Evolution As Such Is No Longer A

Paleontologists Had Long Been Aware Of A Seeming Contradiction Between Darwin's Postulate Of Gradualism, Confirmed By The Work Of Population Genetics, And The Actual Findings Of Paleontology. Following Phyletic Lines Through Time Seemed To Reveal Only Minimal Gradual Changes But No Clear Evidence For Any Change Of A Species Into A Different Genus Or For The Gradual Origin Of An Evolutionary Novelty. Anything Truly Novel Always Seemed To Appear Quite Abruptly In The Fossil Record.

A New Species Develops If A Population Which Has Become Geographically Isolated From Its Parental Species Acquires During This Period Of Isolation Characters Which Promote Or Guarantee Reproductive Isolation When The External Barriers Break Down.

Definitions Are Temporary Verbalizations Of Concepts, And Concepts- Particularly Difficult Concepts- Are Usually Revised Repeatedly As Our Knowledge And Understanding Grows.

Most Scientific Problems Are Far Better Understood By Studying Their History Than Their Logic.

Living In An Entirely Different Physical As Well As Biotic Environment, Such A Population Would Have Unique Opportunities To Enter New Niches And To Select Novel Adaptive Pathways.