General Sites for Evolution

BBC News: Fin to limb evolution clue found

A study has shed light on a key genetic step in the evolution of animals' limbs from the fins of fish, scientists say.

BBC News: Hammerhead shark mystery solved

The mystery may now be solved by a study showing that a hammerhead gives sharks outstanding binocular vision and an ability to see through 360 degrees.

Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion Year History of the Human Body

PowerPoint Downloads: In Your Inner Fish, Neil Shubin tells the story of evolution by tracing the organs of the human body back millions of years, long before the first creatures walked the earth.

A History of Evolutionary Thought

Learn about the many scientists and thinkers who have made contributions towards the theories of evolution, from Aristotle to scientists of the 20th Century. and speciation. Well worth a look.

Enter Evolution: Theory and History

A general site on evolution that covers: systematics, dinosaur discoveries, vertebrate flight, and a thorough coverage of important people whose ideas influenced the development of evolutionary theory.

Evolution for Teaching

This website is hosted by the University of Waikato and has been developed to provide a web based resource for use by teachers, especially in the science fields of evolution and geological time.

Evolution

Contains articles as well as animations on a variety of issues ranging from Darwin's theories, extinction, the need for sex, survival, and the coexistence of evolution and faith. Excellent, well worth a look.

Evolution on the Web for Biology Students

This web page lists links to other websites. Subheadings include: the history of evolutionary thought, evidence for evolution, mechanisms of evolutionary change, sexual selection, origin of new species, fossil rec

Evolution: Education and Outreach

This website descibes general review articles about evolution, the teaching of evolution and evolution and society.

Harvard University Biology Links: Evolution

Provides a list of links to sites concerned with evolution.

Kiwi Evolution (NZ)

A New Zealand site, presenting an excellent resource on the flightless nocturnal bird , the Kiwi. Includes sections on taxonomy, adaptations and the bird's current survival issues.

Speciation

What defines a species? How do species originate? This site answers these questions by examining reproductive isolation, geographic isolation and the evolutionary tree.

The Talk. Origins Archive

Talk. Origins is a Usenet newsgroup devoted to the discussion and debate of biological and physical origins. Most discussions center on the creation/evolution controversy, but other topics include the origin of life, geology, and mechanisms of evolution.

UC Museum of Paleontology Virtual Exhibits

The University of California, provides excellent information of phylogeny, geological time and evolutionary thought.

Berkeley: Understanding Evolution

Understanding Evolution is a non-commercial, education website, teaching the science and history of evolutionary theology. This site is here to help you understand what evolution is, how it works, how it factors into your life, how research in evolutionary biology is performed, and how ideas in this area have changed over time.

BBC News: 'Missing link' fossil seal walked

It may look like a cross between a seal and an otter; but an Arctic fossil could, scientists say, hold the secret of seal evolution in its feet.

Charles Darwin

Nature - Darwin 200

This link will give you a download of a 17-page PDF of "evolution gems" -- 15 examples of evolution from the pages of Nature -- an easy-to-read summary of each and then the citation to the original article and some related supplemental articles. PDF Download - http://www.nature.com/nature/newspdf/evolutiongems.pdf

Darwin Correspondence Project

This site provides access to a huge collection of correspondence generated by Darwin during his lifetime. Letters form the largest single category of Darwin's working papers (this website contains details of around 14,500 surviving letters) and were one of the most important means by which he gathered data and discussed ideas. They provide a remarkably complete picture of the development of his thinking, throwing light on his formative years and the years of his voyage around the world on H.M.S. Beagle.

Charles Darwin - The Descent of Man

Complete text of this famous book by Charles Darwin.

Charles Darwin - The Voyage of the Beagle

Complete text of this book by Charles Darwin that documents the observation he made during his famous journey around the world on the HMS Beagle.

Darwin and Evolution Overview

Provides an excellent summary of Darwin's contributions to evolutionary thought.

Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" Overview

An excellent summary of the main points made in Darwin's book, highlighting several points that had major impact on nineteenth-century thought.

Darwin's Precursors and Influences

Provides a clear historical treatment of Darwin's theories and the various influences that helped him develop them.

The Origin of Species - by Charles Darwin

The complete text of this famous book by Charles Darwin published in 1859.

What is Darwinism?

The term "Darwinism" has numerous meanings depending on who has used the term and at what period. This page, which is part of the Talk.Orgins site, explains how Darwin's thoughts can be partitioned into about five separate theories.

Evolution Theory and 'Evidence'

BBC News: Feeding birds 'changes evolution'

Bird-feeders, hung in many a garden, can affect the way our feathered friends evolve, say scientists.

BBC News: 'Lifeless' prion proteins are 'capable of evolution'

In the study, published in the journal Science, the scientists transferred prion populations from brain cells to other cells in culture and observed the prions that adapted to the new environment out-competed their brain-adapted counterparts. When returned to the brain cells, the brain-adapted prions again took over the population.

Scientific American: Evolution details revealed through 21-year E. coli experiment

In 1988 Richard Lenski started growing cultures of Escherichia coli. Twenty-one years later the professor of microbial ecology reveals new details about the differences between adaptive and what appeared to be more random and neutral genetic mutations. The findings might eventually help scientists better understand mutations in human diseases and infections.

Breakup of Gondwanaland

The animation on this page shows the changing positions of the continents based on tectonic plate movements from 200 million years ago to the present.

Evolution MegaLab

Did you know that thanks to a common little snail you can find in your garden, in the park or under a hedge, you can see evolution in your own back yard? OK, so evolution is a very slow process. Life on Earth started about three-and-a-half billion years ago!

Evidence for Evolution: An Eclectic Survey

This is a compilation of "evidence for evolution". It is not in any particular order because each post can stand on its own.

BBC Earth News: How the turtle's shell developed

A Japanese team studied the development of turtle embryos to find out why their ribs grow outward and fuse together to form a tough, external carapace. The scientists do not yet know what causes the folding. "That belongs to a future project," said Dr Kuratani, but have revealed a spectaculation on how the unique animals get their shells.

BBC Earth News: Evolution is slowing snails down

Few studies have tested the idea, and three done on rodents could not find any evidence it was true. "Ours is the fourth and the first to demonstrate significant directional selection on metabolism," says Nespolo.

BBC Earth News: Mouse set to be 'evolution icon'

Deer mice are one of the most abundant and widespread mammals in North America. Usually the mice have a dark coat, which enables them to blend in with dark soils and avoid being seen by predators such as owls and hawks. But at Sand Hills in Nebraska, pale-coated mice abound.

BBC News: Human line 'nearly split in two'

Ancient humans started down the path of evolving into two separate species before merging back into a single population, a genetic study suggests.

Fossils and Continental Drift

A look at how fossils provide direct evidence for evolution.

Introduction to Evolutionary Biology

Hosted by the excellent Talk Origins Archive site, this provides a (very long!) thorough explanation of what evolution is, common misconceptions about evolution, and the currently understood models by which it is thought to operate.

Maps of Ancient Earth

This page consists of coloured maps showing the changing position of the continents from 510 million years ago to the present day.

Transitional Vertebrate Fossils FAQ

Provides excellent examples of transitional fossils in the fossil record as a means of providing evidence for evolution (hosted by the excellent Talk.Origins Archive site).

Nature: 15 Evolutionary Gems (PDF download)

Most biologists take for granted the idea that all life evolved by natural selection over billions of years. They get on with researching and teaching in disciplines that rest squarely on that foundation.This PDF contains 15 examples published by Nature over the past decade or so to illustrate evolutionary thinking.

The Fossil Record

BBC News: Missing link dinosaur discovered

Researchers have discovered a fossil skeleton that appears to link the earliest dinosaurs with the large plant-eating sauropods.

BBC News: Fossil tracks record 'oldest land-walkers'

The oldest evidence of four-legged animals walking on land has been discovered in southeast Poland.

Burgess Shale fossils

The Burgess Shale is an exceptional Cambrian age fossil site located in the Rocky Mountains, Canada. The locality is special because of the soft-bodied preservation of a wide diversity of fossil invertebrate animals.

BBC News: Extinction hits 'whole families'

According to a pattern, the study's authors point out, extinctions are likely to eliminate entire branches of the evolutionary tree. The finding is based on an examination of past extinctions, but could help current conservation efforts.

Geological Time Scale

Provides an introduction to the concept of geological time and how this relates to the stratigraphy of sedimentary rocks.

Geology and Geologic Time

Provides a good description of geologic time. Click on the stratigraphy page link.

Horse Evolution Over 55 Million Years

Excerpted from the Florida Museum of Natural History Fossil Horse Cybermuseum, this webpage discusses the fossil history of the horse, and provides links to more detailed aspects.

Megafauna Links

These two links provide interesting information about the Megafauna which once roamed the Earth.

• Death of the Megafauna
• Megafauna

Museum Victoria: Dinosaurs and Fossils

Part of the Museum Victoria website,explore the processes behind fossilisation. Learn about dinosaurs, ice age mammals and the Australian megafauna.

Naracoorte Caves National Park

The importance of the fossil record at Naracoorte Caves was officially recognised in 1994, when the site was inscribed on the World Heritage List. The park preserves 600 ha of remnant vegetation, with 26 caves contained within the 305 ha World Heritage Area.

The Age of the Earth

Hosted by the Talk.Origins Archive site, explains scientific research has demonstrated that the Earth is very old, as well as looking at how common criticisms of this finding can be rebuffed.

The Paleo Ring

The Paleo Ring is a newly developing collection of websites and pages that are devoted primarily to the promotion of palaeontology, prehistoric archaeology, the evolution of behaviour, and evolutionary biology in general.

Whale Origins

Scientists have long known that cetaceans (whales, dolphins, and porpoises) descended from four-footed land mammals. Cetaceans evolved rapidly, and the entire transition from land mammal to obligate marine whale took less than 8 million years. This web site is hosted by the world's leading research center into whale evolution at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine and College of Pharmacy.

The Origins of Life on Earth

New Scientist: How life evolved: 10 steps to the first cells

We may never be able to prove beyond any doubt how life first evolved. But of the many explanations proposed, one stands out - the idea that life evolved in hydrothermal vents deep under the sea.

New Scientist: Was our oldest ancestor a proton-powered rock?

PETER MITCHELL was an eccentric figure. For much of his career he worked in his own lab in a restored manor house in Cornwall in the UK, his research funded in part by a herd of dairy cows. His ideas about the most basic process of life - how it gets energy - seemed ridiculous to his fellow biologists.

From Primordial Soup to the Prebiotic Beach

Hosted by Access Excellence, this site conducts an interview with Dr. Miller about the conditions for life on Earth. Includes the Panspermia theory and the Miller-Urey Electric discharge experiment designed to examine conditions essential for life.

Miller/Urey Experiment

A brief article looking at the Miller and Urey experiment, and its implications for the origin of life.

Mimivirus - Unintelligent Design

With the recent discovery of a truly monstrous virus, scientists are again casting about for how best to characterize these spectral life-forms. The new virus, officially known as Mimivirus (because it mimics a bacterium), is detailed in this Discover article.

Origin of Life

A brief article looking at what conditions are needed for life to begin. Useful for those who have no prior knowledge and is easy to read.

Origins of Life on Earth

A look at how the geological change of Earth over time was able to support human life.

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