“Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution” – Theodosius Dobzhansky, 1973.
Biology, the science of life, has an enormity of subfields – marine biology, biochemistry, botany, genetics, microbiology, ecology, which interact with many other fields – medicine, agriculture, economics, environmental science, climate that influence our everyday lives. Understanding evolution is therefore critical in making informed decisions about various topics, problems, and issues. Let’s take a look at some of the more important topics of the day to better understand why evolution matters to everyday people.
Why Evolution Matters
Medicine – Since bacteria and virus have such short generation times, they evolve very quickly. Understanding this salient fact yields some useful knowledge such as:
- Flu vaccinations should be taken yearly as viral strands rapidly evolve
- Antibiotics shouldn’t be overused (or taken for viruses for that matter) as it will encourage the evolution of resistant strands
- If antibiotics are proving unhelpful in fighting a bacterial infection you may be up against a resistant strand. Taking a stronger dose will only increase the selection pressure. Instead, take a combination of different antibiotics.
- Understanding genetics allows people to manage hereditary diseases
Agriculture – Billions of dollars are lost every year as a result of ignoring evolutionary theory.
- Monoculture can lead to a lack of genetic variation, making them vulnerable to disaster due to changing environmental conditions
- Using a preventive spraying of pesticides leads to pests evolving resistances to those pesticides and rendering them less useful in the future. Pesticides should only be used as necessary.
Economics – Misunderstanding evolutionary theory results in economic losses in many industries. A new field called Evolutionary Economics is growing up around the idea of combining evolutionary theory with economics.
Environmental Science – We are rapidly learning about the ecosystem services that maintaining a healthy environment provides humanity
- Hunting and farming for the largest animals, or animal traits, puts a strong selection pressure on being smaller. As elephant poachers hunted for elephants with the largest tusks, those with smaller tusks had a reproductive advantage resulting in small tusks spreading through the population. Fishing for the biggest fishes results in selection pressures for smaller fishes. Hunting and farming should strive for proportional size yields.
- Understanding the evolutionary history of organisms can help preserve biodiversity that allows ecosystem services such as: clean drinking water, decomposition of waste, nutrient dispersal and recycling, providing energy, food, and raw materials, and so on
Climate – Climate provides a strong selection pressure on nearly all life on Earth
- Plants sprout, flower, and grow earlier in the season if the climate is cooling and later in the season if the climate is warming. This affects planting and harvesting of many crops.
This is not by any means a comprehensive list although it should be easy to see that understanding and applying evolutionary theory has a wide range of effects on humanity.
Further reading: Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond; Collapse by Jared Diamond; The Revenge of Gaia by James Lovelock; One With Niniveh by Paul and Anne Ehrlich; Betrayal of Science and Reason by Paul and Anne Ehrlich
It was interesting to learn that the climate provides a strong selection on Earth life as plants sprout, flower, and grow earlier in the season if the climate is cooling and later if the climate is warming.
So interesting! I didn’t realize evolution applied to so many different aspects of our world.
This is very interesting. I fully agree Evolution is incredibly important.
So looking forward that we evolve too on being a better manager of the only place we have. Am serious about this. =)
I agree that understanding evolution is important. We could all pay attention to Darwin’s work on this, particularly his comments on co-operation.
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change, that lives within the means available and works co-operatively against common threats.” ~ Charles Darwin
Wow! I didn’t realize evolution has had an impact in so many areas!
This is the best website for useful information. I am definitely pinning this and bookmarking to share with some friends I know would love this
This is so interesting. I know about the evolution of animals, but I didn’t know much about how it affects other things.
I didn’t know evolution effects so much things around us. Thank you for interesting read x
Laura
https://pinkfrenzymissl.blogspot.com/
Great information, hopefully lots of people get to read this post and have a little understanding of how evolution impact us all. Thanks for the post.
This is super interesting. I think it is so important to be aware of evolution!
I was just talking about evolution! Imagine what the world will be like in 200 years from now?! Crazy!
I think evolution needs to be better taught in the pre-secondary education. It seems that far too many “educated” adults don’t actually understand it yet feel empowered to refute certain aspects of it. Great post.
I think the one that I most understand here is medicine. But I worked in a physician’s office for 10 years so learned a lot there. We do the flu shot every year.
this is very interesting and very informative. Evolution is really important
Once again, I will share that informative post with my daughter. She wrote a paper on evolution and she will enjoy this post again.
It’s wonderful to read your take on evolutionary theory. All theories pertaining to humanity should be explored.
It is so true. Humans should understand the reproductive process of every species. If we want to preserve the advantages these species gives us then we must respect and care for them too.
Evolution is really important. Each of us needs to learn where we came from and what its process.
Your break down of medicine Agriculture, Economics, and Environmental are interesting. A lot of points I hadn’t really thought about.
I have enjoyed this series. So informative without all the jargon.
I find all the information on evolution so fascinating. I wish they would teach more about it in schools.
Great points. We have tried to stall evolution on all fronts, it seems. I truly believe that some of the illnesses we are dealing with these days are the human body’s way of trying to adapt to a polluted world, for example. Instead of trying to change our ways as societies, though, or trying to understand the role of evolution in our cancer crisis (for example) we’re just trying to obliterate the problem by throwing more chemicals in the mix which are then, themselves, creating MORE cancers… and that’s just ONE example.
What an informative read. And I feel the overuse of antibiotics is rising and leading to diseases that now don’t respond to meds and recurring infections. If the trend kept like this, in short time we will be facing epidemic.
This is such an important topic and I am happy to have find this post. I never thought about how evolution really was to the world we live in and similarly how misunderstanding evolution affects the environment, economy etc. I would love to read more on this topic.
It’ s interesting to see how things change. It’s good to understand why the changes matter too.
Understanding evolution is more important than most people realize. Things like the overuse of antibiotics has caused a lot more harm than most will ever know.
Interesting and insightful read!
I loved Guns, Germs, and Steel! It’s incredible how much people (especially those in power) are able to ignore science.
Evolution is so important and I love your view on it.
Very informative, thank you for sharing your knowledge!
Evolution indeed matters! It’s because of evolution that we also have all the advancements just everything although it is still evolving so we have to find ways of tuning in to the rapid evolution so that we don’t suffer the consequences of not adapting.
Evolution is a fascinating subject and one that impacts us all. While some might quibble with aspects of it, global life, and all its permutations continues to evolve.