Do you believe in evolution? What is Darwinism? Galapagos Islands?

Answer 1

The evidence from many different aspects of nature shows me that organisms have evolved over time. The physical similarities of current animals with extinct animals in the fossil record, the structural similarities of different groups of animals, the biochemical and genetic similarity of all organisms on earth are all small parts of the huge amount of evidence that supports the idea that organisms have evolved.

So, evolution, just like the existence of gravity or of atoms is not something one can "believe in" or "not believe in". The evidence from hundreds of years of observation of nature shows that organisms evolve.

"Darwinism" is a term used by non-biologists to encompass the explanation first proposed by Charles Darwin to explain HOW organisms have evolved. The concept of "natural selection" was first proposed by Darwin, and remains the central explanation, but not the only one, for how and why organisms have evolved.

The Galapagos Islands are a group of small islands in the Pacific Ocean west of South America.

Answer 2

> Do you believe in evolution?
Doesn't matter what I believe, LOL. Evolution is the best explanation for the observed diversity of life on islands. You can extrapolate that to continents too.

> What is Darwinism?
Evolution through natural selection, selection of naturally occurring variation.

> Galapagos Islands?
Galapagos islands are where Darwin noticed that some of the species occuring there were similar to, yet different from, species occurring on the mainland South America. He came up with the idea that the species on the island were descended from individuals coming from the mainland -- and those best adapted to the new environment on the islands were those that had the best reproductive success.

Answer 3

Yes, I believe evolution is a reality. Given the amount of evidence in the fossil record, the nature of reproduction, genetics, DNA and the mutability of the planets environment, evolution is an obvious fact. Denying evolution is the equivalent going back to that silly, solipsistic argument that since noone can really prove the existence of the outside world anyway, you can believe whatever you want to. In that case, all bets are off and my reality is as good as yours ;).

Darwinism is the term given to scientists by creationists who see science as a choice or another religion. They don't really get evolution or understand how the myriad of life forms could possibly have been interconnected and they would rather just have a magical being poof things into existence and forget the nature of the world in general. They are trying to break science down into a philosophical argument, which it isn't. Science already assumes the answer to the question of reality is that it exists as we see it and we can learn from this. Evolution is the result of this questioning applied to biology and speciation. No self respecting biologist holds Darwin up as a god or an infallible prophet, he's simply a questioner who got a piece of the puzzle right.

The Galapagos are a very small island chain located on the equator a bit west of Ecuador. They are significant to the history of the elucidation of the process of evolution because they are one of the islands Darwin visited as a naturalist writing The Origin of Species. These islands contain an array of wildlife that do not exist elsewhere on the planet.

Answer 4

All I really have to add to that is that the Galapagos Islands are where Darwin did his famous study of the finches. He would measure beak size, among other things, and see how the average size would change year to year. He attributed this change to environmental factors and formed the theory of evolution.

Answer 5

Evolution is not something people "believe" in. It is a natural system through which many species have developed over eons.

There is lots of evidence supporting evolution so it is not a "belief" like creationism where there is no evidence, just belief.