#evolutionarybiology — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #evolutionarybiology, aggregated by home.social.
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So if I understood this article correctly, the key conclusion is this - metamorphosis was not the condition for moving onto land?
The traditional picture was:
Tetrapods could leave water because they first evolved a tadpole-like larval stage and then metamorphosed.
The new interpretation suggested by these fossils is closer to:
Tetrapods gradually adapted to land over evolutionary time, and they probably did not need a frog-like metamorphosis to do it.
In other words, metamorphosis was probably not a prerequisite for terrestrial life. Instead, the transition from water to land appears to have been a long, gradual evolutionary process affecting the whole life cycle, rather than depending on a distinct larval stage.
Analogy of two possible scenarios:
Old model
- Young live in water.
- Undergo a major developmental transition.
- Adults become adapted to life on land.
New model
- Young and adults share the same basic body plan.
- Land adaptations accumulate gradually over millions of years (generations).
So the narrative shifts from:
Metamorphosis enabled the move onto land
to:
The move onto land happened gradually, and amphibian-style metamorphosis likely evolved later as a specialized adaptation.
https://www.404media.co/a-new-fossil-discovery-just-rewrote-150-years-of-evolutionary-theory
#Biology #Evolutionary #EvolutionaryBiology #Fossil #Discovery #Metamorphosis #Tetrapods #Science
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The earliest known eukaryotic organisms were exclusively benthic, inhabiting shallow, oxygenated marine seafloors rather than drifting in the anoxic open oceans. Their evolution and geographic distribution were fundamentally constrained by the highly localized availability of oxygen.
#Paleontology #Geochemistry #EvolutionaryBiology #Sedimentology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2026/05/pal05202601.html -
Why #PhilosophyOfBiology? - Episode 2301 - #CloserToTruth
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBZ-8RVaUlM
#Philosophy #Biology #PhilosophyOfScience #Science #Evolution #EvolutionaryBiology #Life #Darwin #CharlesDarwin #Selection #Adaptation #Theory #Theories #Metaphysics #Genetics #Genes #Kuhn #ThomasKuhn #Paradign #Paradigms #MassimoPigliucci #RobertKuhn