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'Darwin's finches' revert to type
english.aljazeera.net ^ | May 4, 2006

Posted on 05/08/2006 1:17:07 PM PDT by mlc9852

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To: connectthedots

Here's his second link:

http://chiron.valdosta.edu/jbpascar/Courses/Biol1010/ExtraCreditActivities/American%20Scientist%20Online%20-%20Adaptive%20Radiation%20of%20Darwin's%20Finches.htm


61 posted on 05/08/2006 3:56:05 PM PDT by CarolinaGuitarman ("There is grandeur in this view of life....")
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To: connectthedots

Apparently the link is too big or something. If you copy and paste the entire line and got to that link, it works.


62 posted on 05/08/2006 3:57:19 PM PDT by CarolinaGuitarman ("There is grandeur in this view of life....")
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To: CarolinaGuitarman
i did not read it in detail, but did scan it for the highlights. The following pretty much sums up the conclusion:

Recent data help explain how this famous group of Galapagos birds evolved, although gaps in our understanding remain.

At least the author is honest enough to admit there are gaps; but gaps, they are. No evidence for macro-evolution in this article, either.

63 posted on 05/08/2006 4:03:08 PM PDT by connectthedots
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To: js1138
That's called a change in the allele frequency. In other words, evolution.

Then where the alleles came from in the first place must be called "creation" :-)
64 posted on 05/08/2006 4:09:29 PM PDT by UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide (Give Them Liberty Or Give Them Death! - IT'S ISLAM, STUPID! - Islam Delenda Est! - Rumble thee forth)
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To: UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide

It's ridiculous articles like this that give crevos an inroad. What stupidity.









65 posted on 05/08/2006 4:21:14 PM PDT by mutley
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To: connectthedots
"i did not read it in detail, but did scan it for the highlights. The following pretty much sums up the conclusion:

Recent data help explain how this famous group of Galapagos birds evolved, although gaps in our understanding remain."

Ah, you read the title. When you said you didn't read it for detail, you weren't kidding!

"At least the author is honest enough to admit there are gaps; but gaps, they are. No evidence for macro-evolution in this article, either."

There article never claimed that speciation had been directly observed.
66 posted on 05/08/2006 4:21:42 PM PDT by CarolinaGuitarman ("There is grandeur in this view of life....")
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To: UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide

"Then where the alleles came from in the first place must be called "creation" :-)"

Or mutation... :)


67 posted on 05/08/2006 4:22:46 PM PDT by CarolinaGuitarman ("There is grandeur in this view of life....")
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To: js1138

Negative that, GhostRider.

I may not be an evolutionary biologist myself, but I've read enough Gould, Darwin, and Johannson to know that once a mutation, or pangenetic change (ahh, the elusive pangene theory we all forget), or an unexplainable break in the fossil record shows a change from one species to another... or a change in type, then we have what is called macro-evolution.

Oh, but we will argue that all changes are micro changes and eventually, though we can not observe it, a macro change happens when you compare the original species with the new species.

Problems occur though. Where in the genetic code of any known species can we see the ability to adapt outside of the genetic code? Mutations, you say? Name one beneficial mutation that has been observed in the last hundred years, even on the single cell organism level, that has caused a permanent change in the species. If you can, which, I believe, cannot be done, name one mutation in any complicated organism that is not identified by the disease it causes.

If it can't be observed, then how is it good science.

I'm not saying creationism, or intelligent design is good science either, just that evolutionary science, as it is today is based on a set of beliefs that the 'science' is molded to fit.

Try, as many have, but I will not be convinced otherwise. And, no, I am not open minded about this, just as I am not open minded about alot of things. Taxes are bad. Communism sucks. America is the greatest country this planet has ever seen. God is real, and He created the earth as we know it. These are all a matter of belief. Do I completely understand every aspect of any of these? NO, but I do know more than most. I keep myself educated about much, and from what I do know, I base my faith.


68 posted on 05/08/2006 6:30:08 PM PDT by raynearhood ("Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them."- Ronald Reagan)
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Comment #69 Removed by Moderator

Comment #70 Removed by Moderator

To: CarolinaGuitarman
There article never claimed that speciation had been directly observed.

Didn't say it did. My comment was directed at the poster who linked the article and poated:

The link below, (although long, sorry!) is a reprint. There is ample evidence to support the common ancestor theory...

I was merely pointing out that the article did not support a "common ancestor theory'. Nothing more; nothing less.

71 posted on 05/08/2006 7:02:36 PM PDT by connectthedots
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To: connectthedots
"Didn't say it did. My comment was directed at the poster who linked the article and poated:"

But your post was a reply to one of my posts, and I wasn't talking about common ancestry. You said you saw no evidence of macroevolution, and I correctly pointed out that the article never claimed speciation happened. In fact, there has never been the claim that speciation happened in the finches example nor in the peppered moth example. They were both simply an example of how natural selection can affect physical characteristics of populations.
72 posted on 05/08/2006 7:14:22 PM PDT by CarolinaGuitarman ("There is grandeur in this view of life....")
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To: DaveLoneRanger

I have 4 siblings. That makes me one of five.

Each of us have a different eye color.

I have 3 children, each of them have a different eye color.

The different finches of the Galapalos Islands have beaks which are not what their parents had. I'm shocked.

From Allelles to Zygotes, there is an almost impossible or rather (excuse the pun) inconceivable nbr of potential combinations.

How come all of the best FReeper threads are not about math? You know permutations, combinations, probability and statstics?

I love this stuff. Thanks for the ping.

http://www.rit.edu/~rhrsbi/GalapagosPages/DarwinFinch.html


73 posted on 05/08/2006 7:32:02 PM PDT by Radix (Stop domestic violence. Beat abroad.)
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To: raynearhood

"The parent moths have the genetic ability to give birth to both black and white speckled moths."

Well said and to the point. The genome ALREADY existed for both color schemes. One did not develope by mutation or other mechanisms of genetic change. One was simply selected for by changing enviromental conditions - it did not develope as result of those conditions - the genes already existed. Natural selection serves to preserve a species, not create new ones. Of course, I'm not saying anything here that hasn't been said a million times already - I don't know why I bother.

Apparently the same is true for Darwin's finches.


74 posted on 05/08/2006 7:37:40 PM PDT by Sola Veritas (Trying to speak truth - not always with the best grammar or spelling)
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To: raynearhood
Oh, but we will argue that all changes are micro changes and eventually, though we can not observe it, a macro change happens when you compare the original species with the new species.

What the hell is a macro change? Give and example.

75 posted on 05/08/2006 9:47:45 PM PDT by js1138
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To: CarolinaGuitarman

You replied to a post I made to another poster, which places you in the position of that poster since you were defending his position.

Your argument is not with me; it is with the other poster.


76 posted on 05/08/2006 10:47:20 PM PDT by connectthedots
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To: js1138

I can't give an example, that's the catch. It's a generic term representing the extent of change needed to evolve one species into a completely new species or a different type.

macroevolution n : evolution on a large scale extending over geologic era and resulting in the formation of new taxonomic groups

microevolution n : comparatively minor evolutionary change involving the accumulation of variations in populations usually below the species level

I can give you a bunch of theories as examples, but they aren't factual examples, as the change could not be observed.

But, here's one theory:

Archaeopteryx was small, with a wingspan of 0.5 m and weighed about 325 g. Its feathers were similar to those of flying birds, but its skeleton closely resembled that of a small carnivorous dinosaur. The brain was relatively large for an animal of that epoch.

And so we have a change from dinosaur/lizard to somewhat of a transitional bird. Though a lot of the links between the archaeoteryx and it's original ancestor (which is not known) are missing, from lizard to bird is a pretty big (macro)change.


77 posted on 05/09/2006 3:01:50 AM PDT by raynearhood ("Government does not solve problems; it subsidizes them."- Ronald Reagan)
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To: raynearhood

Even the rapid changed of punctuated equilibrium take tens of thousands or millions of generations. Rapid is a misleading word.

Evolution is like compound interest. The rates are different at different times and places, but the changes accumulate one step at a time. There are no macro changes in one, or even a few generations.


78 posted on 05/09/2006 4:53:14 AM PDT by js1138
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To: calex59

Oh, it's you again.

And once again you're completely wrong.


79 posted on 05/09/2006 5:05:25 AM PDT by ahayes (Yes, I have a devious plot. No, you may not know what it is.)
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To: connectthedots
"You replied to a post I made to another poster, which places you in the position of that poster since you were defending his position."

Actually, it does not. I replied to your post to someone, fixing his link. Then you made comments about the article, which showed you had only read the title. I replied, then you responded to my reply. What you were saying to someone else on an earlier post is irrelevant, as we had already started a new discussion.

I can see why you would want to change the subject though. Your point was less than spectacular.
80 posted on 05/09/2006 5:06:00 AM PDT by CarolinaGuitarman ("There is grandeur in this view of life....")
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