Theme: Science

The difference is that my work consists of the science of why such a thing happens and why it will always happen. It’s one thing to make an observation of correlation as many have done in history and another a description of causation.

Well, Haeckel was wrong a lot because he made unsupported leaps. He was a Lamarckian, he denied the common human origin, thought humans evolved in india, and he was quite silly in many ways trying to unify religion in science and art – to be consistent with religion instead of religion to be consistent with science and art. So I would have to understand how you mean thet term. Because I cant tell if you are confusing selection with drift or not?

The sequence is generally:
Regulation (expression)
Mutation (content)
Result (Neutral,Beneficial/Harmful, usually Neotenic/Not.)
Selection (Natural selection by survival and reproduction)
Drift (spread in a small population)

Drift Explained
Evolutionary drift, often referred to as genetic drift, is a mechanism of evolution that refers to random fluctuations in the frequencies of alleles (variants of a gene) within a population. Unlike natural selection, which is a non-random process where alleles become more or less common due to their effect on the reproductive success of their bearers, genetic drift is random and can increase or decrease allele frequency even if they have no impact on the survival or reproduction of individuals.

Here are key points about genetic drift:

Small Populations: Genetic drift is most pronounced in small populations, where chance events can lead to large changes in allele frequencies from one generation to the next.

Bottleneck Effect: This is a form of genetic drift where a population’s size is significantly reduced for at least one generation, often due to a catastrophic event, causing a loss of genetic variation. The resulting gene pool may not be reflective of the original population’s gene pool.

Founder Effect: Another form of genetic drift occurs when a new colony is started by a few members of the original population. The small population size means that the new population may have significantly different allele frequencies than the original population, often leading to reduced genetic diversity.

Random Change: In genetic drift, allele frequencies can change in a population due to random sampling errors. This means that some alleles may become fixed (reach a frequency of 1) while others may be lost entirely from the gene pool, regardless of their effects on the phenotype or fitness.

Non-adaptive Evolution: Genetic drift is a non-adaptive process. Unlike natural selection, which “selects” for traits that confer a reproductive advantage, genetic drift can change allele frequencies in a population even if the changes are neutral or slightly deleterious.

Loss of Genetic Variation: Over time, genetic drift can lead to the loss of genetic variation within populations, which can make them more susceptible to extinction due to reduced adaptive potential.

Evolutionary Significance: While genetic drift is a random process, it plays a significant role in evolution alongside natural selection, particularly in small populations and over long periods of time.

It is important to note that while genetic drift can lead to evolutionary change, it does not work towards optimization or improvement of a species in any directed manner. It is a stochastic effect that contributes to the evolution of populations in a way that is not inherently beneficial or harmful.

Reply addressees: @ObsidianLining