Chapter 2- Theory of Special Creationo Species are immutable, unchanged since their origin, and variation among individuals is limited. All species were created separately and are thus genealogically unrelated to each other.o Earth and living creatures are young. Beginning as recent as 6,000 years ago.o “One species never springs from the seed of another.” –Ray- Idea of Evolutiono Earth species are the products of descent with modification from a common ancestor.- 5 Elements of the Idea of Evolutiono Species are not immutable, but change through time. Example: Speciesof bird change beak size from generation to generation. This is MICROEVOLUTION. o Lineages split and diverge, thereby increasing the number of species. Example: AN ancestral species of birds, for instance, may give rise to 2 distinct descendant species. This is SPECICATON. o Over long periods of time, novel forms of life can derive from earlier forms. Tetrapods for example, arose from a lineage of fish. This dramatic change over time is called MACROEVOLUTION.o Species are derived not independently, but from common, shared ancestors. All species are related genealogically.o The Earth and life are considerably more than 6,000 years old. - Selective breeding- also known as artificial breeding. Each generation, the experimenter examines the population and chooses as breeders. Only individuals with the most desired characteristics are chosen. - For over 17 species, there was definitive evidence that the modification across generations was at least partly due to changes in genes. o Example- Field Mustard: Small herb closely related to turnip and broccoli rabe. During the drought seasons, the field mustard population had evolved in earlier average flowering time. - Vestigial structures- a useless or rudimentary version of a body that has an important function in other, closely allied species. o Example- Kiwi: Flightless bird but has tiny stubby wings.  The evolutionary interpretation is that kiwis are descended with modification, from ancestors whose wings or hind legs were fully formed and functional. o Example- Humans: Tiny tailbone called the coccyx. The evolutionary interpretation is that humans were descended from ancestors with tails. o Example: Humans: Goosebumps. The evolutionary interpretation is that humans were descended from ancestors with fur. The Goosebumps would have the fur stand up in order to keep them warm. - Vestigial structures occur at the molecular level. o Humans do not make CMAH due to a 92 base pair deletion. o Chimps do.o Because of this, humans and chimps are immune to each other’s malaria parasite. o Humans and chimps descend form one another. - Species are populations, or groups of populations, within and among which individuals actually or potentially interbreed and were outside of which they do not interbreed. - Biological species concept- we can let organisms themselves tell us whether they belong to the same species. If individuals, from different species have theopportunity to mate but fail to produce healthy, fertile offspring, then the individuals belong to different species. - Speciation starts with a single population in which there is variation among individuals.o Example; Fish with long rakers eat copepods. Fish with short rakers eat non-planktonic prey. Because of different variations in the rakers, there is a variation in diet. - A fossil is any trace of an organism that lived in the past. - The worldwide collection of fossils is called the fossil record. - The general pattern of correspondence between fossil and living things from the same locale came to be known as the law of succession. - Extinction and succession are the patterns we would predict if present-day species are descended with modification from ancestors that lived before them in the same region. - Transitional species show a mix of features, including traits typical of ancestral populations and novel traits seen later in descendants.- Transitional fossils document the past existence of species displaying mixtures of traits typical of distinct groups of organisms. - Homology- the same organ in different animals under every variety of form and