

Originally posted by: hpkeeper

Originally posted by: Yaotl

Originally posted by: hpkeeper
Why is it that evolution is refered to as the "theory of evolution"

but it's never the "theory of creationism"?

they're both theories.

Because Creationism can't ever be tested.

how does one test evolution?

You can view change over time and the processes that make it work. You can see the change on a micro and macro level.