Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Natural Selection

Often when talking to an evolutionist or reading their materiel, you will run across the phrase natural selection. This phrase is often used when trying to prove evolution. Because it is so strongly associated with evolution, many people will get scared off by it, assuming it may as well be evolution itself. Natural selection isn’t in and of itself bad. It’s the application that evolutionists use that is bad. A simple definition may clear up some problems. Natural selection is simply the process by which favorable heritable traits become more common in successive generations of a population of reproducing organisms, and unfavorable heritable traits become less common. Sounds like a lot of garble, but it really isn’t. Let us look first at how genetics work before understanding what natural selection is all about.

Many people get scared off by genetics as soon as they see all these random letters and Punnet squares. It’s really not that hard. In fact, after breeding gerbils, figuring out genetics has become rather addicting for me. I figure out genetics like other people would do Sudoku. After I’ve unlocked something new about a gerbil’s genes, all I can do when I go to sleep, is try to figure out what their offspring might be. Just for the sake of not boring you all before I even get to natural selection, I’ll keep this very simple. On a chromosome, there is a specific place where a gene is located. This place is call the locus. There are seven known loci that exist in gerbils: A, C, D, E, G, P, Sp. Each of these letters represent how the locus will affect the gerbil. For example, the A gene controls whether the belly will be white and if there will be ticking. For each letter, there is a dominant gene (A, C, D, E, G, P) and a recessive gene (a, c, d, e, g, p). The capitol "A" will make the belly white, but a lower case "a" will make the belly solid with the rest of the coat. The two gerbil parents always give the a pup a set of letters (the letters represent the gene). These letters may be all dominant letters, all recessive letters, or some of each. The dominant gene will always be the one that shows up in the gerbil. If one gerbil parent gave a pup an A and the other gerbil gave a pup an a, the A will be the gene to show up in the pup’s coat, making that pup have a white belly. The only way to make a recessive gene (a, c, d, e, g, p) show up in a pup is for both of the parents to give the pup a recessive gene. In order for the pup to have an "a" show up in their coat, making them have the same color of belly as the rest of their coat, would be for both parents to give it an "a." Now, because both parents give their pups a set up genes, each pup has two of each letter. Thus, if one gerbil parent were to give the pup an "A" and the other gerbil were to give the pup an "a," the genetic code for its A gene would be "Aa." If one gerbil were to give the pup an "A," and the other gerbil were to give it an "A" also, its genetic code for the A gene would be "AA." And finally, if one gerbil were to give a pup an "a," and the other gerbil were to give the same pup an "a," the pup’s genetic code would be "aa." This can be repeated with all letters. For now, we’ll only focus on the A gene and the P gene. The A gene controls the color of the belly. The dominant gene (A) makes the belly white, while the recessive gene (a) makes the belly the same color as the rest of the coat. The P gene determines whether the gerbil’s eyes will be red or black. The dominant gene (P) makes the eyes black, and the recessive gene (p) makes the eyes red. It also has a lightening affect on the whole coat. Now, let’s learn something about their actual colors. This is an agouti gerbil: notice its black eyes. This gerbil does have a white belly, though you can't see it.


An agouti gerbil is the most basic color of gerbil. It wasn’t until about 30-40 years ago that they started being able to get colors besides agouti. The agouti gerbil has a white belly, meaning that it had to have an "A." We don’t know whether the second A gene is upper or lower case. Remember, there can be hidden recessive genes that won’t ever show up unless they get paired up with another recessive gene of the same letter. Notice that the gerbil’s eyes are black, meaning that it had to have a "P." It may have a "p" as its second letter, but that will not show up unless it is paired up with another "p." We will use the "-" to show that we don’t know what the second letter out of a gene is. Thus, this agouti gerbil’s genetic code for the A gene and the P gene is A-P-. Now, by knowing this agouti’s parents’ genetic code, I can say that this gerbil has a recessive gene for the second P gene and a dominant gene for the second A gene. Therefore, we know that its genetic code for the A gene and the P gene is AAPp. If I were to breed this gerbil with another gerbil that had the same genetic code, all the gerbils would have the dominant A for their A genes. Since gerbils can give either a dominant or a recessive gene to a pup, however, a recessive "p" will probably be paired up with another recessive "p" about half the time. Since both genes have to be recessive for it to show up in the gerbil’s coloring (as is the case here), the pup will have red eyes. This gerbil’s genetic code for the A gene will be AA, and its genetic code for the P gene will be pp. Because the p gene also lightens up the gerbil’s coat, this is what a gerbil with AApp genes will look like. It is called an argente.


This is just a very basic explanation of how genetics work. There are also many ways in which some of the other genes will work together to make a completely different color of coat. If you are wondering how the Punnet square works into all of this, it is just the way in which you can easily organize your genes and see how many variations you could possibly have with a given set of parents.

I may have lost many of you through that lengthy explanation of genetics, but I think it will make natural selection easier to understand.

There really isn’t a problem with natural selection itself. It is in how it is applied to evolution that is the problem. It is often said that natural selection is the driving force behind evolution. When natural selection is in action, the "selection" will only be selecting information that already existed. Face it, with everything you already know about genetics, you don’t see any possible way that you could arrange all those genes to make, say, a hamster, right? Sure you can make variations off of a gerbil that may cause the gerbil to look completely different that your original gerbil, but it is still not a hamster. Evolutionists basically will say that natural selection can add new information to the genetic code. This is not true, however. Natural selection only works with information that is already there.

From a creationist’s perspective, natural selection is the way in which organisms possessing specific characteristics survive in a given climate better than those who don’t have those characteristics. Those without the characteristics diminish in number or die. This can be seen in even noticing where certain people groups settled. Those with darker skin tended to settle down where there was much sunshine and heat. People with light complexion tended to head up north where there wasn’t as much sun and heat. Because people stayed in their own people group, darker skinned people married darker skinned people, producing babies that had darker skin. Of course, there could be recessive genes that could have caused a baby to have light skin, but in a hot, humid, bright climate without sun screen, light-skinned people aren’t going to do as well because they will run into radiation problems.

From an evolutionist’s perspective, natural selection is the way in which new information is put into genetics, causing a completely different organism to come from two parents which were the same.

Natural selection is not necessarily a bad phrase, but if you do not define what you mean by natural selection, you may lose a few friends over them thinking you have gone off the deep end. Natural selection is a very real and true thing, but not when it is used interchangeably with the word evolution.

6 comments:

Dr. Russell Norman Murray said...

Excellent educational article, Abbey.

Face it, with everything you already know about genetics, you don’t see any possible way that you could arrange all those genes to make, say, a hamster, right? Sure you can make variations off of a gerbil that may cause the gerbil to look completely different that your original gerbil, but it is still not a hamster. Evolutionists basically will say that natural selection can add new information to the genetic code. This is not true, however. Natural selection only works with information that is already there.

From my reading I conclude that microevolution can occur within species, but macroevolution from species to species in not proven, although the definition of species can be tricky, but I agree a hamster is not a gerbil.:)

Jeff said...

An exceptional article.

In a college Logic course, we worked a little with Punnet squares, and I found it fascinating. The professor, who I think was an Atheist, one time wrote on the blackboard the chances of evolution having occurred. It was one to the ____th power, and he wrote down so many zeros that it took up several or more lines of space across the entire chalkboard. He even said that the large number meant that it was logically impossible.

We can cross-breed dogs to get new breeds, but we can't cross-breed a dog and a leopard.

The Bible says that God created animals and plants "after their kinds." Although "kinds" is not specific, we can get clues elsewhere in Scripture to what a "kind" is. For example:

Leviticus 19:19 - "You shall keep my statutes. You shall not let your cattle breed with a different kind; you shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed; nor shall there come upon you a garment of cloth made of two kinds of stuff."

Genesis 7:13-16 "On the very same day Noah and his sons, Shem and Ham and Japheth, and Noah's wife and the three wives of his sons with them entered the ark, they and every beast according to its kind, and all the cattle according to their kinds, and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind, every bird of every sort. They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. And they that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him; and the LORD shut him in."

Genesis 6:18-20 "But I will establish my covenant with you; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you. And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every sort into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you, to keep them alive."

Genesis 1:24-25 "And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good."

Genesis 1:20-23 "And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." And there was evening, and there was morning--the fifth day."

Genesis 1:11-13 "Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening, and there was morning--the third day."

Darwinian Evolution is based on spontaneous generation (life arising from non-life).

In 1668, Francesco Redi, an Italian physician, did an experiment with flies and wide-mouth jars containing meat, which disproved spontaneous generation for larger organisms.

In 1864, Louis Pasteur disproved spontaneous generation in microscopic organisms.

My blog site has past articles (mostly quotes from scientists and publications) regarding natural selection as it applies to macroevolution here:
Natural Selection and Darwinian Evolution

Jeff said...

"...God brought into being a profusion of flora that could reproduce and cross-breed and develop new species---but within limits: "after his kind"..Any development or mutation that God permits cannot go beyond certain bounds." (p. 15, "Genesis" by Howard F. Vos)

Ryan_Th3_K1d said...

I enjoyed the article thoroughly...

I would like to order a bald, half red half black eyed, with red fur, and it to have super powers :D

Ben&Brit said...

LOL -- Very good, Abb :D

Great Googly Moogly! said...

I'm glad Falwell's not around to read this anti-christian, science blasphemy! :-)

Are you telling me that as a Christian I can utter the words "natural selection" and not be a heretic? That's as bad as saying that we should be "environmentally friendly"!

Wait a minute...I do say that!

nevermind...