User talk:Silence/Introduction to evolution

Hi Silence...good job at simplifying! Here are a few suggestions for the lead:

Evolution is the change in groups of living things over time. Living things (organisms) have children (offspring) which differ from their parents in minor random ways.

It might be better to block out random in this sense - it could confuse the issue. The random aspect is more important in sorting out difference among individuals in a population. In many ways, the different traits we inherit from our parents are non-random.

Evolution is the process of these inheritable heritable differences becoming more common or rare within large groups (populations) of organisms.

Inheritable means that it can't be inherited.

The second way is called selection natural selection.

Use natural selection, it is the correct term and is a better article. The selection article should be dropped or merged with natural selection.

Selection happens when a trait helps an organism to have more offspring, such as by keeping the organism from dying early.

Change to:

The natural world is a dangerous place and there are forces to be reckoned with. Charles Darwin called these forces natural selection. Natural selection is not as simple a concept to grasp as one might think, even many professionals make mistakes about this fundamental notion of evolution. The concept cannot be summarized or defined in single sentence, it is the larger context of evolutionary biology that makes it clear what natural selection really is. However, in a world of limiting environmental resources only some individuals are lucky enough to find a mate, reproduce and start a family. Over time and in the struggle to stay alive there is a natural sorting process among individuals surviving in a population. Natural selection describes the forces at play in the struggle for existence.

I realize this is a bit long-winded - so edit by all means, but it might help to capture some of the finer elements of natural selection.

SelectionNatural selection and random events can cause more and more differences to accumulate in a population. Over the course of time populations spread over the face of the Earth and some groups become isolated. In isolation the separate groups diverge and eventually become so different that they can no longer interbreed as a single species. This is how the tree of life finds its branches. The Earth is over 4 billion years old, so life has had a long-time to sort things out. Despite the great divide in time or distance, every living thing on Earth is related — from your closest relative to a distant dinosaur - every organism is part of an enormous family tree. This means that all differences between species have arisen through this gradual process of change, as different populations have evolved in different ways.

The last sentence was incorrect. Not all evolution is gradual, some of it is punctuated and there are emergent forces of natural selection operating above the level of the organism - such as species selection.

Hope my suggestions help!! I'll come back and will give some feedback on other sections if you find this helpful.Thompsma (talk) 16:21, 10 September 2009 (UTC)