what is the importance of evolution?

Answer 1

I guess it's pretty important since we wouldn't be here without it.

Answer 2

It is important because it shows that all creatures are related. This helps doctors, scientists, and similar people understand more about the human body. If animals and humans weren't related, half of all medical theory would be bunk. (I exaggerate, but it's very important.) One example would be a problem I have, scoliosis. The reason people get scoliosis is because we evolved from four-legged creatures. Our spines were perfected to that way of life, but then we started walking upright. The spine that once had one curve now has three. But sometimes, it can't take the pressure and ends up curving sideways. If you don't understand the concept of evolution, you wouldn't understand why people get scoliosis. Or goosebumps. Or wisdom teeth.

Another reason: It is the central idea of Biology. Evolution is the thing that connects all fields of Biology. You really can't study Bio without understanding evolution. The reason Biologists become scared when people talk about eliminating Evolution from schools or teaching it with creationism is because it is so crucial to understanding why life is the way it is. Saying "God did it," or "we don't know" is useless.

Another thing, the flu vaccine is based entirely off of the principle of evolution. So it's pretty important.

Answer 3

It's important to distinguish between the existence of evolution and various theories about the mechanism of evolution. For the time being, I'm not interested in describing evolutionary theory because that's not something that requires a "definition." However, when we refer to the existence of biological evolution we must know what we're talking about. When biologists say that they have observed evolution or that humans and chimps have evolved from a common ancestor they have in mind a scientific definition of evolution. What it it?

One of the most respected evolutionary biologists has recently defined biological evolution as follows:

Biological (or organic) evolution is change in the properties of populations of organisms or groups of such populations, over the course of generations. The development, or ontogeny, of an individual organism is not considered evolution: individual organisms do not evolve. The changes in populations that are considered evolutionary are those that are ‘heritable' via the genetic material from one generation to the next. Biological evolution may be slight or substantial; it embraces everything from slight changes in the proportions of different forms of a gene within a population, such as the alleles that determine the different human blood types, to the alterations that led from the earliest organisms to dinosaurs, bees, snapdragons, and humans.


Douglas J. Futuyma (1998) Evolutionary Biology 3rd ed.,
Sinauer Associates Inc. Sunderland MA p.4

Note that biological evolution refers to populations and not to individuals. In other words, populations evolve but individuals do not. This is a very important point. It distinguishes biological evolution from other forms of evolution in science (e.g., stellar evolution). Another important point is that the changes must be genetic, or heritable—they must be passed on to the next generation. Evolution is the process by which this occurs and it is spread out over many generations. Thus, the short minimal definition of biological evolution is,

Evolution is a process that results in heritable changes in a population spread over many generations.
in the Oxford Concise Science Dictionary we find the following definition:

evolution: The gradual process by which the present diversity of plant and animal life arose from the earliest and most primitive organisms, which is believed to have been continuing for the past 3000 million years

Answer 4

Evolution is what happens when natural and sexual selection occur. It is important, in that, if selection did not occur, our genetic material would have been lost millions of years ago when some evironmental changes took place and our ancestors could not adapt (in a population sense).
Evolution is also important because it annoys the more fundamental religious people, making them look ignorant.
That is important, I think.

Answer 5

Speciation is the process by which new biological species arise. This may take place by various mechanisms. Allopatric speciation occurs in populations that become isolated geographically, such as by habitat fragmentation or migration.[24] Sympatric speciation occurs when new species emerge in the same geographic area.[25][26] Ernst Mayr's peripatric speciation is a type of speciation that exists in between the extremes of allopatry and sympatry. Peripatric speciation is a critical underpinning of the theory of punctuated equilibrium. An example of rapid sympatric speciation can be clearly observed in the triangle of U, where new species of Brassica sp. have been made by the fusing of separate genomes from related plants.

Extinction is the disappearance of species (i.e., gene pools). The moment of extinction is generally defined as occurring at the death of the last individual of that species. Extinction is not an unusual event on a geological time scale—species regularly appear through speciation, and disappear through extinction. The Permian-Triassic extinction event was the Earth's most severe extinction event, rendering extinct 90% of all marine species and 70% of all terrestrial vertebrate species. In the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, many forms of life perished (including approximately 50% of all genera), the most commonly mentioned among them being the non-avian dinosaurs. The Holocene extinction event is a current mass extinction, involving the rapid extinction of tens or hundreds of thousands of species each year. Scientists consider human activities to be the primary cause of the ongoing extinction event, as well as the related influence of climate change.[27]

Answer 6

Evolution is important because it is how all living things change and adapt over time. The emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria and new viruses like H5N1 are classic examples of evolution.

RB

Answer 7

Evolution is not important at all. It just chunters along quietly in the background. No direction. No goal. No ultimate aim. Stuff just happens. It is sort of inevitable, once you take the trouble to try to understand natural selection.

Answer 8

the truth is none, everyone is in religion fights where everyone has to put their two cents in... several times untill the cents adds up to buy guns and bombs... then they go hey, you think we dont have a god? Well lets find out... you get the picture. I don't believe souly on one religion at all but for the most part i am a buddist. So my retort question is... If we really did evolve from monkeys why cant we back that up from watching monkeys today evolve?

Answer 9

so people would stop rooting animals in order to produce a mutant.