Show simple item record

dc.contributor.authorJenner, Ronald
dc.date.accessioned2022-06-17T14:47:30Z
dc.date.available2022-06-17T14:47:30Z
dc.date.issued2017-12-06
dc.identifier.citationJenner, R.A. (2018), Evolution Is Linear: Debunking Life's Little Joke. BioEssays, 40: 1700196. https://doi.org/10.1002/bies.201700196en_US
dc.identifier.issn0265-9247
dc.identifier.doi10.1002/bies.201700196
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10141/622985
dc.description.abstractLinear depictions of the evolutionary process are ubiquitous in popular culture, but linear evolutionary imagery is strongly rejected by scientists who argue that evolution branches. This point is frequently illustrated by saying that we didn't evolve from monkeys, but that we are related to them as collateral relatives. Yet, we did evolve from monkeys, but our monkey ancestors are extinct, not extant. Influential voices, such as the late Stephen Jay Gould, have misled audiences for decades by falsely portraying the linear and branching aspects of evolution to be in conflict, and by failing to distinguish between the legitimate linearity of evolutionary descent, and the branching relationships among collateral relatives that result when lineages of ancestors diverge. The purpose of this article is to correct the widespread misplaced rejection of linear evolutionary imagery, and to re-emphasize the basic truth that the evolutionary process is fundamentally linear.en_US
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherWileyen_US
dc.rightsopenAccessen_US
dc.titleEvolution Is Linear: Debunking Life's Little Jokeen_US
dc.typeJournal Articleen_US
dc.identifier.eissn1521-1878
dc.identifier.journalBioEssaysen_US
dc.date.updated2022-06-15T12:47:33Z
dc.identifier.volume40en_US
dc.identifier.issue1en_US
dc.identifier.startpage1700196-1700196en_US
elements.import.authorJenner, Ronald A
dc.description.nhmCopyright © 2017, The Author. This document is the author’s submitted version of the journal article. You are advised to consult the published version if you wish to cite from it.en_US
dc.description.nhmNHM Repository
dc.subject.nhmlinear evolutionen_US
dc.subject.nhmmarch of progressen_US
dc.subject.nhmscala naturaeen_US
dc.subject.nhmStephen J Goulden_US
refterms.dateFOA2018-12-07T00:00:00Z


Files in this item

Thumbnail
Name:
Jenner_Evolution_is_linear_final ...
Size:
170.7Kb
Format:
PDF
Description:
Submitted version

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record