Gradualism Versus Punctuationism Essay - 831 Words

Gradualism versus Punctuationism Although modern evolutionists are thought to be divided on the issues surrounding evolutionary theory, a close look at the evidence suggests that both the gradualist school of thought and the punctuationist school of thought share many characteristics in common. This is especially true when evaluating their beliefs about the fossil record, disagreement with the theory of saltation, and the misinterpretation of the word â€Å"rapid† in terms of punctuationist theory. Although this may be the case, the two theories do diverge on one important point, the notion of periods of stasis, but when taken as a whole, the evidence suggests that punctuationism is not as radical as it has been hyped up to be. In terms of†¦show more content†¦This could make sense when viewed in the context of the fossil record. Saltationists would argue that there really are no gaps in the fossil record. The dramatic changes noted in the fossil record would be products of macromutations which are signs of natural selection. This cannot be the case for two distinct reasons. First, large macromutations are considerably maladaptive for an organism. In this sense, the size of a mutation will determine whether the organism will survive and pass on the mutated gene. Larger mutations will be less likely to be selected, because they will produce large behavioral abnormalities in the organism, which will significantly impair the organism in carrying out normal species-typical behaviors for survival. In turn, the organism will probably die before it is able to successfully reproduce. In addition, some mutations that are termed macromutations are not really macromutations at all, but instead small changes i n the genetic instructions that produce large changes in the individual. nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;It has also been argued, that gradualists believe that evolution proceeds in a constant fashion. This is also a myth. Both gradualists and punctuationists believe that evolution proceeds in a somewhat jerky fashion with periods of evolutionary change being mixed with periods of stasis, or no change (Dawkins, 1986). The main point at which the