Evolutionary biology studies the origin of species through genetic variation and natural selection, tracing the shared ancestry of organisms. Modern evolutionary biology emerged in the 1930s and 1940s, with universities creating departments in the 1970s and 1980s. Evolutionary biologists determine how often certain adaptive traits evolved independently and trace the ancestors of modern organisms. They also solve long-standing evolutionary puzzles, such as the ancestry of modern-day amphibians and turtles.
Evolutionary biology is an integral part of biology in general: the study and theory of evolution in organisms. More than just a subfield, one could see this field as the lens through which all of biology should be viewed, creationists notwithstanding. Evolutionary biology deals with the origin of species through genetic variation and natural selection, as well as the shared ancestry of species from common ancestors.
Although biology informed by Darwinian theory dates back to Darwin’s publication of The Origin of Species in 1859, modern evolutionary biology emerged from the modern evolutionary synthesis only in the 1930s and 1940s, and it was only in the 1970s and 1980s that universities began creating departments with the term “evolutionary biology” as part of their titles. The enormous amount of fossil knowledge discovered in the early and mid-20th century made it possible to easily trace the evolution of many organisms over time.
A popular topic in evolutionary biology is trying to find out when certain adaptive traits first emerged and how often they evolved in independent lineages. For example, evolutionary biologists have determined that shells have evolved in at least 18 lineages, the eye has evolved only once, flight has evolved four distinct times (insects, pterosaurs, birds, and bats), sail has evolved on dozens of occasions, a skeleton has evolved independently only once, and camouflage has evolved hundreds if not thousands of times. The more structurally complex a given adaptation is, the more rarely it has evolved independently.
Evolutionary biology seeks to trace the ancestors of modern organisms as far back as possible, seeing how they developed from sometimes less sophisticated ancestors. For example, all modern mammals are thought to have evolved from a minor group of Mesozoic tetrapods called therapsids. These animals lived up to the age of the dinosaurs, a good 180 million years. If they hadn’t, modern mammals wouldn’t exist. A major breakthrough in evolutionary biology came when the consensus emerged, supported by fossil evidence, that modern birds evolved from dinosaurs.
Another task of evolutionary biologists is to solve long-standing evolutionary puzzles, such as the ancestry of modern-day amphibians and turtles. There is currently uncertainty as to which ancient amphibian group gave rise to the modern amphibians and whether the turtles arose from more recent reptiles or split from the reptiles soon after the group evolved.
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