What do evolutionary biologist do

People have a lot of misconceptions about evolution! People think that evolution is about the origin of life, but it is more about how life changes through time rather than how life came to be. But, a better way to think about evolution is to understand that all the living organisms we see today are related if we go backwards in time.

Being able to study the process of evolution helps you gain an appreciation for the diversity of life. It gives you a view into the natural world that is otherwise hard to see, and it does so in a way that is much more present in our day to day lives than what you might have in other theoretical fields, such as theoretical physics.

McPherson in September Malinda J. This piece is part of our special edition on the day-to-day lives of researchers working in many different fields of science. Are you interested in learning about a different type of scientist? Check out the rest of the special edition! How do you apply any of these three in your work as evolutionary biologist? Chemical equilibria, Thermodynamics, Chemical Kinetics. More BS. To place credit towards a biologist that takes information from theroretical teachings.

So what happens to your theory when confronted with creation? No Need to reply. Your absurd theory has no place in the world today. Only evolution. This large-scale approach focuses on significant changes in species across time or space. The study of ancestry and descent within the fossil record is an example of changes through time.

Perhaps the most famous example of changes across space is the variation among finches in the Galapagos Islands, which was noticed and popularized by Charles Darwin. During a revolution in molecular biology and genetics , evolutionary biologists began studying small-scale evolution. An evolutionary biologist can now track changes in genetics from one generation to the next in the laboratory.

Using test subjects with short lifespans, such as fruit flies or bacteria, a biologist can watch the processes of small-scale evolution play out in the laboratory.

Both small-scale and large-scale evolutionary biology is interdisciplinary in nature. An evolutionary biologist usually specializes in one field but also will cross-train in areas such as organismal biology, molecular biology , genetics or developmental biology. Others concentrate on genetics to investigate how new species form, or to give an alternative perspective on the facts we get from the fossil record.

Others combine evolution with other fields, like developmental biology or biogeography, to provide more depth and insight to our knowledge of the history and diversity of life on Earth.

Others apply evolutionary principles to agriculture, to medicine, and to society to give us practical, tangible benefits, e. In other words, evolution has grown far beyond Darwin.

There are evolutionary biologists who spend their days working with fruit flies; others with embryos; others go out into the field; others do everything just with a computer. A lot of evolutionary biology is "blue skies" research, with no, or little, direct applied value. Some of it is done with a practical purpose in mind.

All of these disparate researches come together to give us a framework within which we can understand how life works. Evolutionary biology can be considered as an apartment building in which all the other fields of biology are housed. There are plenty of things left to discover. Sure, at the surface, everything looks nice and solved, but once you dig deeper, controversies and fights start to emerge.

For example, even something as basic as how two new species can form in a particular scenario can get two evolutionary biologists arguing fervently, precisely because not everything is solved.