Hi All,
Another essay.
At this link:-
From dinosaurs to birds: a tail of evolution
- is the provisional version of a paper up for publication in the journal EvoDevo.
It describes how observations in developmental and mutational genetics and the fossil record are being combined to derive plausible routes by which an important evolutionary transition took place. In this case the transition is from dinosaur tails (long, unfused vertebrate, with leg muscle attachments, and no pygostyle) into bird tails (short, fused vertebrate, with no or little leg muscle attachment, and a pygostyle).
The read is a bit of a task. The transition was complex and the underlying genetics is complex. But within the jumble, some clear patterns have emerged which provide the insights to researchers.
The following essay over several posts, will be my attempt to describe the paper.
A sub theme of these posts is to illustrate one of the ways in which scientists test ideas about evolution. There are many other ways in which researchers test their theories. This is one of those ways and is largely due to:-
1) a better fossil record. and
2) a lot more genetic and mutational data thanks to recent improvements in technology.
To be continued ...
Another essay.
At this link:-
From dinosaurs to birds: a tail of evolution
- is the provisional version of a paper up for publication in the journal EvoDevo.
It describes how observations in developmental and mutational genetics and the fossil record are being combined to derive plausible routes by which an important evolutionary transition took place. In this case the transition is from dinosaur tails (long, unfused vertebrate, with leg muscle attachments, and no pygostyle) into bird tails (short, fused vertebrate, with no or little leg muscle attachment, and a pygostyle).
The read is a bit of a task. The transition was complex and the underlying genetics is complex. But within the jumble, some clear patterns have emerged which provide the insights to researchers.
The following essay over several posts, will be my attempt to describe the paper.
A sub theme of these posts is to illustrate one of the ways in which scientists test ideas about evolution. There are many other ways in which researchers test their theories. This is one of those ways and is largely due to:-
1) a better fossil record. and
2) a lot more genetic and mutational data thanks to recent improvements in technology.
To be continued ...
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