Outline of evolution

Updated on Dec 25, 2024

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The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to evolution:

Evolution – change in heritable traits of biological organisms over generations due to natural selection, mutation, gene flow, and genetic drift. Also known as descent with modification. Over time these evolutionary processes lead to formation of new species (speciation), changes within lineages (anagenesis), and loss of species (extinction). "Evolution" is also another name for evolutionary biology, the subfield of biology concerned with studying evolutionary processes that produced the diversity of life on Earth.

Introduction

Introduction to evolution – non-technical introduction

Evolution – more technical introduction

Evolution as fact and theory – basis for scientific acceptance as theory (well-substantiated explanation) based on fact (empirical data and objective verifiable observation)

Basic principles

Macroevolution – change above level of species, including:

Speciation – evolutionary process by which new biological species arise

Natural speciation

Allopatric speciation – speciation that occurs after biological populations become isolated from each other (also known as geographic speciation)

Peripatric speciation – speciation that occurs in biological populations with adjacent ranges

Parapatric speciation – speciation that occurs in biological populations with adjacent, but not significantly overlapping ranges

Sympatric speciation – speciation that occurs in biological populations that inhabit the same geographic region

Artificial speciation

Animal husbandry – management and care of farm animals, typically involving selective breeding

Plant breeding – selective breeding of plants to produce desired characteristics

Genetic engineering – direct manipulation of an organism's genome using biotechnology

Hybrid speciation – speciation wherein hybridization between two different species leads to a new species

Despeciation – loss of a unique species due to combining with another previously distinct species

Anagenesis – changes in a lineage that result in a new morphospecies distinct in form from an ancestral species ("phyletic transformation")

Extinction – end of a lineage such that there are no longer living populations of a species (or other taxon)

Microevolution – change within species or populations, due to mutation, selection (natural and artificial), gene flow, and genetic drift

Artificial selection – the process by which humans increase particular traits in a lineage or population by choosing which individuals have offspring together (also called Selective breeding)

Natural selection – differential survival and reproduction of individuals due to differences in heritable traits (phenotype), a key mechanism of evolution

Sexual selection – a mode of natural selection wherein members of one gender choose mates of the other gender to mate with, resulting in distinct gender-based differences

Mutation – a permanent change of the genome of an organism (nucleotide sequence), a key mechanism of evolution

Gene flow – movement of genes from one population to another (through migration, dispersal, transport of pollen, etc.)

Genetic drift – change in frequency of a gene variant (allele) in a population due to random sampling

Subfields

Biogeography – the study of distribution of species and ecosystems in geographic space and through geological time

Ecological genetics – the study of genetics in natural populations

Evolutionary biology – study of the evolutionary processes that produced the diversity of life on Earth. More specifically, it studies the descent of species, and the origin of new species.

Evolutionary developmental biology – the study of developmental processes to determine the ancestral relationships and discover how developmental processes evolved (informally called evo-devo)

Evolutionary ecology – the study of ecology with explicit consideration of evolutionary histories of species, or conversely the study of evolution that incorporates an understanding of ecological interactions between the species

Evolutionary physiology – the study of changes in functional characteristics over generations as the result of selection

Evolutionary taxonomy – branch of biological classification that classifies organisms based on phylogenetic relationship (shared descent), progenitor-descendant relationship (serial descent), and degree of evolutionary change

Experimental evolution – study of evolution using controlled experiments to test hypotheses and theories

Molecular evolution – study of change in sequence composition of cellular molecules such as DNA, RNA, and proteins across generations

Phylogenetics – study of evolutionary history, development, and relationships among groups of organisms

Population genetics – study of distribution and change in frequency of alleles within populations

Paleontology – study of evolution of life based on the fossil record

Paleovirology – study of ancient viruses based on fossil viruses

Timeline of paleontology – summary of key dates and events in the history of paleontology

Systematics – study of diversification of living forms, both past and present, and relationships among living organisms through time

History

Charles Darwin – English naturalist and geologist, best known for his contributions to evolutionary theory

On the Origin of Species – work of scientific literature by Charles Darwin, considered to be foundation of evolutionary biology (published 1859)

Caricatures of Charles Darwin and his evolutionary theory in 19th-century England – artistic depictions concerning Charles Darwin and evolutionary theory

History of evolutionary thought – historical account of evolutionary thought from antiquity through present

By period or event

Evolutionary ideas of the Renaissance and Enlightenment

Transmutation of species

1860 Oxford evolution debate

The eclipse of Darwinism

Evolutionary progress

Scopes Trial

Modern evolutionary synthesis, 20th century synthesis of ideas from various fields of biology (particularly genetics, cytology, systematics, botany, morphology, ecology, and paleontology) to provide the widely accepted account of evolution

Current research

By field

Evolutionary developmental biology

History of evolutionary psychology

History of molecular evolution

History of paleontology

Social effect of evolutionary theory

Evolutionary theory and modelling

See also Basic principles (above)

Population genetics

Process

Mutation

Selection

Natural selection

Sexual selection

Artificial selection

Ecological selection

Gene flow

Genetic drift

Small population size

Population bottleneck

Variation

Gene frequency

Polymorphism (biology)

Key concepts

Hardy-Weinberg law

Genetic linkage

Identity by descent

Linkage disequilibrium

Fisher's fundamental theorem

Neutral theory

Shifting balance theory

Price equation

Coefficient of relationship

Fitness

Heritability

Effects of selection

Genetic hitchhiking

Negative selection (natural selection)

Evolutionary phenomena

List of examples of convergent evolution

Divergent evolution

Divergent evolution in animals

Evolution of ageing

Evolution of biological complexity

Evolution of multicellularity

Evolution of photosynthesis

Evolution of sexual reproduction

Evolutionary arms race

Evolutionary capacitance

Evolutionary fauna

Evolutionary logic

Evolutionary pressure

Evolutionary radiation

Evolutionary trap

Evolutionary suicide –

Evolvability – capacity of a system for adaptive evolution. Beneficial mutations are always rare, but if they are too rare, then adaptation cannot occur. Biological genomes are structured in ways that make beneficial changes less unlikely than they would otherwise be. Evolution has created not just fitter organisms, but populations of organisms that are better able to evolve.

Extinction

Fitness (biology)

Inclusive fitness

Kin selection

Reproductive success

Horizontal evolution

Horizontal gene transfer in evolution

Human evolution (origins of society and culture)

Inversion (evolutionary biology)

Mosaic evolution

Parallel evolution

Quantum evolution

Genetic recombination

Recurrent evolution

Robustness (evolution)

Speciation

Modelling

Emergent evolution

Epic of evolution

Evolution window

Evolutionary dynamics

Evolutionary game theory

Evolutionary graph theory

Evolutionary invasion analysis

Largest-scale trends in evolution

Fundamentals

Taxonomy

Alpha taxonomy

Biological classification

Binomial nomenclature

Evolutionary taxonomy

Catalogue of life

Homonym (biology)

Integrated Taxonomic Information System

International Code of Zoological Nomenclature

International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants

Type (biology)

Systematics – study of diversification of living forms, both past and present

Computational phylogenetics

Common descent – how different lineages of organisms share a most recent common ancestor

Evidence of common descent –

Evolutionary grade

Lineage (evolution)

Molecular phylogenetics

Most recent common ancestor – most recent individual from which all organisms in a group are directly descended. It is impossible to identify the specific MRCA of a large set of individuals, but an estimate of the time at which the MRCA lived can often be given.

Basic concepts of phylogenetics

Phylogenetic tree

Phylogenetic network

Long branch attraction

Clade vs Grade

Ghost lineage

Inference methods

Maximum parsimony (phylogenetics)

Minimum evolution

Probabilistic methods

Maximum likelihood

Bayesian inference

Distance matrices in phylogeny

Neighbor-joining

UPGMA

Least squares inference in phylogeny

Three-taxon analysis

Current topics

PhyloCode

DNA barcoding

Molecular phylogenetics

Phylogenetic comparative methods

Phylogenetic network

Phylogenetic niche conservatism

List of phylogenetics software

Phylogenomics

Phylogeography

DNA phylogeny

Group Traits

Symplesiomorphy

Apomorphy

Synapomorphy

Autapomorphy

Group Types

Monophyly

Paraphyly

Polyphyly

Evolution of biodiversity

Biodiversity – variety of different types of life found on the Earth and the variations within species. It is a measure of the variety of organisms present in different ecosystems. This can refer to genetic variation, ecosystem variation, or species variation (number of species) within an area, biome, or planet. Terrestrial biodiversity tends to be greater near the equator, which seems to be the result of the warm climate and high primary productivity. Biodiversity is not distributed evenly on Earth. It is richest in the tropics. Marine biodiversity tends to be highest along coasts in the Western Pacific, where sea surface temperature is highest and in the mid-latitudinal band in all oceans.

Origin and evolutionary history of life

Abiogenesis (origin of life)

Evolutionary history of life – outline of major events during evolution of life on Earth

Timeline of evolutionary history of life – more concise outline

Evolution of tetrapods

Evolution of dinosaurs

Evolution of birds

Evolution of mammals

Evolution of cetaceans

Evolution of horses

Evolution of primates

Evolution of humans

Evolution of human intelligence

Human evolutionary genetics

Sexual selection in human evolution

Timeline of human evolution

Evolution of lemurs

Evolution of sirenians

Evolution of reptiles

Evolution of other animals

Evolution of brachiopods

Evolution of cephalopods

Evolution of fish

Evolution of insects

Evolution of butterflies

Peppered moth evolution

Evolution of molluscs

Evolution of spiders

Evolution of plants

Evolutionary anachronism

Plant evolution

Plant evolutionary developmental biology

Timeline of plant evolution

Evolution of other taxa

Evolution of fungi

Evolution of viruses

Evolution of influenza

E. coli long-term evolution experiment

Evolution of cells, organs, and systems

Evolution of cells

Evolution of flagella

Evolution of mammalian auditory ossicles

Evolution of nervous systems

Evolution of snake venom

Evolution of the brain

Evolution of the eye

Evolution of color vision

Evolution of color vision in primates

Immune system

Evolution of metabolism

Evolution of molecules and genes

Directed evolution

Error threshold (evolution)

Evolution of DNA

Evolution of dominance

Gene-centered view of evolution

Genome evolution

Hologenome theory of evolution

Molecular evolution

History of molecular evolution

Neutral theory of molecular evolution

Nearly neutral theory of molecular evolution

Neutral network (evolution)

RNA-based evolution

Evolution of behaviour

Co-operation (evolution)

Evolution of biparental care in tropical frogs

Evolution of emotion

Empathy#Evolution of empathy

Evolution of eusociality

Monogamous pairing in animals

Reciprocal altruism

Reciprocity (evolution)

Evolution of other processes

Evolution of ageing

Evolution of aging and mortality

Origin of programmed cell death

Origin of avian flight

Evolution of biological complexity

Mosaic evolution

Evolution of multicellularity

Evolution of sexual reproduction

Mating types

Gamete differentiation/sexes

Sex-determination

Life cycles/nuclear phases

Applications in other disciplines

Applications of evolution – practical applications in fields such as ecology, artificial intelligence, medicine, and computer science

Biological anthropology –

Evolutionary aesthetics –

Evolutionary anthropology –

Evolutionary computation –

Evolutionary economics –

Kenneth Boulding's evolutionary perspective –

Evolutionary epistemology –

Evolutionary ethics –

Evolutionary linguistics –

Evolutionary medicine –

Evolutionary neuroscience –

Evolutionary psychology –

Biosocial criminology –

Criticism of evolutionary psychology –

Evolution of morality –

Evolution of schizophrenia –

Evolutionary aesthetics –

Evolutionary approaches to depression –

Evolutionary developmental psychology –

Evolutionary developmental psychopathology –

Evolutionary educational psychology –

Evolutionary ethics –

Evolutionary leadership theory –

Evolutionary musicology –

Evolutionary origin of religions –

Evolutionary psychology of language –

Evolutionary psychology of parenting –

Evolutionary psychology of religion –

Theoretical foundations of evolutionary psychology –

Universal Darwinism –

Controversy about evolution

Creation–evolution controversy (outline)

Criticism of evolutionary psychology

Evolutionary argument against naturalism

Level of support for evolution

Objections to evolution

Social effects of evolutionary theory

Theology of creationism and evolution

Religious and philosophical views of evolution

Acceptance of evolution by religious groups

Atheistic evolution

Conscious evolution

Buddhism and evolution

Catholic Church and evolution

Hindu views on evolution

Islamic views on evolution

Ahmadiyya views on evolution

Jewish views on evolution

Mormon views on evolution

Theistic evolution

Influence of evolutionary theory

Social effects of evolutionary theory

Evolutionary theory and the political left –

See also Applications in other disciplines

Books

Evolution: The Modern Synthesis – book by Julian Huxley (grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley); one of the most important books of modern evolutionary synthesis, published in 1942

The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection – book by R.A. Fisher important in modern evolutionary synthesis, first published in 1930

Genetics and the Origin of Species – 1937 book by Ukrainian-American evolutionary biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky

On the Origin of Species – seminal book by Charles Darwin concerning evolution by natural selection, first published in 1859

Systematics and the Origin of Species from the Viewpoint of a Zoologist – book by zoologist and evolutionary biologist Ernst Mayr, canonical publication of modern evolutionary synthesis, first published in 1942 by Columbia University Press

The Structure of Evolutionary Theory – technical book on macroevolutionary theory by the Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould

Evolutionary Biology (textbook) –