 |
|||
|
|||
|
Evolution
|
|
There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved. |
 |
For an excellent overview of modern evolutionary fact and theory point your browser to the Talk.Origins Archive. There is also an exhaustive list of evolution related links in the WWW Virtual Library. If you are particularly interested in human evolution check out Becoming Human. The thought-provoking evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, author of The Selfish Gene and The Blind Watchmaker, has a fascinating unofficial site with lots of good evolution-related links that are updated frequently. I also have a page of Evolution on the Web for Biology Students. All of the sites listed here have enough links to keep you surfing the web for many hours. If you want to go to the source, read Darwin's Origin of Species on the web. Its not as satisfying as holding the book, but with the electronic version you can search for particular words or phrases (use your browser's Find option). To find out more about the man behind it all read a short biography. Lets also give Alfred Russel Wallace his due. His paper on natural selection, On the tendency of varieties to depart indefinitely from the original type, was written in 1858, a year before The Origin. Some of the other major players in the early development of evolutionary theory are described in the theory and history page at University of California Museum of Paleontology. The Tree of Life is a collaborative internet project that describes the evolutionary relationships among living organisms. In effect, it is a gigantic phylogenetic tree, but with lots of links to more specialized pages on specific organisms. There, for example, you will find David Stern's extensive discussion of aphids and their close relatives.
Although evolutionary theory is the most important unifying principle in
biology, and is not at all controversial within the scientific community,
it is constantly under attack by some religious fundamentalists who see it
as a threat to their religious beliefs or to their view of our place in nature.
This desperate view is exemplified by the
Creation
Research Society and the Institute
for Creation Research. It would be amusing if not for their dangerous
attempt to weaken the scientific curriculum in the name of "balance."
(Interestingly, the
Pope
recently reiterated the position held by most major religions that biological
evolution and religious faith are not in conflict. This view is shared by
many
major
religions.) It is a human peculiarity, occasionally endearing but more often maddening, that no amount of proof suffices to convince those who simply do not want to know or accept the truth. If you are concerned about the creationist threat to educational and scientific integrity support The National Center for Science Education and The Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP). As its name implies, CSICOP also takes a skeptical look at the many forms of psuedoscientific nonsense that pervade our society. Other Good Evolution Sites (see also my list of sites specifically geared for teachers below)
|
|
|
|
Ecology and Animal Behavior
|
|
 If
it has to do with ecology or animal behavior and is on the web you can probably
get there from here. Just start with one of these sites and follow the links.
|
|
|
American Naturalist (table of contents) |
| Animal Behaviour (search for keywords and view abstracts) | |
| Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics | |
| Behavioral Ecology (search for keywords and view abstracts) | |
| Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology (keyword search and abstracts) | |
| Conservation Ecology (electronic journal published by ESA) | |
| Ecological Research (table of contents and keyword search) | |
| Journal of Animal Ecology (table of contents and keyword search) | |
| Marine Ecology (table of contents and keyword search) | |
| Nature (keyword search) | |
| Oecologia (table of contents and abstracts) | |
| Oikos (table of contents and abstracts) | |
| Science (table of contents and keyword search) | |
| Trends in Ecology and Evolution (table of contents) | |
| Academic Press Journals | |
| Blackwell Science Journals (over 200 with keyword search) | |
| Other journals |
|
|
Biology Education
|
|
 These
links should be of interest to teachers and Biology Education majors.
|
|
|
|
Dinosaurs
|
|
 Everyone likes dinosaurs.
|
|
|
|
Miscellaneous
|
|
 These links don't fit into the categories above, but
should be of interest to biologists and students.
|
|
|
 |
[Home]
[Research]
[Personal] [Links]
[Software]
[Labs] |
|
Send comments to:
Robert P. Gendron Biology Department Indiana University of Pennsylvania Indiana, PA 15705 rgendron@iup.edu copyright © 1997-2005, Robert P. Gendron, Revised - February 2, 2005. |