Re: Creationism

Michael,

I don't know the answer either, but in a quick scan I found the term
in my college general biology textbooks (two different ones--Biology,
Curtis, 2nd Edition, 1975; Life on Earth, Wilson et al., 2nd Edition,
1978).

The notion of "macroevolution" (species selection, etc) is part of
the punctuated equilibrium story. Steven Stanley's book with that
title is from the late 80's, early 90's. Of course, macroevolution in
this sense is in contrast with gradualism. Macroevolution now
commonly refers to common descent and all manner of evolution,
whereas microevolution refers to "change within species". See http://
www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/glossary.html

Here's a note about the term "macroevolution"

Even among scientists, the term "macroevolution" is a vague concept.
Many authors think that there is a qualitative difference between
adaptive evolution and the origins of higher taxa or forms. In the
original formulation, Y'uri'i Filipchenko (in 1927) used the term to
mean origination of a novel species by splitting from an ancestral
species — what we now call speciation or cladogenesis. Today it is
more widely used to mean "large-scale" change, such as the evolution
of novel "body-plans", "grades" of ecological niche specialization,
or "key innovations".

from

http://www.ncseweb.org/resources/rncse_content/
vol21/1610_defining_evolution_12_30_1899.asp

TG

On Dec 23, 2005, at 8:36 AM, Robert Schneider wrote:

> Michael, I don't know the answer to that question, but it is used
> in standard textbooks on evolution, e.g., Peter Price, Biological
> Evolution, 1995. It would be interesting to know who coined the term.
>
> Bob
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Roberts"
> <michael.andrea.r@ukonline.co.uk>
> To: "Roger G. Olson" <rogero@saintjoe.edu>; "Carol or John
> Burgeson" <burgytwo@juno.com>
> Cc: <asa@calvin.edu>
> Sent: Friday, December 23, 2005 2:33 AM
> Subject: Re: Creationism
>
>
>> Who made up the term "microevolution?"
>>
>> Michael
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Roger G. Olson"
>> <rogero@saintjoe.edu>
>> To: "Carol or John Burgeson" <burgytwo@juno.com>
>> Cc: <asa@calvin.edu>
>> Sent: Friday, December 23, 2005 3:46 AM
>> Subject: Re: Creationism
>>
>>
>>> Hi Burgy,
>>>
>>> The antibiotic resistance of TB is clearly a product of
>>> "microevolution".
>>> Every creationist knows that! So, even though this cartoon was a
>>> funny,
>>> the creationist will view it (perhaps rightly so) as a strawman
>>> to falsely
>>> persecute the Truth(tm).
>>>
>>> Roger
>>>
>>>> Here is a link to a funny cartoon on ID.
>>>>
>>>> http://us.news1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/uc/20051218/ldb051218.gif
>>>>
>>>> Burgy
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>

________________
Terry M. Gray, Ph.D.
Computer Support Scientist
Chemistry Department
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, CO 80523
(o) 970-491-7003 (f) 970-491-1801
Received on Fri Dec 23 16:51:03 2005