Serina Astorga
Anth 101
Ramsey
5 September 2014
Darwin’s theories about natural selection has brought confusion to several scientists’ minds, debating whether these theories are true or not. As for Jonathan Weiner, he completely agrees with Darwin. In his article, Evolution in Action, he states how the biological life is quickly changing right in front of our eyes and claims that though there are arguments about whether Darwin’s theories are true or not, there has been evidence of natural selection. Weiner includes several examples of natural selection in his article and compares the different observations of many scientists.
He states the fact that species are constantly evolving each day due to the changes of their environment caused by us humans. One example he includes is the one about the peppered moths which took place in England and is the most well- known evidence of evolution. Another example he mentions is the one about Darwin’s finches and the changes in the beaks which was discovered by two biologists, Peter and Rosemary Grant. However, the example that I found most interesting was the one that he mentioned about the rams and the fish. Weiner states that humans have a huge influence on species and are the main cause of these changes. In Alberta, Canada hunters had killed the largest mountain sheep, and now rams are much smaller. This same situation occurred with cod fish as well. It was then proven that the smaller ram and fish had stronger genes than the bigger one, causing them to only reproduce small offspring.
Jonathan Weiner also compares the terms microevolution and macroevolution. He states that microevolution is “the process whereby a population acquires small, inherited changes through natural selection.” Weiner goes on by saying that those who reject Darwin’s theory just see a Finch as a Finch and a fish as a fish, instead of going into depth of those species and studying their