how did comparative embryology support the theory of evolution?
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The field of comparative embryology aims to understand how embryos develop, and to research the inter-relatedness of animals. It has bolstered evolutionary theory by demonstrating that all vertebrates develop similarly and have a putative common ancestor.
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Convergent evolution shows how species have evolved separately but have similar (analogous) structures. Divergent evolution demonstrates how species can have common (homologous) anatomical structures which have evolved for different purposes.
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Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection states that evolution occurs through the natural selection of heritable variation. Development plays the key physiological role connecting the heritable genotypes, passed from one generation to the next, to the phenotypes that are made available for selection.
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Darwin and a scientific contemporary of his, Alfred Russel Wallace, proposed that evolution occurs because of a phenomenon called natural selection. In the theory of natural selection, organisms produce more offspring that are able to survive in their environment.
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Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny (the evolution of species).
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Embryology, the study of the development of the anatomy of an organism to its adult form, provides evidence for evolution as embryo formation in widely-divergent groups of organisms tends to be conserved. ... Another form of evidence of evolution is the convergence of form in organisms that share similar environments.
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Both provide evidence for evolution. Homologous structures are structures that are similar in related organisms because they were inherited from a common ancestor. ... The forelimbs of all mammals have the same basic bone structure. Analogous structures are structures that are similar in unrelated organisms.
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Ontogeny is about the development of an individual. Phylogeny is about the evolutionary history of a population, and how it is related to others. Recapitulation is discredited idea that the development of an embryo followed the evolutionary history of that organism.
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Strictly speaking, convergent evolution occurs when descendants resemble each other more than their ancestors did with respect to some feature. Parallel evolution implies that two or more lineages have changed in similar ways, so that the evolved descendants are as similar to each other as their ancestors were.
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Embryology, the study of the development of the anatomy of an organism to its adult form, provides evidence for evolution as embryo formation in widely-divergent groups of organisms tends to be conserved.
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The biogenetic law implied that researchers could study evolutionary relationships between taxa by comparing the developmental stages of embryos for organisms from those taxa. Furthermore, the evidence from embryology supported the theory that all of species on Earth share a common ancestor.
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Embryology (from Greek ἔμβρυον, embryon, "the unborn, embryo"; and -λογία, -logia) is the branch of biology that studies the prenatal development of gametes (sex cells), fertilization, and development of embryos and fetuses.
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Punctuated equilibrium is a theory of evolution that tries to model the rate of speciation. It was developed through research by scientists Eldredge and Gould. According to this theory, species are mostly in equilibrium. That is, populations stay more or less the same over time.
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Summary. Multiple types of evidence support the theory of evolution: Homologous structures provide evidence for common ancestry, while analogous structures show that similar selective pressures can produce similar adaptations (beneficial features).
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Similarities in structure among distantly related species are analogous if they evolved independently in similar environments. They provide good evidence for natural selection. Examples of evidence from embryology which supports common ancestry include the tail and gill slits present in all early vertebrate embryos.
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Homologous structures share a common ancestry, but not necessarily a common function. Analogous structures share a common function, but do not share a common ancestry. ... Similar patterns of embryological development provide further evidence that organisms have descended from a common ancestor.
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Embryology supports the theory that organisms have a common ancestor (in accordance to theory of evolution). The theory of evolution explains that not every feature of an ancestor's embryo is shown in its descendants. That explains why embryos develop into different species over time.