Basic Evidence for the Evolution of Organic Species. Evidence for evolution, paleontological: examples
So many people around the world are interested in evidence of evolution. Since childhood, each of us is surrounded by a variety of people - from believing Christians to fans of fantastic stories about aliens and other categories of citizens who attribute the most amazing origin stories to humans.
In practice, few people are able to accept the simple idea that man is a creation of nature, and, like any other organism on the planet, has developed gradually from simpler forms to the one in which he exists now.
The most violent controversies constantly arise on this topic, in which each theory finds its admirers. But it is worthwhile to unequivocally admit the fact that it is the admirers of the theory of evolution that have the most trump cards in their hands, and only they are able to provide truly scientific and fully substantiated confirmation of their view on this issue.
Evidence for evolution is overwhelming and is constantly being updated. Arguing with them is very, very difficult. Let's consider all this in more detail.
Embryological evidence for evolution
The group of evidence for the correctness of the theory of evolution, which was derived from observations of the development of the fetus of an unborn child, was called embryological evidence. In the middle of the 19th century, scientists noticed that at different stages of the formation of the human body in the womb, it is very similar to other, simpler forms of life on earth.
Human embryo (6 weeks)
For example, at the beginning of his development, a person has the rudiments of gills, characteristic of creatures living in water; a very specific tail is observed in the body, which in the future is simply closed by other tissues, remaining with a person in the form of a tailbone for life; the embryo has only one circuit for the circulation of blood, which is also characteristic of creatures of lower development.
Example. The early state of the middle ear system turned out to be a late stage in the degeneration of the lower jaw of reptiles.
It is noticed that in its embryonic development, the fetus goes through states that largely associate it with various systematic groups of creatures, gradually narrowing down to more specific classes, orders, families, genera, and in the last turn it approaches its native species - homo sapiens.
The embryonic evidence in itself is quite eloquent and fully supports the theory of evolution. But their problem is that they are accessible for scientific observation and understanding mainly by scientists and more educated people close to them. Therefore, it can be difficult to beat a simple person with them.
Comparative anatomical evidence for evolution
The group of evidence for evolution, which is based on the similarity of certain parts of the body and characteristics of a person with other animals and his alleged ancestors, is called comparative anatomical.
This group is divided into such narrower sections:
- Vestigial organs. These are those parts of the body of our species that were important for distant ancestors, but now they have lost their relevance and are not used for any actions and processes. An example is appendicitis. This is a classic rudiment that a person does not need in life at all and he inherited from the ancestors of mammals, in whom he played the role of the cecum. Exactly the same rudiment is the fawn - the remnant of the tail, which gradually diminished and, as a result, was completely hidden. There are cases when people were born with an enlarged male, which looked like a real tail, though small in size. It had to be removed with the help of an operation.
- Homologous organs. Various animals and humans have a lot of organs and systems, which are almost identical in structure, but in the process of evolutionary development they could acquire a slightly different appearance. Such organs have exactly the same origin and similar structure. An example is the wings of a bat and a human hand, whale fins, which have the same bones and functional parts.
- Similar bodies. Another group of evidence, the essence of which is that many organs of humans and animals have completely different evolutionary origins, but ultimately play the same role. For example, the eyes of molluscs develop from the elongation of the ectodermal layer, while in vertebrates the eyes originate from the lateral growths of the brain.
- Another large group of comparative anatomical evidence is atavisms. Atavisms are the characteristics of a person that return him to the characteristics of his ancestors. Examples are excessive hairiness, which refers us to monkeys; more than two nipples on a human breast, which reminds of a relationship with other mammals; some people can move their ears like animals and much more.
Comparative anatomical facts are quite telling and do not even require serious substantiation. After all, it is enough for us to see a person whose physiognomy is very similar to a gorilla, and thoughts about evolution begin to suggest themselves.
Biogeographic Evidence for Evolution
Biogeography studies the development of existing life forms in different parts of the planet, on different continents, living in the most dissimilar conditions and climate. With the help of such studies, it is possible to identify an interesting pattern - creatures living in the same climate, but on different parts of the earth, can differ significantly.
This is direct evidence that everywhere the game of evolution is quite unpredictable, and it gives rise to a variety of variants of living beings in a chaotic creative disorder.
This can be observed both in representatives of the plant world and in animals. The essence of this type of evidence boils down to indicating that the fauna and flora of the entire planet originate at one point, but later, as a result of migration and isolation of groups from each other, they evolved in different ways.
An example is cichlid fish in Lake Malawi, where the water is clear and clear, have a purple or blue color, and in Lake Victoria, where the waters are muddy, they are yellow. So this species adapted to living conditions.
Paleontological evidence for evolution
Paleontology has made a huge contribution to the development of the theory of evolution, as it searches for and studies the remains of ancient organisms.
The findings of scientists once again prove that man and other modern creatures have a lot of similarities with their extinct ancestors, a similar structure of the skeleton, some of its parts changed. Something goes away as unnecessary, something appears, but there is always a connection between the ancestor and the modern organism.
A big problem in paleontology is the detection of transitional forms. There is a scandal when the fidelity of evolution was questioned by the fact that the intermediate link between ape and man has not yet been found. An example is the evolution of cetaceans, which has been gradually studied by paleontologists.
Morphological evidence
This group of evidence boils down to comparing the appearance of organisms and looking for similarities between them. For example, comparing the skulls of different types of monkeys and humans, you can find between them a lot of similar and even common characteristics.
Morphophysiological facts can be so obvious that trying to dispute them is simply stupid and completely pointless.
Biochemical evidence
More subtle studies that are carried out at the level of cells, DNA, further confirm the unity of all living organisms on earth. Interestingly, this applies not only to animals, but also to plants. Do you think this plays an important role in the proof of evolution?
There are about 100 different nucleotides in nature, but there are only 4 of them in the DNA of any organism. Of the nearly 400 types of amino acids available on the planet, only the same 22 amino acids can be found in the protein of any organism.
Any comparative table will show that all living organisms are largely composed of the same chemical set, although the surrounding diversity is much larger.
An example is the metabolism of all organisms occurs along the same path, using the same enzymes.
Relic evidence
To whom little of all of the above, including biographical, chemical and other facts, can turn to relict evidence, which consists in the fact that even now there are some types of organisms on earth that were inherent in a very ancient world.
Examples. On the islands in New Zealand, you can find an amazing animal - the tuatara, which is very similar to the dinosaurs that lived 70-80 million years ago. The ginkgo tree is another example, it existed about 150 million years ago.
Conclusion
As a conclusion, we note that cytological, molecular genetic, paleontological and other studies directly indicate the correctness of the theory of evolution and its complete adequacy in relation to reality. Many people do not want to accept this point of view and have every right to do so.
One way or another, but evolution is a reality, already proven by millions of facts and just common sense and observation, and, perhaps, in the future it will triumph on a much larger scale than now.
71. Evidence for evolution: comparative anatomical, embryological, paleontological, etc.
Paleontological evidence for evolution... Fossil remains are the basis for restoring the appearance of ancient organisms. The similarity between fossils and modern organisms is proof of their relationship. Conditions for the preservation of fossil remains and imprints of ancient organisms. Distribution of ancient, primitive organisms in the deepest layers of the earth's crust, and highly organized - in the later layers.
Transitional forms (archeopteryx, animal-toothed lizard), their role in establishing connections between systematic groups. Phylogenetic series - the series of successively replacing each other (for example, the evolution of a horse or an elephant).
2. Comparative anatomical evidence for evolution:
1) the cellular structure of organisms. The similarity of the structure of cells of organisms of different kingdoms;
2) general plan of the structure of vertebrates - bilateral symmetry of the body, spine, body cavity, nervous, circulatory and other organ systems;
3) homologous organs, a single structural plan, common origin, performance of various functions (the skeleton of the forelimb of vertebrates);
4) similar organs, the similarity of the functions performed, the difference in the general plan of structure and origin (gills of fish and crayfish). Lack of relationship between organisms with similar organs;
5) rudiments - disappearing organs, which in the process of evolution have lost their significance for the preservation of the species (the first and third fingers in birds in the wing, the second and fourth fingers in a horse, pelvic bones in a whale);
6) atavisms - the appearance in modern organisms of the signs of ancestors (highly developed hairline, multi-nipple in humans).
3. Embryological evidence for evolution:
1) during sexual reproduction, the development of organisms from a fertilized egg;
2) the similarity of the embryos of vertebrates at the early stages of their development. Formation in embryos of signs of a class, order, and then a genus and species as they develop;
3) the biogenetic law of F. Müller and E. Haeckel - each individual in ontogenesis repeats the history of the development of its species (the shape of the body of the larvae of some insects is proof of their origin from worm-like ancestors).
72. The doctrine of A.I.Severtsov about phylembryogenesis.
PHILEMBRYOGENESIS- evolutionary change in the ontogenesis of organs, tissues and cells, associated with both progressive development and reduction. The doctrine of phylembryogenesis was developed by the Russian evolutionary biologist A.N. Severtsov. The modes (methods) of phylembryogenesis differ in the time of occurrence during the development of these structures. If the development of a certain organ in descendants continues after the stage at which it ended in the ancestors, anabolism occurs (from the Greek anabole - rise) - an extension of the final stage of development. An example is the formation of a four-chambered heart in mammals. In amphibians, the heart is three-chambered: two atria and one ventricle. In reptiles, a septum develops in the ventricle (the first anabolism), but this septum in most of them is incomplete - it only reduces the mixing of arterial and venous blood. In crocodiles and mammals, the development of the septum continues until the right and left ventricles are completely separated (second anabolism). In children, sometimes, as an atavism, the interventricular septum is underdeveloped, which leads to a serious illness requiring surgical intervention.
Prolongation of organ development does not require profound changes in the previous stages of its ontogenesis; therefore, anabolism is the most common way of phylembryogenesis. The stages of organ development preceding the anabolias remain comparable to the stages of phylogenesis of ancestors (i.e., they are recapitulations) and can serve for its reconstruction (see Biogenetic Law). If the development of an organ at intermediate stages deviates from the path followed by its ontogeny in its ancestors, deviation occurs. For example, in fish and reptiles, scales appear as thickening of the epidermis and the underlying connective tissue layer of the skin - corium. Gradually thickening, this bookmark bends outward. Then, in fish, the corium ossifies, the forming bony scales pierce the epidermis and extend to the surface of the body. In reptiles, on the contrary, the bone is not formed, but the epidermis becomes keratinized, forming the horny scales of lizards and snakes. In crocodiles, corium can ossify, forming the bony base of the horny scales. Deviation leads to a deeper than anabolic restructuring of ontogeny, so they are less common.
The least common changes occur in the primary organ rudiments - arhallaxis. With deviation, recapitulation can be traced from the laying of the organ to the moment of evasion of development. With arhallaxis, there is no recapitulation. An example is the development of vertebral bodies in amphibians. In fossil amphibians - stegocephals and in modern tailless amphibians, vertebral bodies are formed around the notochord of several, usually three on each side of the body, separate anlages, which then merge, forming the vertebral body. In tailed amphibians, these bookmarks do not appear. Ossification grows from above and below, covering the notochord, so that a bony tube is immediately formed, which, thickening, becomes the vertebral body. This arhallaxis is the reason for the still debated question of the origin of the tailed amphibians. Some scientists believe that they descended directly from cross-finned fish, independently of other terrestrial vertebrates. Others - that tailed amphibians diverged from other amphibians very early. Still others, neglecting the development of the vertebrae, prove the close relationship of tailed and tailless amphibians.
Organ reduction, which have lost their adaptive value, also occurs through phylembryogenesis, mainly through negative anabolism - the loss of the final stages of development. In this case, the organ is either underdeveloped and becomes a rudiment, or undergoes a reverse development and completely disappears. An example of a rudiment is the human appendix - an underdeveloped cecum, an example of complete disappearance - the tail of frog tadpoles. Throughout its life in water, the tail grows, new vertebrae and muscle segments are added at its end. During metamorphosis, when the tadpole turns into a frog, the tail is absorbed, and the process goes in the opposite order - from end to base. Phylembryogenesis is the main method of adaptive changes in the structure of organisms during phylogenesis.
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A hypothesis becomes a theory when there is evidence. And evolutionary theory has a lot of such evidence.
Interpreting these facts is a completely different matter, here scientists still have a lot of work to do….
The very first evidence that scientists came across - paleontological.
Paleontology deals with remains - bones, prints, etc.
How do we know that there were no mammals before and millions of years ago dinosaurs roamed the planet? On the bones found, less often on whole skeletons.
And how did mankind know about ancient invertebrates or plants of that period? By prints, fragments of tissue, fossils, etc.
Morphological evidence for evolution
First is homologous and similar organs.
Homologous organs - have a common origin.
Similar - different, but outwardly similar.
Before we look at the criteria for these organs and examples, let's look at two paths along which evolution has gone.
Path number 1 - divergence.
In translation, this word means "divergence", "deviation".
Let's imagine that once there was one species of some animal. Then some group of individuals of this species decided to develop a new territory. On this territory there were new conditions and under their influence the species changed, evolved, acquired new characters. As a result, his organs have changed slightly.
This is how homologous organs.
Path number 2 - convergence
In translation - "rapprochement", "unification".
Let's imagine there are two different types of animals. But their living conditions are the same (for example, water or air). Accordingly, they develop, evolve, produce
adaptation to this habitat. These devices (organs) will be very similar, but they will still have different origins.
We get similar bodies.
| Sign | Homologues | Analogs |
| Origin | General | Various |
| Functions | May be different | Are common |
| Evolutionary path | Divergence | Convergence |
| Examples: | The limbs of a deer, whale, bat Modifications of leaves in plants |
bird wings and arthropod wings, in plants - thorns on the stem and thorns - leaves |
Secondly, these are atavisms and rudiments.
There is a lot of information about this, here we will analyze the essence of their differences:
|
Characteristics |
Atavisms |
Rudiments |
| Functions | no, they are superfluous, are not considered the norm for the majority of those living today | some can perform some functions, others are not used, all representatives of the species have. |
| Evolutionary | were developed and functioned in very distant ancestors, preserved in DNA and rarely appear at the present time | were developed and functioned both in ancestors and in closest relatives |
| Examples of | in humans: tail, in animals: extra toes on the horse's foot |
in humans: ear muscles, wisdom teeth in animals: the pelvic bones of a whale |
Embryological evidence
If you look at the development of the embryos of some mammals, then in the early stages you can see similarities that are simply surprising. Studying these similarities has allowed scientists to draw certain conclusions.
One such scientist was the German scientist Karl Baer.
The irony of the situation is that the scientist himself rejected Darwin's theory, but now his works are used to prove evolutionary theory :)
“At the early stages of development, a striking similarity is found in the structure of the embryos of animals belonging to different classes (while the embryo of the highest form is similar not to the adult animal form, but to its embryo ...” K. Beer
This conclusion was later reformulated by Ernst Haeckel:
Ontogenesis (individual development) of a living organism repeats its phylogenetic (historical) development.
Biogeographic evidence
The geographical distribution of animals and plants is consistent with their evolutionary history.
For example, the species composition of many islands was determined by geographic isolation.
In Australia, for example, you can find animals that are not on the continent - endemics.
There are even paleoendemics - "living fossils" - in other places they became extinct, but remained isolated places.
Biochemical evidence for evolution
A DNA molecule stores information about the phylogenesis of an organism; it contains both heredity and variability.
general chemical (organic and inorganic) composition,
the genetic code is common to all living things: both for prokaryotes - bacteria, and for eukaryotic organisms.
the process of glycolysis is the same for all eukaryotic systems and the ATP molecule is a common "energy supplier" for all living things
\u003e\u003e Evidence for the evolution of the animal kingdom
Evolution of the animal world
There are about 2,000,000 animal species on our planet.
These are various invertebrates and vertebrates.
Remember that in their historical development, animals appeared and developed in a certain sequence. For example, the first amphibians appeared about 300 million years ago from ancient fish, and the first reptiles arose about 200 million years ago from ancient amphibians. These examples show that the animal world did not arise immediately, but developed for a long time and gradually. The historical development of the animal world, in the process of which its change and improvement took place and is taking place, is called evolution.
§ 82. Evidence of the evolution of the animal world
The evolution of the animal world in nature is proved by many biological sciences. First of all, this is paleontology - the science of fossil organisms. Then comparative anatomy is the science that compares the structure of various modern animals. Finally, embryology is the science of the embryonic development of organisms.
Modern animals are an insignificant part of the species that appeared on Earth. Tens and hundreds of millions of years ago, the animal world was different than it is now. A great number of animals died out in different eras, unable to withstand the struggle for existence. For example, freshwater cross-finned, all dinosaurs, many groups of arthropods became extinct. Unfortunately, only a tiny fraction of the once inhabited on Earth, animals have been preserved in a fossil state 154 .
Extinct animals in their entirety rarely fall into the hands of scientists.
For example, a well-preserved mammoth was found in the permafrost layer in northern Siberia, and the remains of extinct rodents and other small animals were also found there. More often only bones are preserved in a fossil state vertebrates, and from invertebrates other hard parts - shells, needles. Sometimes only the imprints of whole arthropods or certain parts of the animal's body, such as wings of insects and feathers of birds, are preserved.
Paleontological findings prove that the animal world was continuously evolving, and that extinct animals left their descendants. Findings of the so-called transitional forms are convincing evidence of the kinship of modern and fossil animals. Their structure combines the features of low-organized and highly organized animals (for example, animal-toothed dinosaurs). Found skeletons of ancient cross-finned fish made it possible to establish the origin of amphibians. The ancient bird Archeopteryx is a transitional form between reptiles and birds. The well-preserved imprints of the bones and feathers of this bird made it possible to understand the origin of birds from ancient reptiles.
Comparative anatomical evidence for evolution.
For many animals, fossil ancestors have not been found; data obtained by comparing their structure with other groups of animals help to clarify their origin. For example, the scales on the legs of birds are in shape and structure exactly the same as the scales of lizards and snakes. Comparison of the skeleton of the forelimbs of various terrestrial vertebrates shows their similarity in the structure of the skeletal sections, bones, etc. 155 .
Among modern groups of animals there are also transitional forms, showing the commonality of their origin. So, oviparous mammals (for example, the platypus) have a number of structural features similar to the structure of reptiles and mammals. They, like reptiles, have a cloaca and lay eggs, but, unlike reptiles, they feed their young with milk.
The kinship of the studied animals is also evidenced by the non-functioning organs or parts of them preserved in some animals. For example, rudiments of whale limbs hidden within the body indicate that ancestors whales were land mammals.
The whales use the tail fin to move, so their hind legs disappeared during evolution.
Thus, by comparing animals, one can find out the specific course of their evolution and relationship.
Convincing evidence of the evolution of the animal world is information about the individual development of animals. Embryos, or animal embryos, during development do not just grow, increase in size, but become more and more complicated and improved. And the most interesting thing is that in the early stages of development, they are similar not so much to adult animals of the same species, as to their distant ancestors. Thus, the embryos of all vertebrates in the early stages are very similar to each other 156. All of them even have gill slits, which later disappear in terrestrial animals - reptiles, birds and mammals. Remember the development of a frog at an early stage: its tadpole is very similar to a fish (elongated body, caudal fin, gills, two-chambered heart, one circle of blood circulation). Thus, in their development, the embryos, as it were, briefly repeat those basic changes that have occurred over millions of years in successive animals. 156 .
The rest of the developmental stages of the embryo make it possible to restore the general appearance of distant ancestors. For example, at the earliest stages of development, the embryo of mammals is similar to the embryo of fish, even in the presence of gill slits. From this we can conclude that in the historical line of the ancestors of mammals once, hundreds of millions of years ago, there were fish. At the next stage of development, the same embryo looks like an amphibian embryo. This indicates that among the distant ancestors of mammals, after fish, there were also amphibians.
1. Explain the concept of "evolution of the animal world".
2. Give paleontological evidence of the evolution of living organisms.
3. What do the feather and skeleton prints of Archeopteryx indicate?
4. Provide comparative anatomical evidence of the evolution of the animal world.
5. What embryological data confirm the origin of terrestrial aquatic species from fish?
6. What is the reason for the similarity of the stages of embryonic development in animals of different groups, for example, vertebrates?
Biology: Animals: Textbook. for 7 cl. Wednesday shk. / B. E. Bykhovsky, E. V. Kozlova, A. S. Monchadsky and others; Under. ed. M.A.Kozlova. - 23rd ed. - M .: Education, 2003 .-- 256 p.: Ill.
Calendar-thematic planning in biology, video on biology online, Biology at school download
Lesson content lesson outline support frame lesson presentation accelerative methods interactive technologies Practice tasks and exercises self-test workshops, trainings, cases, quests homework discussion questions rhetorical questions from students Illustrations audio, video clips and multimedia photos, pictures charts, tables, schemes humor, jokes, fun, comics parables, sayings, crosswords, quotes Supplements abstracts articles tips for the curious cheat sheets textbooks basic and additional vocabulary of terms others Improving textbooks and lessons bug fixes in the tutorial updating a fragment in the textbook elements of innovation in the lesson replacing outdated knowledge with new ones For teachers only perfect lessons calendar plan for the year methodological recommendations of the discussion program Integrated lessonsThe evolutionary development of the organic world is evidenced by many facts accumulated by various natural sciences, primarily paleontology, morphology and anatomy, cytology, embryology, biogeography, etc.
Let's look at some of this evidence.
Cytological evidence
Cytology is the science of the structure and function of a cell. She provided evidence of a single cellular structure of all organisms on earth - from unicellular plants and animals to multicellular organisms. This testifies to the common origin of the organic world.
Morphological evidence
Morphology and anatomy are two closely related sciences that study the external and internal structure of organisms (plants and animals). A certain similarity in the structure of different groups of organisms was established and transitional forms between them were identified.
The discovery of rudiments and atavisms played an important role in understanding the processes and directions of evolution.
Atavisms are a return to traits or the appearance of organs that existed in distant ancestors, but were completely lost in the process of evolution. For example, the appearance of a tail, multiple nipples on the chest and abdomen, or thick hair in humans. Cases of the appearance of atavisms indicate that the genes coding for their formation have not disappeared from the genome, but are in a blocked state in it. If for some reason this block does not work, then atavisms appear.
Rudiments are called organs that are present in organisms, but have long lost their original meaning and therefore are in an underdeveloped state. These organs were in an active state in the ancestors, but due to the change in living conditions, they ceased to be necessary in the descendants. They are formed at the stage of embryogenesis, but do not receive full development in adult forms of plants and animals. Examples include the ear muscles, the appendix (appendix), and the “third eyelid” in humans (there are more than 90 rudimentary organs in humans). The rudiments are undeveloped bones of the hind limbs in cetaceans, eyes in cave and burrowing animals (mole rats, moles, etc.), etc. Unlike atavisms, vestigial organs are always present in organisms.
The study of life forms (or biomorphs) of plants and animals has convincingly proved the possibility of transition from one of them to another. For example, in closely related plant species, woody forms can be replaced by shrubby or creeping, depending on the habitat conditions.
Paleontological evidence
Paleontology is a science that studies fossil remains of different groups of organisms or their imprints, traces, etc., as well as entire paleocenoses of territories. The study of these remains revealed the facts of unconditional changes in the flora and fauna in time - in different geological layers, differing in the time of formation, there are unequal forms of extinct organisms. It is shown that the natural landscapes of entire regions themselves changed greatly over time: the seas advanced on land and retreated over vast territories, plains gave way to mountains, forests - steppes, or vice versa, etc. Scientists also managed to find a large number of transitional forms between living and fossil organisms (for example, Archeopteryx, combining the characteristics of birds and reptiles; animal-toothed lizards with the characteristics of mammals; a group of seed ferns, which gave rise to gymnosperms, etc.).
Paleontologists managed to establish a number of phylogenetic series of some animals (for example, the evolution of a horse from a small-sized eohippus with four-toed front and three-toed hind limbs to a modern horse with one-toed limbs has been traced).
Embryological evidence
Embryology is the science of embryonic (or embryonic) development of organisms. It has been established that all multicellular organisms capable of sexual reproduction develop from one fertilized egg (ovum). At the same time, K. Baer in 1825-1828. a great similarity was found in the development of embryos (embryos) in animals belonging to the same type, which he described as the law of embryonic similarity. Further research confirmed the validity of the observations of K. Baer. The similarity in the development of embryos in animals of different taxonomic groups certainly testifies to the commonality of their origin. At the same time, signs of more ancient ancestors appear first (in chordates, these are the rudiments of the chord, the presence of gill slits), and then the features of later progenitors. As the embryo develops, it acquires more and more prominent structural features characteristic of the class, order, genus, and, finally, the species to which it belongs. This divergence of signs of embryos as they develop is called embryonic divergence.
Summarizing these data, German scientists F. Müller and E. Haeckel (1864-1866) formulated a biogenetic law: the individual development (ontogenesis) of any organism is a short and concise repetition of the path of historical development (phylogenesis) of the species to which the given organism belongs ...
The return to the traits of ancestors was called recapitulation in the theory of evolution. This law was developed and refined by the prominent Russian (Soviet) scientist, Academician A.N.Severtsov, who showed that in individual development there is a repetition of the forms of development not of adult ancestors, but only of their embryonic stages. Therefore, in general, the relationship between ontogeny and phylogeny is much more complex than it was postulated by F. Müller and E. Haeckel. Phylogeny should be considered as a historical series of ontogenesis selected in the process of natural selection.
The biogenetic law is applicable not only to chordates, but also to other groups of animals and plants. For example, in many insects, the larval stages are similar to worms (butterfly caterpillars, fly larvae, etc.), which indicates the possible proximity of the ancestors of these animals. In a number of bryophytes (for example, cuckoo flax), the spore during germination forms a filamentous formation - a protonema, similar to filamentous algae. In general, the biogenetic law played a huge role in elucidating the phylogenetic relationships between different groups of organisms.
Biogeographic evidence
Biogeography is the science of the patterns of distribution of plants, animals, fungi and bacteria on our planet. She studies the ways and consequences of distribution in nature and migration of organisms on the formation of modern flora and fauna of the regions. In the path of settlement, various obstacles or new connections between regions (islands, continents, etc.) may arise. This is reflected in the similarity or dissimilarity of flora and fauna with each other. For example, the early separation of Australia, Oceania and South America led to the formation of unique forms of flora and fauna in these regions (the preservation of many forms of marsupials and oviparous mammals, relict plants that have disappeared on other continents). On the contrary, the long-standing relationship between North America and Eurasia has led to a high degree of similarity in their living world.
Evidence from genetics and molecular biology
Genetics and molecular biology are the sciences of the molecular basis of heredity and the patterns of their manifestation in populations of organisms. These sciences make it possible to clarify the phylogenetic proximity or remoteness of different groups of plants and animals and thus supplement the data obtained by other sciences. Information confirming modern ideas about the evolution of the living world is also available in many other biological sciences - selection of plants, animals, microorganisms, comparative physiology and biochemistry of different groups of organisms, taxonomy, etc.
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