“That you can have such dramatic success simply by changing the relative timing of events in a creature’s development is remarkable,” he said. “We now understand the relationship between birds and dinosaurs that much better, and we can say that, when we look at birds, we are actually looking at juvenile dinosaurs.”
“That you can have such dramatic success simply by changing the relative timing of events in a creature’s development is remarkable,” he said. “We now understand the relationship between birds and dinosaurs that much better, and we can say that, when we look at birds, we are actually looking at juvenile dinosaurs.”
“It shows that there’s so much for evolution to act upon,” Bhullar agreed.
The article indicated that they were surprised by the differences in development between birds and dinosaurs: “What the researchers found was surprising — while early dinosaurs, even those closely related to modern birds, undergo vast morphological changes as they mature, the skulls of juvenile and adult birds remain remarkably similar.” This evidence was not allowed to falsify Darwinism, however; on the contrary, it was used to reinforce it. Now Darwin has more diversity of evolutionary strategies to use, and a bigger toolkit to work with.
The article indicated that they were surprised by the differences in development between birds and dinosaurs: “What the researchers found was surprising — while early dinosaurs, even those closely related to modern birds, undergo vast morphological changes as they mature, the skulls of juvenile and adult birds remain remarkably similar.” This evidence was not allowed to falsify Darwinism, however; on the contrary, it was used to reinforce it. Now Darwin has more diversity of evolutionary strategies to use, and a bigger toolkit to work with.
Bird feeder gets smaller: One would think birds would love to eat giant insects, especially since pterodactyls lunched on them. Apparently, the early bird got the small insect. A prof and his grad student at UC Santa Cruz had to look long and hard to find correlations between insect size, oxygen levels and bird evolution, but turned up enough to report on PhysOrg that the “Reign of the giant insects ended with the evolution of birds.”
Bird feeder gets smaller: One would think birds would love to eat giant insects, especially since pterodactyls lunched on them. Apparently, the early bird got the small insect. A prof and his grad student at UC Santa Cruz had to look long and hard to find correlations between insect size, oxygen levels and bird evolution, but turned up enough to report on PhysOrg that the “Reign of the giant insects ended with the evolution of birds.”
Facts and data gaps, though, kept getting in the way: “But a 20-million-year gap in the insect fossil record makes it hard to tell when insect size changed, and a drop in oxygen levels around the same time further complicates the analysis.” It left them with a composite explanation involving multiple possibilities: “These include the continued specialization of birds, the evolution of bats, and a mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous.” How any of these were related to bug size was not clarified.
Facts and data gaps, though, kept getting in the way: “But a 20-million-year gap in the insect fossil record makes it hard to tell when insect size changed, and a drop in oxygen levels around the same time further complicates the analysis.” It left them with a composite explanation involving multiple possibilities: “These include the continued specialization of birds, the evolution of bats, and a mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous.” How any of these were related to bug size was not clarified.
The authors acknowledged that small insects have always been around, even when the giants reigned. It’s unclear, then, why they would invoke the evolution of birds to drive the big bugs extinct, when today’s oxygen level (21%) is lower than what they assumed existed (30%) in the past and, according to the “leading theory,” oxygen level was a limiting factor on insect size. An evolutionary story was ready in the wings, though: “With predatory birds on the wing, the need for maneuverability became a driving force in the evolution of flying insects, favoring smaller body size.” Strange that the big bugs never needed said maneuverability when the pterosaurs were around.
The authors acknowledged that small insects have always been around, even when the giants reigned. It’s unclear, then, why they would invoke the evolution of birds to drive the big bugs extinct, when today’s oxygen level (21%) is lower than what they assumed existed (30%) in the past and, according to the “leading theory,” oxygen level was a limiting factor on insect size. An evolutionary story was ready in the wings, though: “With predatory birds on the wing, the need for maneuverability became a driving force in the evolution of flying insects, favoring smaller body size.” Strange that the big bugs never needed said maneuverability when the pterosaurs were around.
Seal a can’t: Acknowledging that the strange fish known as coelacanths are iconic “living fossils” famous for their lack of evolution since the Middle Devonian, disappearance from the fossil record, and surprise re-appearance doing just fine in 1938. Since then, several populations of the lobe-finned fish have been found off the costs of South Africa, Tanzania and the Comoros islands.
