Macroevolution

Macroevolution refers to large-scale evolution. For some, this means the origin of species. For others, it means the large-scale changes seen in the fossil record.

1. "Major changes in structure and ways of life over.. tens of millions of years". R.L. Carroll.^[1]
2. "A large evolutionary pattern... events that result in the origin of a new higher taxon". Dictionary of Genetics.^[2]
3. "All macroevolutionary processes take place in populations and in the genotypes of individuals, and are thus simultaneously microevolutionary processes". Mayr.^[3]
4. "A vague term for the evolution of great phenotypic changes, usually great enough to [put] the lineage into a distinct genus or higher taxon". Futuyma.^[4]
5. "Evolution on the grand scale". Ridley.^[5]

It is a term of convenience: for most biologists it does not suggest any change in the process of evolution.^[4][6] For a few palaeontologists, some things they see in the fossil record cannot be explained just by the gradualist evolutionary synthesis.^[7] They are in the minority. There are some interesting discussions by other palaeontologists.^[8]

Some biologists use the term for evolution in already separated gene pools.^[9] For them, macroevolutionary studies focus on change that occurs at or above the level of species. Again, this is a minority position. Most biologist would not call evolution at the species level "macroevolution".

Microevolution,^[10] on the other hand, refers to smaller evolutionary changes within species or populations. During microevolution changes in allele frequencies definitely do occur. Some biologists, Richard Dawkins in particular, have suggested that the gene is the object of selection.^[11][12] This was always challenged by Ernst Mayr "The individual is the entity which survives or not, which reproduces or not, and which reproduces successfully or not".^[13] Changes in gene frequency in populations is a by-product of what happens to individuals.

1. ↑ Carroll R.L. 1997. Patterns and processes of vertebrate evolution. Cambridge University Press. p9 & 362 ISBN 052147809X
2. ↑ King, Robert C; Stansfield W.D. and Mulligan P.K. 2006. A dictionary of genetics. 7th ed, Oxford University Press. p260 ISBN 0195307615
3. ↑ Mayr, Ernst 2000. What evolution is. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London. p190 ISBN 0297607413
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Futuyma D.J. 1998. Evolutionary biology. 3rd ed, Sinauer, Sunderland, Massachusetts.
5. ↑ Ridley M. 2004. Evolution. 2nd ed, Blackwell. Chapter 21, p669.
6. ↑ Rensch B. 1959. Evolution above the species level. Columbia University Press.
7. ↑ Stanley S.M. 1979. Evolution: patterns and processes. Freeman, San Francisco. p3, table 7.1, p183.
8. ↑ Smith A.B. 1994. Systematics and the fossil record: documenting evolutionary patterns. Blackwell, Oxford.
9. ↑ Matzke, Nicholas J. and Paul R. Gross 2006. Analyzing critical analysis: the fallback antievolutionist strategy. In Eugenie Scott and Glenn Branch, Not in our classrooms: why intelligent design is wrong for our schools, Beacon Press, Boston ISBN 0807032786
10. ↑ Dobzhansky, Theodosius (1951). Genetics and the origin of species. New York, Columbia Univ. Press, 3rd ed. LC QH366 .D6. p12
11. ↑ Williams G.C. 1966. Adaptation and natural selection. Princeton University Press.
12. ↑ Dawkins R. 1976. The selfish gene. Oxford University Press.
13. ↑ Mayr, Ernst 1997. The objects of selection. PNAS 94 2091-2094 The objects of selection Archived 2007-03-11 at the Wayback Machine.