Phyletic gradualism

Phyletic gradualism, top, would consist of steady evolutionary change in small steps, in contrast to punctuated equilibrium
Apparently sudden changes can be explained either by macromutation or by relatively rapid episodes of gradual evolution, since 10,000 years barely registers in the fossil record.

Phyletic gradualism is a model of evolution which theorizes that most speciation is slow, uniform and gradual.[1] When evolution occurs in this mode, it is usually by the steady transformation of a whole species into a new one (through a process called anagenesis). In this view no clear line of demarcation exists between an ancestral species and a descendant species, unless splitting occurs. The theory is contrasted with punctuated equilibrium.

  1. ^ Eldredge, N. and S. J. Gould (1972). "Punctuated equilibria: an alternative to phyletic gradualism" In T.J.M. Schopf, ed., Models in Paleobiology. San Francisco: Freeman Cooper. p. 84.

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