natural selection and orthogenesis

[John R. Grehan]

>
>Anyway his explanation of evolution is that an omnipresent creator set the
>evolutionary wheels in motion and let natural selection do the rest (without
>divine oversight).
>
>Mike Gochfeld

Or maybe natural selection did not do the "rest". Orthogenetic models of 
evolution have
been around since the late 1800's and have found expression in molecular 
modes of
evolution such as molecular drive. These models suggest a dynamic 
coevolutionary relationship between natural selection and biologically 
driven changes in both the origin of new mutations and changes in gene 
frequencies. In other words - organisms are not passive biological entities 
that are essentially evolutionary blobs until an external force (natural 
selection) comes into play (a rather Newtonian view of the biological 
universe).

John Grehan


John Grehan
Frost Entomological Museum
Pennsylvania State University
Department of Entomology
501 ASI Building
University Park, PA 16802. USA.

Phone: (814) 863-2865
Fax: (814) 865-3048

Frost Museum
http://www.ento.psu.edu/home/Frost/index.html


 
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