EVOLUTION: THE FOUNDATION OF BIOLOGY
Palabras clave:
antibiotic resistance, Darwinian medicine, evidence for evolution, evolutionary applications, evolutionary history, natural selection, phylogeny, processes of evolution, ultimate explanation.Resumen
Evolution is the most comprehensive, unifying theory in biology. It complements studies of how organisms function with “ultimate explanations” of why species have the characteristics they possess, rather than other features. This perspective, in which the principle of natural selection is paramountly important, explains countless features of organisms and their genomes that otherwise would be inexplicable, and provides a scientific explanation, based in a purely mindless process, for features of organisms that look as if they were consciously designed. Evolutionary science not only embraces and extends the other biological disciplines; it is also useful. From pest management to human genetics and the evolution of pathogenic microbes, the principles and methods of evolutionary biology are becoming indispensable.
