Editing Macroevolution (section)

== Microevolution vs Macroevolution ==

There has been considerable debate regarding the connection between microevolution and macroevolution.<ref name="Saupe2021a"></ref>

The '''‘Extrapolation’''' view holds that macroevolution is merely cumulative microevolution. 

The '''‘Decoupled’''' view holds that there are separate macroevolutionary processes that cannot be sufficiently explained by microevolutionary processes alone.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ayala Francisco J |date=1983|name-list-style= and |editor-last1 = Asquith | editor-first1= Peter D|  editor-last2=Nickles|editor-first2= Thomas |title=PSA 1982 |volume=2|publisher=Philosophy of Science Association |pages=118–132 |chapter=Beyond Darwinism? The Challenge of Macroevolution to the Synthetic Theory of Evolution |isbn=}}</ref><ref name="Levinton2001">{{cite book | vauthors = Levinton Jeffrey S | date = 2001 | title = Genetics, Paleontology, and Macroevolution 2nd edition | publisher = Cambridge University Press | place = Cambridge, UK | isbn = 0-521-80317-9}}</ref><ref name="Rolland2022a"></ref><ref name="Simons2002a">{{cite journal |last1=Simons |first1=Andrew M. |title=The continuity of microevolution and macroevolution |journal=Journal of Evolutionary Biology |date=August 21, 2002 |volume=15 |issue=5 |pages=688–701 |doi=10.1046/j.1420-9101.2002.00437.x}}</ref><ref name="Erwin2001a">{{cite journal |last1=Erwin |first1=Douglas H. |title=Macroevolution is more than repeated rounds of microevolution |journal=Evolution & Development |date=December 24, 2001 |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=78–84 |doi=10.1046/j.1525-142x.2000.00045.x|pmid=11258393 }}</ref><ref name="Adams1990a">{{cite journal |last1=Adams |first1=Mark B |title=Filipchenko [Philiptschenko], Iurii Aleksandrovich. |journal=Dictionary of Scientific Biography |date=1990 |volume=17 |issue=297–303 |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/filipchenko-philiptschenko-iurii-aleksandrovich}}</ref><ref name="DAOAL1"></ref><ref name="Moran2022a">{{cite web |last1=Moran |first1=Laurence A. |title=Macroevolution |url=https://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2022/10/macroevolution.html |website=Sandwalk Blog |date=October 13, 2022}}</ref>  

Within microevolution, the evolutionary process of changing heritable characteristics (e.g. changes in allele frequencies) is described by [[population genetics]], with mechanisms such as [[mutation]], [[natural selection]], and [[genetic drift]],<ref name=":0"></ref> and [[speciation]] (e.g. [[sympatric]] and [[allopatric]] speciation), [[phyletic gradualism]] and [[punctuated equilibrium]].<ref name="Saupe2021a"></ref> Macroevolution asks how higher taxonomic groups ([[genera]], [[Family_(biology)|families]], [[Order_(biology)|orders]], etc) have evolved across geography and vast spans of [[geological time]]. Important questions and topics include:
* How different species are related to each other is addressed by [[phylogenetics]].
* The rates of evolutionary change and across time in the [[fossil record]].<ref name="Rolland2022a"></ref> Why do some groups experience a lot of change while others remain morphologically stable? The latter case are often called '[[living fossils]]'.<ref name="Kin2014a">{{Cite journal|last1=Kin|first1=Adrian|last2=Błażejowski|first2=Błażej|date=2014-10-02|title=The Horseshoe Crab of the Genus Limulus: Living Fossil or Stabilomorph?|journal=PLOS ONE|language=en|volume=9|issue=10|pages=e108036|doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0108036|issn=1932-6203|pmc=4183490|pmid=25275563|bibcode=2014PLoSO...9j8036K|doi-access=free}}</ref>
* [[Mass extinctions]] and [[adaptive radiation|evolutionary diversifications]],<ref name="GEOL331a"></ref> e.g. the [[Permian-Triassic]] and [[End Cretaceous|Cretaceous-Paleogene]] events, the [[Cambrian Explosion]] and [[Cretaceous Terrestrial Revolution]].
* Why different taxonomic groups (even in spite of having similar ages) exhibit different survival/extinction rates, [[species diversity]], and/or [[Phenotypic_disparity|morphological disparity]]. 
* Long-term trends in evolution. Are these trends directed in some way, e.g. towards complexity or simplicity.<ref name="Gregory2008a">{{cite journal |last1=Gregory |first1=T.R. |title=Evolutionary Trends |journal=Evo Edu Outreach |date=June 25, 2008 |volume=1 |issue=3 |pages=259–273 |doi=10.1007/s12052-008-0055-6 |issn=1936-6434|doi-access=free }}</ref> 
* How species and higher taxa have evolved. Examples of this include [[gene duplication]], [[heterochrony]], [[Evolutionary_developmental_biology#The_origins_of_novelty|novelty in evodevo]] from [[facilitated variation]], and [[constructive neutral evolution]].