Life Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Evolution === {{main|Evolution}} [[Evolution]] is the change in [[heritable]] [[Phenotypic trait|characteristics]] of biological populations over successive generations. It results in the appearance of new species and often the disappearance of old ones.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hall |first1=Brian K. |author-link1=Brian K. Hall |last2=Hallgrímsson |first2=Benedikt |title=Strickberger's Evolution |url=https://archive.org/details/strickbergersevo0000hall |url-access=registration |year=2008 |edition=4th |location=Sudbury, Massachusetts |publisher=Jones and Bartlett Publishers |isbn=978-0-7637-0066-9 |lccn=2007008981 |oclc=85814089 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jrDD3cyA09kC&pg=PA4 4–6]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Evolution Resources |location=Washington, DC |publisher=[[National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine]] |year=2016 |url=http://www.nas.edu/evolution/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160603230514/http://www.nas.edu/evolution/index.html |archive-date=3 June 2016}}</ref> Evolution occurs when evolutionary processes such as [[natural selection]] (including [[sexual selection]]) and [[genetic drift]] act on genetic variation, resulting in certain characteristics increasing or decreasing in frequency within a population over successive generations.<ref name="Scott-Phillips">{{cite journal |last1=Scott-Phillips |first1=Thomas C. |last2=Laland |first2=Kevin N. |author2-link=Kevin Laland |last3=Shuker |first3=David M. |last4=Dickins |first4=Thomas E. |last5=West |first5=Stuart A. |author-link5=Stuart West |date=May 2014 |title=The Niche Construction Perspective: A Critical Appraisal |journal=[[Evolution (journal)|Evolution]] |volume=68 |issue=5 |pages=1231–1243 |doi=10.1111/evo.12332 |pmid=24325256 |pmc=4261998 |quote=Evolutionary processes are generally thought of as processes by which these changes occur. Four such processes are widely recognized: natural selection (in the broad sense, to include sexual selection), genetic drift, mutation, and migration (Fisher 1930; Haldane 1932). The latter two generate variation; the first two sort it.}}</ref> The process of evolution has given rise to [[biodiversity]] at every level of [[biological organisation]].<ref>{{harvnb|Hall|Hallgrímsson|2008|pp=3–5}}</ref><ref name="Voet2016a">{{cite book |last1=Voet |first1=Donald |author-link1=Donald Voet |last2=Voet |first2=Judith G. |author-link2=Judith G. Voet|last3=Pratt |first3=Charlotte W. |author-link3=Charlotte W. Pratt|year=2016 |title=Fundamentals of Biochemistry: Life at the Molecular Level |edition=Fifth |location=[[Hoboken, New Jersey]] |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|John Wiley & Sons]] |isbn=978-1-118-91840-1 |lccn=2016002847 |oclc=939245154 |at=Chapter 1: Introduction to the Chemistry of Life, pp. 1–22}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page