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Blog 1: Introduction

 My name is Victoria Gaa. I am most recently from Kansas, but it's hard to say where I am really from since I have lived in several different places before that (my favorite was Colorado). In the future I hope to go to a place where I can be happy, preferably somewhere with good friends, good job opportunities in wildlife biology, and surrounded by lots of nature. Being outside and enjoying the world around me is one of my major passions, whether that's reading under a shady tree in the park or hiking up a trail in the mountains. I also love the tallgrass prairie and am passionate about conserving this disappearing and beautiful ecosystem for future generations. 

Evolution is so fascinating to me even before taking this class because it's wild to think about how life on Earth has changed and expanded from the first cell to the amazing biodiversity we see today. Every branch on the tree of life is a story evolution can tell us, from flowering plants to big cats to deep sea life to human beings. This relates to my daily life because everywhere I look I can see the products of evolution in the natural world and I want to learn even more about the unique adaptations that have evolved over time and are continuing to change. There's a quote I've heard before that goes something like "nothing in biology makes sense without evolution." So as an aspiring biologist, evolution is a pretty big deal. In this class, I'm hoping to get a deeper understanding of evolution and explore evidence and examples of it. Also, I hope to gain some proficiency in R because I have never coded before in my life. 

My understanding of evolution so far is that it is the change in the genetic makeup of populations over time, often due to environmental factors. It is gradual; evolution is not a dog suddenly popping out a lizard, as someone I once argued with on the internet believed. Evolution does not happen to individuals, it's a group thing. Evolution is not a "fact" in the sense that it can't ever be disproved with new evidence, but it is also not simply a "theory" in the everyday use of the word. Often, words in science mean different things than they mean in general conversation. In this case, there is a distinction between capital 'T' Theory and lower case 't' theory. A lower case 't' theory might be something like when you open the fridge to find your chocolate bar gone, and you think the most likely culprit is your candy-bar-stealing sister. A capital 'T' Theory is a bit more complicated than that - it is an idea supported by facts, observations, and experiments. Evolution is a Theory. It is backed up by countless pieces of evidence from multiple scientific disciplines, like paleontology and cellular biology. We can use the Theory of Evolution to make predictions and testable hypotheses about the natural world. Evolution is the best explanation we have for the world around us. 

Comments

  1. UnknownAugust 31, 2021 at 9:53 AM

    Hi Victoria! Since you love nature, where would you love to travel out of the country that you have never been? I'd love to go to Greenland.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haley BurnsAugust 31, 2021 at 9:56 AM

      Sorry it said by Unknown! I was logged into the wrong Google account

      Delete
    2. Victoria GaaSeptember 1, 2021 at 10:56 AM

      Hi! This isn't technically out of the country because it's still a state, but it is separate from the contiguous U.S. so I would love to go to Alaska. I think it would be awesome to live there and do field work for a while.

      Delete

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