05-13-2008, 09:13 AM
ComfortEagle Wrote:Some animals don't need to evolve, they are already adapted to their environments. If something were to change that required them to evolve, then yes it may happen.
Here is an example of evolution at work, it is about the peppered moth in England:
"The evolution of the peppered moth over the last two hundred years has been studied in detail. Originally, the vast majority of peppered moths had light colouration, which effectively camouflaged them against the light-coloured trees and lichens which they rested upon. However, because of widespread pollution during the Industrial Revolution in England, many of the lichens died out, and the trees that peppered moths rested on became blackened by soot, causing most of the light-coloured moths, or typica, to die off from predation. At the same time, the dark-coloured, or melanic, moths, carbonaria, flourished because of their ability to hide on the darkened trees."
-Miller, Ken (1999) The Peppered Moth: An Update
"Since then, with improved environmental standards, light-coloured peppered moths have again become common, but the dramatic change in the peppered moth's population has remained a subject of much interest and study, and has led to the coining of the term industrial melanism to refer to the genetic darkening of species in response to pollutants. As a result of the relatively simple and easy-to-understand circumstances of the adaptation, the peppered moth has become a common example used in explaining or demonstrating natural selection to laypeople and classroom students."
http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/global...dmoth.html
The âtextbook storyâ of Englandâs famous peppered moths (Biston betularia) goes like this. The moth comes in light and dark (melanic) forms. Pollution from the Industrial Revolution darkened the tree trunks, mostly by killing the light-coloured covering lichen (plus soot).
The lighter forms, which had been well camouflaged against the light background, now âstood out,â and so birds more readily ate them. Therefore, the proportion of dark moths increased dramatically. Later, as pollution was cleaned up, the light moth became predominant again.
The shift in moth numbers was carefully documented through catching them in traps. Release-recapture experiments confirmed that in polluted forests, more of the dark form survived for recapture, and vice versa. In addition, birds were filmed preferentially eating the less camouflaged moths off tree trunks.
The story has generated boundless evolutionary enthusiasm. H.B. Kettlewell, who performed most of the classic experiments, said that if Darwin had seen this, âHe would have witnessed the consummation and confirmation of his lifeâs work.â1
Actually, even as it stands, the textbook story demonstrates nothing more than gene frequencies shifting back and forth, by natural selection, within one created kind. It offers nothing which, even given millions of years, could add the sort of complex design information needed for ameba-to-man evolution.
Even L. Harrison Matthews, a biologist so distinguished he was asked to write the foreword for the 1971 edition of Darwinâs Origin of Species, said therein that the peppered moth example showed natural selection, but not âevolution in action.â
However, it turns out that this classic story is full of holes anyway. Peppered moths donât even rest on tree trunks during the day.
Kettlewell and others attracted the moths into traps in the forest either with light, or by releasing female pheromonesâin each case, they only flew in at night. So where do they spend the day? British scientist Cyril Clarke, who investigated the peppered moth extensively, wrote:
âBut the problem is that we do not know the resting sites of the moth during the day time. ⦠In 25 years we have found only two betularia on the tree trunks or walls adjacent to our traps (one on an appropriate background and one not), and none elsewhere.â2
The moths filmed being eaten by the birds were laboratory-bred ones placed onto tree trunks by Kettlewell; they were so languid that he once had to warm them up on his car bonnet (hood).3
And all those still photos of moths on tree trunks? One paper described how it was doneâdead moths were glued to the tree.4 University of Massachusetts biologist Theodore Sargent helped glue moths onto trees for a NOVA documentary. He says textbooks and films have featured âa lot of fraudulent photographs.â5,6
Other studies have shown a very poor correlation between the lichen covering and the respective moth populations. And when one group of researchers glued dead moths onto trunks in an unpolluted forest, the birds took more of the dark (less camouflaged) ones, as expected. But their traps captured four times as many dark moths as light onesâthe opposite of textbook predictions!7
University of Chicago evolutionary biologist Jerry Coyne agrees that the peppered moth story, which was âthe prize horse in our stable,â has to be thrown out.
He says the realization gave him the same feeling as when he found out that Santa Claus was not real.5
Regrettably, hundreds of millions of students have once more been indoctrinated with a âproofâ of evolution which is riddled with error, fraud and half-truths.8
http://www.answersingenesis.org/creation.../moths.asp
Messages In This Thread
Darwin's impact -- The bloodstained legacy of evolution! - by BaseballMan - 05-12-2008, 12:55 PM
Darwin's impact -- The bloodstained legacy of evolution! - by BaseballMan - 05-12-2008, 12:56 PM
Darwin's impact -- The bloodstained legacy of evolution! - by thecavemaster - 05-12-2008, 02:14 PM
Darwin's impact -- The bloodstained legacy of evolution! - by BaseballMan - 05-12-2008, 03:05 PM
Darwin's impact -- The bloodstained legacy of evolution! - by thecavemaster - 05-12-2008, 04:50 PM
Darwin's impact -- The bloodstained legacy of evolution! - by launchpad4 - 05-12-2008, 10:08 PM
Darwin's impact -- The bloodstained legacy of evolution! - by thecavemaster - 05-12-2008, 11:08 PM
Darwin's impact -- The bloodstained legacy of evolution! - by ComfortEagle - 05-12-2008, 11:23 PM
Darwin's impact -- The bloodstained legacy of evolution! - by Coach_Owens87 - 05-12-2008, 11:56 PM
Darwin's impact -- The bloodstained legacy of evolution! - by BaseballMan - 05-13-2008, 09:08 AM
Darwin's impact -- The bloodstained legacy of evolution! - by BaseballMan - 05-13-2008, 09:13 AM
Darwin's impact -- The bloodstained legacy of evolution! - by BaseballMan - 05-13-2008, 09:20 AM
Darwin's impact -- The bloodstained legacy of evolution! - by BaseballMan - 05-13-2008, 09:29 AM
Darwin's impact -- The bloodstained legacy of evolution! - by Coach_Owens87 - 05-13-2008, 08:28 PM
Darwin's impact -- The bloodstained legacy of evolution! - by launchpad4 - 05-13-2008, 09:48 PM
Darwin's impact -- The bloodstained legacy of evolution! - by launchpad4 - 05-13-2008, 09:52 PM
Darwin's impact -- The bloodstained legacy of evolution! - by BaseballMan - 05-14-2008, 12:25 PM
Darwin's impact -- The bloodstained legacy of evolution! - by ComfortEagle - 05-20-2008, 04:11 AM
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