Academia Journal of Scientific Research 5(7): 188-196, July 2017

DOI: 10.15413/ajsr.2017.0413
ISSN 2315-7712
©2017 Academia Publishing

Research Paper

Speciation in real time and historical-archaeological and its absence in geological

time

Accepted 4th July, 2017

ABSTRACT

Sodré Gonçalves de Brito Neto 1, Everton
Fernando Alves2* and Mariana
Cavalcante e Almeida Sá3
1Departament of Geology, Federal
University of Goias, UFG, Brazil.
2Departament of Biotechnology, genetics
and cell biology, State University of
Maringá, UEM, Paraná, Brazil.
3 graduate program in systematics and
Evolution, Federal university of Rio
Grande do Norte, UFRN, Rio Grande do
Norte, Brazil.
For decades the evolutionary biology has made efforts to understand the meaning
of "species" and explain the training process. Currently, there are over twenty
different concepts of species. The use of different concepts leads to improper and
misleading comparisons. On the other hand, catastrophic biologists for decades
used the term "type" or "group" for what they consider categories of organisms
not genetically related. Thus, each of the various categories of species, subspecies
and varieties seen today were designed to diversify a basic common ancestor type.
Morphological patterns around the genus taxon was identified with ancestral
fossils buried in a catastrophic recent basic; this model tells us a story of a period
of: 1) rapid speciation, 2) stay with high number of species in a stable environment
(fossil replay without environmental evolutionary pressures), 3) disaster followed
by massive burial of population alive evidenced by the repetition of the same fossil
species (which detracts punctuality), 4) presence of several different species
together in the fossil record, lots of vertebrate fossils (which features disaster of
great magnitude and high rates of sedimentation), and 5) drastic environmental
changes causing radiation of species in samples of recent layers and in millions of
species in the current biodiversity.

*Corresponding author. E-mail: Keywords: Basic types ancestors, catrastrophism, rapid speciation, morphological
evertonando@hotmail.com stasis, punctualism.
Tel:+5544998416858

INTRODUCTION

In recent centuries, evolutionary biology has made efforts
to understand the meaning of "species" and explain their
formation process. Currently, there are over twenty
different concepts of species (de Queiroz, 2005). The use of
different concepts leads to comparisons under different
criteria. However, such imprecision at the taxonomic end
(species taxon) leads us to define in more comprehensive
taxonomic ranks. In this work, we will consider the MPGT
rank (morphological patterns around the genus taxon) as a
reference.
Many of the species and their variations observed today
reflect the same morphological patterns around the taxon
belonging to the genus level. Morphological patterns
around the genus taxon (MPGT) are therefore what we
consider as the peculiar characteristics of the original basic
types currently present in most species and their variations
found in nature (Eldredge and Stanley, 1984). Many species
and their variations living today reflect similar
morphological patterns. The stability of those same fossil
morphological patterns, even with an increasing number of
species, encourages us to formulate important questions to
be considered in this paper.
The thesis of basic ancestor kinds (Marsh, 1941) was
supported by the fact that the fossil record present low
variability (morphological stasis) and low radiation of fossil
species (Zimmerman, 1960; Martens, 1997; Albrecht and
Wilke, 2008; Alisson, 2013), regardless of their respective
plasticity or phenotypic or genotypic malleability
(Ghalambor et al., 2015). In addition, other factors that
support the thesis of basic ancestor kinds are over 4229
well-documented genus of "living fossils" that are so called
because they have undergone few changes over time,
therefore remaining similar to those found in the fossil
record (Romer, 1966; Whitmore, 2013a; Whitmore, 2013b).
Probably reflecting the ideas of his time, Darwin quoted
that deduction when wrote: "There is grandeur in this view
of life, with its several powers, having been originally
breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and
that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the
fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless
forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and
are being, evolved. In England the Hon. and Rev. W.
Herbert, afterwards Dean of Manchester, in the fourth
volume of the 'Horticultural Transactions,' 1822, and in his
work on the 'Amaryllidaccæ' (1837, p. 19, 339), declares
that "horticultural experiments have established, beyond
the possibility of refutation, that botanical species are only
a higher and more permanent class of varieties." He extends
the same view to animals. The Dean believes that single
species of each genus were created in an originally highly
plastic condition, and that these have produced, chiefly by
intercrossing, but likewise by variation, all our existing
species. Rafinesque, in his 'New Flora of North America,'
published in 1836, wrote (p. 6) as follows:—‘All species
might have been varieties once, and many varieties are
gradually becoming species by assuming constant and
peculiar characters:' but farther on (p. 18) he adds, ‘except
the original types of ancestors of the genus.’"(Darwin, 1859:
554).
When we speak of morphological stasis in the fossil
record, we refer to the sedimentary layers between the
Ediacaran/Cambrian until close to the layers of the
Pleistocene period, as demonstrated by several
publications based on the theory of punctuated equilibrium
(punctualism) proposed by paleontologists Niles Eldredge
and Stephen Gould (Levinton and Chris, 1980; Woodruff,
1980; Williamson, 1981; Eldredge, 1986; Van Bocxlaer and
Hunt, 2013), and not to the recent layers where the
variation radiates in a wide range of modifications.
The morphological patterns linked to the genus taxon can
be observed in the fossil record appearing suddenly in all
sedimentary layers, with expressive appearance in the
Cambrian and abrupt emergence without gradualism
throughout the entire geologic column, although with a
surprising repetition pattern. Such a finding has been
published for decades by supporters of punctualism that
accept morphological stasis and radiation resulting in
speciation only in the most recent geological layers
(Levinton and Chris, 1980; Woodruff, 1980; Williamson,
1981; Eldredge, 1986; Van Bocxlaer and Hunt, 2013).
A recent evolutionary study corroborates this statement
by saying that: "The dominating view of evolution based on
the fossil record is that established species remain more or
less unaltered during their existence. Substantial evolution
is on the other hand routinely reported for contemporary
populations, and most quantitative traits show high
potential for evolution. These contrasting observations on
long- and short-time scales are often referred to as the
paradox of stasis, which rests on the fundamental
assumption that periods of morphological stasis in the
fossil record represent minimal evolutionary change."
(Voje, 2016).
Thus, this article has as object of study three observed
and well documented facts: sudden fossil emergence,
morphological stasis with repetition of the same fossil
species and burst of adaptive radiation revealing all the
potential for plasticity and malleability of the phenotypes
and genotypes of living beings.
The speciation and variations which, as we have seen, fit
the MPGT can be observed occurring in real and historical-
archaeological time, but are absent in the same proportion
in the fossil record. That becomes relevant as we
understand the reproductive success of variations and its
stability along the time, since variation around genus does
not require large bio-transformations, but should occur
anyway in the fossil samples, but such variations are
supposed to happen, with increasing stability and
reproductive success (with the exception of extinct).
Surprisingly, today we have nearly the same number of
bodily patterns among the nearly 2 million living species
already cataloged (estimated between 9 and 100 million)
and the almost negligible 300,000 fossil species from
Cambrian/Ediacaran to Pleistocene (Woodmorappe, 2000;
Sadava et al., 2009; Mora et al., 2011; Catalogue of Life,
2016). Comparing morphological patterns one expects a
significantly larger number of MPGT in the fossil record if it
corresponds to a sample of the biodiversity during 544
million years of the Phanerozoic eon. Therefore, the fact
that the number of current species, in the millions, cannot
overcome the number of bodily patterns present in the
fossil record suggests evolution bounded on the
morphological patterns or basic ancestor kinds
(baraminology) or MPGT.
Subtypes of rapid speciation
We understand speciation in real time as a phenomenon in
which two or more populations of the same species change
in new arrangements of pre-existing genetic information,
caused by geographical barriers and mass death, but in a
time frame such that the entire process can be observed,
from start to finish.
We can also classify the speciation process in two ways:
real-time or historical-archaeological time. Speciation in
real time is that of bio-modifications limited to basic kind,
equivalent to a new "species" emerging quickly, observed ̶
for experimentation or non-controlled observation ̶ in 50
years. Speciation in historical time, on the other hand,
refers to bio-modifications equivalent to a new "species"
above 50 years which may or may not be observed in the
lifetime of the observer or research project. In such cases,
there are 50% of chance of direct observation and the
remaining 50% depend on deduction, for example, from
chromosomal analysis and calculations of radiation rates
(Trivedi, 2000).
The role of genetic drift in the process of speciation
There are several mechanisms involved in the process of
speciation (epigenetics, genetic drift, natural selection and
geomagnetic forces in crossover, etc). Due to the fact that
speciation is closely related to genetic drift and the
consequent loss of gene pool from a previous population,
studies on the basic ancestors model (ABRC) that suggest
real-time speciation become fundamental in explaining the
current evidence of limits to adaptation in different living
organisms (Bell, 2013).
Genetic drift is a mechanism that changes randomly and
suddenly – due to disasters or isolation processes, for
example, − the allele frequencies of a population (Ridley,
2006; Freeman and Herron, 2009). On the other hand, it is
believed that natural selection is directed, that is,
eliminates many deleterious mutations, necessary changes
get lost together, ignores neutral and deleterious mutations
(mainly those manifested after reproductive period),
selects remaining or useful pre-existing characteristics or
the ones conveyed as an epigenetic response to the
environment (Sanford, 2014). However, as stated by the
American biologist Lynn Margulis, "Natural selection
eliminates and maybe maintains, but it doesn’t create."
(Teresi, 2011: 68).
Furthermore, due to the fact that genetic drift idoes not
distinguish distinguish between good and bad genes, and
that the natural selection filter also fails, the result is loss of
genetic variation, leaving the species genetically poor and
"increasingly close to extinction". In other words, genetic
drift the gene pool of a population and natural selection
handles to some extent what has left. It is known that the
effect of genetic drift is the the more significant the smaller
the population is and may appear at different times in the
history of mankind. In this sense, it is possible that the drift
had a fundamental and predominant role over natural
selection with regard to the rapid speciation process after a
major disaster.
The speciation process after disasters
Major disasters around the world are the cause of most
sedimentary layers present in the globe, which are
associated with massive flooding and destruction across the
planet (Souza, 2008). The consequences of mass death,
endogamous stress in surviving species and geographic
isolation, besides other factors, result in very favorable
conditions for rapid speciation (Wilmer et al., 2011). The
ABRC model advocates the burial of the biodiversity of the
entire planet by spontaneous stratification in marine
transgressions and regressions, followed by rapid
speciation by evolution engines (Berthault, 1986, 1988,
1998, 2013; Brand and Tang, 1991; Snelling, 1997;
Chadwick and Spencer, 2006).
The ABRC model of quick formation of sedimentary
layers predicts a moment when a few surviving humans
and animals isolated by such disasters (with global
magnitude and energy) would have started to repopulate
the land; and subsequent drifts and endogamous stress
were bound to happen, exactly as one observes in
Denisovan species (Prüfer et al., 2013) and in the
foundations of ethnicities of similar biotypes dwelling upon
dissimilar fossil halogroups such as Mongolian-like people
in Americas upon dissimilar negroid fossils in Lagoa Santa,
Minas Gerais, São Paulo and Mexico. It was also observed in
China, with Mongols dewelling over Caucasion fossils both
in terms of human ethnicities and thousands of other living
beings similar among themselves and isolated from their
relatives.
In this context, real-time speciation legitimizes the model
of a recent "evolutionary leap" with two bio-differentiating
peaks related to episodes from the beginning of human
genetic entropy (Fu et al., 2013) after the corresponding
catastrophes that would empoverish the gene pool of living
beings and would give the survivors the legacy of founder
effect as a result of migration and geographical isolation--a
frequent situation in peripatric speciation − on a planet
with a totally reconfigured ecosystem where the epigenetic
mechanism would work to match nrrds in the new
environment (Ridley, 2006; Eakin, 2014; Weyrich et al.,
2016).
Peripatric speciation is a mechanism by which we can
explain the huge increase in post-disaster diversification. It
is a type of speciation by which new species are formed in
isolated peripheral populations (Ridley, 2006). In peripatric
speciation, drastically reduced populations make complete
speciation to be the most likely outcome of geographic
isolation, because genetic drift acts more quickly in small
populations. Genetic drift added to strong selective
pressures would cause a rapid genetic change in small
population of descendants (Wilmer et al., 2011).
Observations in the present can serve as an example to
understand better the cases of peripatric speciation. A
recent study states that "an analysis of more than 2,000
species of birds provides an insight into how various forms
of beak evolved and points to a single rare event as a trigger
for rapid initial divergence of avian lineages" (Bhullar,
2017). All this succession of facts can be glimpsed through a
scenario where most organisms destroyed by these major
associated and consequent disasters, remaining only small
populations of survivors (Wilmer et al., 2011).
According to a report published by Folha de São Paulo
about this finding,"what seemed to fascinate most other
biologists, however, is the high speed with which the
phenomenon of character displacement occurred. 'I
believed it would take much longer' commented on
'Science' the biologist David Pfening, from the University of
North Carolina. The average reduction of 5% in the size of
beak, considered drastic by biologists, occurred in about a
year, practically from one generation to the next" (Folha de
s. Paulo, 2006).
The surprise of the evolutionary biologists with the
discovery of this new phenomenon occurs due to lack of
understanding of other coadjuvant mechanisms that work
on those bio-modifications limited to the basic kind, such as
Epigenetics and energy and thermal affecting the crossover
(Fondon and Garner, 2004; Eakin, 2014). According to Dr.
Jean K. Lightner, there seems to be three mechanisms for
the variations associated with adaptive radiation: 1)
hybridization, 2) mutation and 3) environmental screening
of ancestral alleles (by natural selection mechanisms and
meiotic drift) (Lightner, 2016). These observations, even if
they do not significantly increase the debt of missing links
in punctualistic Paleontology, it greatly increases the debt
of fossil taxonomic variabilization for the historical-
geological model that assumes at least five major
catastrophes separated by millions of years in the history of
Earth.
An interesting detail is that research related to real-time
speciation both support Darwin’s observations in
functional biology (punctuated equilibrium) and utterly
destroys the evolutionary postulates in terms of geological
periods (phyletic gradualism) and it is perfectly compatible
with the biblical catastrophist model that bets at rapid
speciation driven by the effect of bio-modifications limited
to the basic kind.
Baraminology and the study of "basic kinds"
There is a very fluent communication between the
biological Darwinism and the ABRC biological model, where
many use evolutionary discoveries, such as real-time
speciation, to get closer to the historicity of a short period
of time and using the recent radiation as justification for the
whole biodiversity. The synthetic theory of evolution, more
specifically acting on the biological realm, that teaches
differentiation of species, in this context, has low discord
among the most advanced classes of ABRC, especially to
scientists that support the "Baraminology" movement
(Marsh, 1941; Wise, 1992; Robinson and Cavanaugh, 1998;
Frair, 2000; Jerlström, 2000; Wood and Cavanaugh, 2001;
Cavanaugh and Wood, 2002; Wood, 2010; Aaron, 2014).
Their disagreements focus more on the geo-paleontological
history between Cambrian/Ediacaran and Pleistocene.
Since 1941, the ABRC model goes against the idea that
speciation is synonymous with "evolution" due to
speciation-related studies in the field of Baraminology
(Marsh, 1941; Wise, 1992; Robinson and Cavanaugh, 1998;
Frair, 2000; Jerlström, 2000; Wood and Cavanaugh, 2001;
Cavanaugh and Wood, 2002; Wood, 2010; Aaron, 2014).
The American biologist Dr. Frank L. Marsh, a founder of the
Creation Research Society coined the word "baramin"
(Marsh, 1941; Frair, 2000). It was derived from the
combination of two Hebrew words − bara (created) and
min (kind) – referring to basic kinds created (Frair, 2000).
In 1990, the catastrophist paleontologist Kurt Wise noted
the need for an ABRC-biosystematics − a method of study,
naming and classification of baramin (Wise, 1990; Frair,
2000) or ancestors of MPGT as advocated. The scientific
field was officially named "baraminology" which
simplistically means the study of baramins or basic
ancestor kinds. According to the researchers Reinhard
Junker and Siegfried Scherer, "basic kind is a classification
unit, a taxon, is the result of work of systematic disruption
as is observed in nature" (Reinhard Junker and Siegfried
Scherer, 1996: 34; Wood et al., 2003). Simply put, basic
created kinds have diversified over time until reaching
what we now know as subspecies.
There are some falsifiable rules to consider a group of
species as belonging to a basic common ancestor kind. Dr.
Junker and Dr. Siegfried Scherer stress in the 6th German
edition of the book Evolution, a critical text book: "all the
individuals who are directly or indirectly by crossbreeding
are considered belonging to a basic type (genetic level) and
every biological species which clearly resemble each other
belong to a genus (morphological level); every biological
species which in principle can cross each other belong to a
basic type (Morpho-genetic level)" (Junker and Scherer,
1996: 34).
Furthermore, the authors add that "two individuals
belong to the same base type when the embryogenesis of a
hybrid goes beyond the maternal and developmental phase
contains a coordinate expression and paternal and
maternal morphogenetics genes" (Junker and Scherer,
1996: 34). In addition, baraminologists use a series of
methodological criteria for membership to determine the
limits of baramin groups (Robinson, 1997; Wood, 2001,
2002, 2005; Cavanaugh and Sternberg, 2004). In general,
the methods show specially degrees of similarity and
dissimilarity between groups and can show useful
taxonomic information, resolving more and more
accurately factors that affect the likelihood or not of
kinship, thereby increasing its contribution in biology
applied to techniques of genetic improvement and study of
the evolutionary behavior of populations.
Baraminology, also known as systematics of
discontinuity, is quickly becoming one of the most active
areas of research in ABRC (Scherer, 1993) and some of its
methodologies were applied and tested even by
researchers associated with the gradualist geologic model
of fully common ancestry with highlights in journals with
peer review (Senter, 2010; Wood, 2011). As we have seen,
the main purpose is to determine which organisms share a
common ancestor (Frair, 2000). The basic idea advocated in
this field of research is that there are limits to the
possibilities of breeding that cannot be crossed. In this
context, baraminologists aim to find "discontinuities" in the
history of life, or the limits of common ancestry (Remine,
1993).
This research field gets an additional boost from the
current evidence showing that "experts" have erroneously
classified some species within a given genus due to a “wish”
to discover the universal common ancestor (Lopes, 2015).
Paleontologists claim that a third of the "species"
recognized as being dinosaurs may even have not existed
(Horner and Goodwin, 2009). For them, those "species"
may be not separate species, but juvenile stages or
subadults, in development, erroneously identified as
specimens of other species. In an article published in
Science magazine, for example, Schwartz and Tattersall
(2015) argued that this miracle of the multiplication of the
nomenclature of species went too far.
It is worth remembering that although Baraminology has
achieved promising results, its conclusions are not
definitive (Wilson, 2010). Since it is a recent field, more
research is required and its methods and techniques must
be examined in order to legitimize its place in the toolbox of
science.
Genetic entropy on speciation
What about the costs when speciation really happens?
Another major obstacle against phyletic gradualism model
is that it is neutral in relation to the improvement or
worsening of the process of speciation, although it is
assumed that genetic drift causes loss of genetic variation
in small populations. The model of many basic ancestors
buried in a recent catastrophism (ABRC), on the other hand,
with the proposal of genetic entropy, argues that speciation
results in loss of genetic information and the consequent
genome degeneration due to adaptations as evasive
capabilities, dangerous and stressful for the populations
(Ariza, 2007; Sanford, 2014; Crabtree, 2013a, 2013b). Other
evidence corroborates the ABRC model as it suggests that
this loss of genetic information due to deleterious
mutations in humans has happened recently, between
5,000 and 10,000 years ago (Fu, 2013).
Entropy on genetic information is increasingly evident in
everything that is observed: on genetic drift,
selection/elimination, mutations and in immunological
complexities, among other mechanisms. In humans, for
example, the current estimates are between 100 and 200
new mutations per individual every generation (Nachman
and Crowell, 2000; Dolgin, 2009; Lynch, 2010). Of those, the
data vary between 1 and 15% of deleterious mutations that
cause direct loss of genetic information in humans in each
generation (Nachman and Crowell, 2000; Lynch, 2010;
Eyre-Walker and Keightley, 1999; Shabalina et al., 2001;
Keightley, 2012).
With respect to fitness, a study published in 1997
estimated between 1 and 2% the rate of loss of human
aptitude, that is, a high genetic cost which causes mankind
to degenerate in each generation due to exhaustion of
adaptive resources required to maintain its genetic variety
(Crow, 1997). In 2010, another study estimated that human
fitness is declining in 3 to 5% per generation (Lynch, 2010).
The Dutch zoologist Duyvene de Wit described perfectly
such a genetic impoverishment process by stating that
“When a marginal population clears the way for a new
habitat, it cannot carry with it all the genes of the maternal
population, but only part of them. Each new race or species
that originates from another has, therefore, a poorer gene
pool. Consequently, the loss of substance from the gene
pool is the price each race or species has to pay for the
privilege of existing. If the process of speciation occurs
again and again consecutively, there will eventually appear
species whose gene pools are so completely depleted that
insignificant changes in environmental conditions are
enough for them to become extinct. Efforts to adapt to
environmental changes as a result of insufficient
recombination lead ultimately to a minimal genetic state. If
this minimum limit is exceeded, there will be no further
possibility of survival. For this reason, the tragic and
irrevocable fate of highly adapted species or specialized
breeds is genetic death" (Kahle, 1999: 87; Junker and
Scherer, 1996).
Therefore, the ABRC proposal is reasonable and becomes
increasingly supported by scientific data when it claims
that living beings were healthier and fit in the past
compared to their present counterparts, without the
defects from forced adaptations and distinct selective
pressures in order to survive.
Fossil record and the lack of diversification of species
Speciation in proportion to the observed biodiferenciator
behavior is missing since there are only about 300,000
fossil kinds repeating among the estimated trillions of
samples in all geological strata up to the Pleistocene
(Woodmorappe, 2000; Sadava et al., 2009; Loceye, 2016).
That fact indicates the absence of sequences during the
process of speciation when contrasted with the estimate of
8.7 million species currently alive (Live et al., 2011).
In other words, the absence of "diversity" in the fossil
record reveals that the diffs occur most in the present
(millions of species) than throughout the geologic column
(hundreds of thousands). That indicates a time when living
beings did not need to adapt frequently to survive, because
they live in an environment more comfortable to life.
Recent evidence indicate that the beginning of the
diversification of some genera of plants considered "living
fossils", for example, occurred at the same time around the
world and in a much more recent period than previously
assumed, conflicting with gradualistic proposal
(Nagalingum et al., 2011). Furthermore, it was reported
that such a rapid diversification was caused a big climate
change.
Actually, there are several mechanisms of integrated
adaptations and modifications currently recognized. The
fact that they exist in living beings allow us to suggest that
the bio-modifications never ceased to exist. However, the
curious thing is that gradualists suggest that in 90% of the
total 544 million years ago the Phanerozoic, bio-
modifications stagnated, repeating in the geologic column
the same species and only recently in the upper layers there
are large-scale bio-diversification (radiation) (Gould, 1981).
Figure 1 helps our understanding by showing that in 500
million years, the graph shows little variation reaching
about two thousand genera on average, whereas only in
more recent periods there is an explosion to an estimate of
five thousand genera.
Dr. Tom Kemp, curator of the zoological collections of the
 Figure 1: Explosion of life in the planet during Phanerozoic. From Rohde and Muller (2005).
Museum of Natural History at the University of Oxford, for
example, made the following admission: "as is now well
known, most fossil species appear instantaneously in the
record, persist for some millions of years virtually
unchanged, only to disappear abruptly" (Kemp, 1985: 67).
The same fact is observed by Peter Williamson, a professor
of Geology at Harvard University by suggesting that neo-
Darwinism has failed to explain the systematic
discontinuities in the fossil record: "the principle problem
is morphological stasis. A theory is only as good as its
predictions, and conventional neo-Darwinism, which claims
to be a comprehensive explanation of evolutionary process,
has failed to predict the widespread long-term
morphological stasis now recognized as one of the most
striking aspects of the fossil record". (Williamson, 1981:
214).
Darwin suggested that living beings arise by gradual
evolution and hoped that one day the fossil record would
confirm his prediction, but that was not what happened:
Darwin was wrong. Day after day, the numerous fossils
excavated throughout the world have disproved the
hypothesis of gradual change in overlapping layers claimed
to be chronological. Unlike what Darwin expected, recent
data reveal sudden appearance patterns (explosions)
followed by long periods of little change.
The famous evolutionist paleontologist Niles Eldredge
admitted in New Scientist magazine that: "Paleontologists
ever since Darwin have been searching (largely in vain) for
the sequences of insensibly graded series of fossils that
would stand as examples of the sort of wholesale
transformation of species that Darwin envisioned as the
natural product of the evolutionary process. Few saw any
reason to demur - though it is a startling fact that ...most
species remain recognizably themselves, virtually
unchanged throughout their occurrence in geological
sediments of various ages." (Eldredge, 1986: 55).
The absence of fossil intermediates is too obvious to
remain hidden by gradualists. The evolutionary biologist
Dr. David Woodruff of the University of California
expressed in Science magazine his disappointment with
evolutionists concerning the absence of transitional forms
in the fossil record: "fossil species remain unchanged
throughout most of their history and the record fails to
contain a single example of a significant transition"
(Woodruff, 1980: 716).
Therefore, after so many admissions, we finally agree
with the evolutionary biologist Lynn Margulis when she
says: "there is no gradualism in the fossil record. [...] '
Punctuated equilibrium' was invented to describe the
discontinuity in the appearance of new species [...] The
critics, [including the ASCRs critics] are right about their
criticism. [...] The evolutionary biologists believe the
evolutionary pattern is a tree. It’s not." (Teresi, 2011).
Examples of rapid speciation
There are several reports of emergence of new "species" in
periods ranging from tens to thousands of years. According
to that information, speciation is a phenomenon that does
not require millions of years to happen. The American
biologist Dr. James Gibson, Director of the Geoscience
Research Institute (GRI), an institution affiliated with the
Andrews University (USA), maintained by the Seventh-Day
Adventist Church, described an example of real-time
speciation: "a new species of copepod [crustaceans] has
formed in the Salton Sea in Southern California in less than
30 years." (Johnson, 1953; Gibson, 2002).
Several studies reported that in a period as short as 10 to
36 years different populations of lizards have suffered
significant morphological changes enough to be considered
new "species" (Morrell, 1997; Herrel et al., 2008). Other
well-known examples of real-time speciation include
bacteria (Shikano et al., 1990), flies (Huey et al., 2000),
finches (Grant and Grant, 2006), frogs (Hoskin et al., 2005),
beetles (Halliburton and Gall, 1981) and plants (Groves and
Groves, 1880; Foucaud, 1897; Marchant, 1963).
Dr. Gibson also provided examples of speciation in
archaeological-historical time: "a population of green
monkeys lived on the island of St. Kitts in the Caribbean for
less than 100 years, but has developed morphological
aspects equivalent to a new species." (Ashton et al., 1979;
Gibson, 2002). "Hawaii had no banana trees until about
1000 years ago; however, there are native Hawaiian moths
that only eat banana trees. These new species emerged in
less than 1000 years" (Zimmerman, 1960; Gibson, 2002).
On these examples, Dr. Gibson concludes: "the capacity of
rapid change is confirmed both by experimentation and
observation of nature" (Gibson, 2002).
Conclusion
Morphological patterns around the genus taxon (MPGT) are
identified with basic ancestors buried in catastrophism
(ABRC), since this model complies with the fact of rapid
speciation observed, that would require a very large
proportional variability in fossil record if it represented
millions of years of evolution and that, in addition that
there is no such taxonomic variation, is also confirmed with
morphological stasis, repetition of the same species and
4229 genera of living fossils; such a picture reflects a
sudden burial of the living beings on the planet and not a
supposed evolutionary history of life.
Reports of speciation in history and archaeology, which
are able to justify all biodiversity in a short time, tell us also
that there should be much more variability in the fossil
record than there is. The Cambrian explosion, the absence
of sampling fossil variability (morphological fossil stasis)
and lack of radiation in the fossil record until the
Pleistocene, tell us a story of a period of: 1) rapid
appearance, 2) permanence of a high number of species in a
stable environment (fossil replay without environmental
evolutionary pressures), 3) disaster causing massive burial
of live populations evidenced by the repetition of the same
fossil species (which detracts punctuality), 4) presence of
several different species together in the fossil record, fossils
of whole huge vertebrate animals (which characterizes
disaster of great magnitude and high rates of
sedimentation) and 5) drastic environmental changes
causing radiation of species in samples of recent layers and
in millions of species in the current biodiversity.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support in the
English-language translation by MPhys. Eduardo Lütz.
REFERENCES
Aaron M (2014). Baraminological Analysis of the Caseidae (Synapsida:
Pelycosauria). J. Creation Theol. Sci. Series B: Life Sci. 4:19-22.
Albrecht C, Wilke T (2008). Ancient Lake Ohrid: biodiversity and evolution.
Hydrobiologia. 615(1):103-140.
Alisson E (2013). Arqueologia ajudará a desvendar origem da
biodiversidade amazônica. Agência FAPESP. Disponível
em:http://agencia.fapesp.br/arqueologia_ajudara_a_desvendar_origem_
da_biodiversidade_amazonica/16937/
Ariza LM (2007). Evolution in a Petri Dish. Scientific American. 297(6):36.
Ashton EH, Flinn RM, Griffiths RK, Moore WJ (1979). The results of
geographic isolation on the teeth and skull of the Green monkey
(Cercopithecus aethiopssabaeus) in St. Kitts – a multivariate retrospect.
Journal of Zoology. 188(4): 533-555.
Bell G (2013). Evolutionary rescue and the limits of adaptation. Philos
Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B. Biol. Sci. 368(1610): 20120080.
Berthault G (1986). Experiments on lamination of sediments, resulting
from a periodic graded-bedding subsequent to deposition—a
contribution to the explanation of lamination of various sediments and
sedimentary rocks. ComptesRendus De L Academie Sciences, Paris. 303,
Série II (17): 1569-1574.
Berthault G (1988). Sedimentation of a heterogranular mixture.
Experimental lamination in still and running water. Comptes Rendus De
L Academie Sciences, Paris. 306, Serie II: 717-724.
Berthault G (1998). Genesis and historical geology: a personal perspective.
CEN Tech. J. 12(2): 213-217.
Berthault G (2013). Orogenesis: Cause of Sedimentary Formations. Open J.
Geol. 3:22-24.
Bhullar BS (2017). Evolution: Catastrophe triggers diversification. Nature.
542 (7641): 304-305.
Brand LR, Tang T (1991). Fossil vertebrate footprints in the Coconino
Sandstone (Permian) of northern Arizona: Evidence for underwater
origin. Geol. 19(12): 1201-1204.
Catalogue of Life (2016). Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life, 2016
Annual Checklist. Disponível em:
http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/info/ac
Cavanaugh DP, Sternberg RV (2004). Analysis of morphological groupings
using ANOPA, a pattern recognition and multivariate statistical method:
A case study involving centrarchid fishes. J. Biol. Syst. 12(2):137–67.
Cavanaugh DP, Wood TC (2002). A Baraminological Analysis of the Tribe
Heliantheaesensulato (Asteraceae) Using Analysis of Pattern (ANOPA).
Occas. Papers of the BSG. 17(1): 1-11.
Chadwick A, Spencer L (2006). Turner Preliminary depositional model for
an Upper Cretaceous Edmontosaurusbonebed. J. Vertebrate Paleontol.
26:49A.
Crabtree GR (2013a). Our fragile intellect. Part I. Trends in Genetics. 29(1):
1-3.
Crabtree GR (2013b). Our fragile intellect. Part II. Trends in Genetics.
29(1): 3-5.
Crowell JF (1997). The high spontaneous mutation rate: is it a health risk?
Proc Natl AcadSci U S A. 94(16): 8380-8386.
Darwin C (1861). On the Origin of Species. 3. Ed. London: Murray. capítulo
14.
de Paula MO (2009). Podem os criacionistas aceitar a origem de novas
espécies? Earth History Research Center. Disponível em:
http://origins.swau.edu/papers/evol/marcia1/defaultp.html
de Queiroz K (2005). Ernst Mayr and the modern concept of species. Proc
Natl AcadSci U S A. 102 Suppl 1:6600-7.
Dolgin E (2009). Human mutation rate revealed. Nature News (27 Ago.
2009).
Disponívelem:http://www.nature.com/news/2009/090827/full/news.
2009.864.html
Eakin CM (2014). Lamarck was partially right—and that is good for corals.
Science. 344(6186): 798-799.
Eldredge N (1986). Progress in Evolution? New Scientist. 110: 54-57.
Eldredge N, Stanley SM (1984). Living Fossils: Introduction to the
Casebook. New York/Berlin: Springer-Verlag. pp. 266-270.
Eyre-Walker A, Keightley PD (1999). High genomic deleterious mutation
rates in hominids. Nature. 397(6717): 344-347.
Folha de S. Paulo (2006). Pássaros exibem seleção natural em tempo real.
Folha de São Paulo (14/07/2006). Disponível
em:http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/folha/ciencia/ult306u14848.shtml
Fondon JW, Garner HR (2004). Molecular origins of rapid and continuous
morphological evolution. Proc Natl AcadSci U S A. 101(52): 18058-
18063.
Foucaud (1897). Un Spartinainédit. Ann. Soc. Sci. Nat. Char. Inf. 32:220–
222.
Frair W (2000). Baraminology: Classification of Created Organisms. CRSQ
Quarterly. 37(2):82-91.
Freeman S, Herron JC (2009). Análise evolutiva. 4. ed. orto Alegre: Artmed.
pp. 848
Fu W, et al (2013). Analysis of 6,515 exomes reveals the recent origin of
most human protein-coding variants. Nature. 493(7431):216-220.
Ghalambor CK, Hoke KL, Ruell EW, Fisher EK, Reznick DN, Hughes KA
(2015). Non-adaptive plasticity potentiates rapid adaptive evolution of
gene expression in nature. Nature. 525(7569): 372–375.
Gibson LJ (2002). A similaridade biológica e a teoria da evolução. In: 4º
Encontro Nacional de Criacionistas, 24 a 28 de janeiro de 2002, São
Paulo. Anais... São Paulo: Centro Universitário Adventista, campus São
Paulo.
Gould SJ (1981). Evolution as Fact and Theory, Discover magazine 1981;
2(5): 34-37
Grant PR, Grant BR (2006). Evolution of Character Displacement in
Darwin's Finches. Science. 313(5784): 224-226.
Groves H, Groves J (1880). Spartinatownsendiinobis. Rep Bot SocExch Club
Br Id. 1:37.
Halliburton R, Gall GAE (1981). Disruptive selection and assortative
mating in Triboliumcastaneum. Evolution. 35: 829-843.
Herrel A, Huyghe K, Vanhooydonck B, Backeljau T, Breugelmans K, Grbac I,
Van Damme R, Irschick DJ (2008). Rapid large-scale evolutionary
divergence in morphology and performance associated with
exploitation of a different dietary resource. Proc Natl AcadSci U S A.
105(12): 4792-4795.
Horner JR, Goodwin MB (2009). Extreme Cranial Ontogeny in the Upper
Cretaceous Dinosaur Pachycephalosaurus. PLoS One. 4(10):e7626.
Hoskin CJ, Higgie M, McDonald KR, Moritz C (2005). Reinforcement drives
rapid allopatric speciation. Nature. 437(7063): 1353-1356.
Huey RB, Gilchrist GW, Carlson ML, Berrigan D, Serra L (2000). Rapid
Evolution of a Geographic Cline in Size in an Introduced Fly. Sci.
287(5451): 308-309.
Jerlström P (2000). Is the evolutionary tree turning into a creationist
orchard? J. Creation. 14(2): 11–13.
Johnson MW (1953). The copepod Cyclops dimorphus Kiefer from the
Salton Sea. American Midland Naturalist. 49:188-192.
Junker R, Scherer S (1996). Evolução: um livro texto crítico. 4. Ed. Brasília,
DF: Sociedade Criacionista Brasileira.
Kahle H (1999). Evolution: Irrwegmoderner Naturwissenschaft? 4. Ed.
Bielefeld: Mindt, Edeltraud. pp. 200
Keightley PD (2012). Rates and Fitness Consequences of New Mutations in
Humans. Genetics. 190(2):295-304.
Kemp TS (1985). A Fresh Look at the Fossil Record. New Scientist.
108(1485): 66-67.
Levinton JS, Chris MS (1980). A Critique of the Punctuated Equilibria
Model and Implications for the Detection of Speciation in the Fossil
Record. Syst Zool. 29(2): 130–142.
Lightner JK (2016). Variation after the Flood. Creation Matters. 21(2):6-7.
Locey KJ, Lennon JT (2016). Scaling laws predict global microbial diversity.
Proc Natl AcadSci U S A. 113(21): 5970-5975.
Lopes RJ (2015). Afobação faz cientistas classificarem fósseis de símios
como hominídeos. Folha de S. Paulo. Disponível em:
http://m.folha.uol.com.br/ciencia/2015/09/1676679-no-afa-cientistas-
tem-classificado-fosseis-de-simios-como-hominideos.shtml?mobile
Lynch M (2010). Rate, molecular spectrum, and consequences of human
mutation.Proc Natl AcadSci U S A. 107(3): 961-968.
Marchant CJ (1963). Corrected chromosome numbers for Spartina x
townsendii and its parent species. Nature. 199:929.
Marsh FL (1941). Fundamental Biology. Lincoln, NE: Published by the
Author.
Marsh FL (1978). Variation And Fixity Among Living Things. A New
Biological Principle.CRS Quarterly. 15(2):115-118.
Martens K (1997). Speciation in ancient lakes. Trends Ecol. Evol. 12(5):
177-182.
Mora C, Tittensor DP, Adl S, Simpson AG, Worm B (2011). How many
species are there on Earth and in the ocean? PLoS Biol. 9(8): e1001127.
Morrell V (1997). Catching Lizards in the Act of Adapting. Science.
276(5313): 682-683.
Nachman MW, Crowell SL (2000). Estimate of the Mutation Rate per
Nucleotide in Humans. Genetics. 156(1): 297-304.
Nagalingum NS, Marshall CR, Quental TB, Rai HS, Little DP, Mathews S
(2011). Recent Synchronous Radiation of a Living Fossil. Science. 334
(6057): 796-799.
Prüfer K, et al (2013). The complete genome sequence of a Neanderthal
from the Altai Mountains. Nature. 505(7481): 43-49.
ReMine WJ (1993). The Biotic Message. St Paul, MN: St Paul Science.
Ridley M (2006). Evolução. 3. ed. Porto Alegre: Artmed. pp. 752.
Robinson DA (1997). A mitochondrial DNA analysis of the
testudineapobaramin. Creation Research Society Quarterly. 33: 262–
272.
Robinson DA, Cavanaugh DP (1998). A quantitative approach to
baraminology with examples from the primates. CRSQ Quarterly. 34:
196–208.
Rohde RA, Muller RA. Cycles in fossil diversity. Nature. 2005 Mar
10;434(7030):208-10.
Romer AS (1966). Vertebrate Paleontology. 3rd Ed. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press, pp. 347–396. In: Denton M. Evolution: A Theory in Crisis.
Bethesda: Adler & Adler, 1986. pp. 202.
Sadava D, Heller HC, Orians GH, Purves WK, Hillis DM (2009). Vida: A
Ciência da Biologia. 8. Ed., v. 2. Porto Alegre: EditoraArtmed.
Sanford JC (2014). Genetic Entropy. 4. ed. New York: FMS Publications.
Scherer S (1993). Typen des Lebens. Berlin: Pascal.
Schwartz JH, Tattersall I (2015). Defining the genus Homo. Science.
349(6251): 931-932.
Senter P (2010). Using creation science to demonstrate evolution:
application of a creationist method for visualizing gaps in the fossil
record to a phylogenetic study of coelurosaurian dinosaurs. J. Evol. Biol.
23(8):1732–1743.
Shabalina SA, Ogurtsov AY, Kondrashov VA, Kondrashov AS (2001).
Selective constraint in intergenic regions of human and mouse genomes.
Trends Genet. 17(7): 373-376.
Shikano S, Luckinbill LS, Kurihara Y (1990). Changes of traits in a bacterial
population associated with protozoal predation. Microb. Ecol. 20:75-84.
Snelling A (1997). Sedimentation experiments: Nature finally catches up!
Journal of Creation. 11(2): 125-126.
Souza Jr NN (2008). Uma breve história da terra. Brasília, DF: Sociedade
Criacionista Brasileira.
Teresi D (2011). Discover Interview: Lynn Margulis Says She's Not
Controversial, She's Right. Discover Magazine. pp. 68.
Trivedi BP (2000). Island mice may evolve faster: From one species to six.
Genome News Network. Disponível em:
http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/04_00/island_mice.sht
ml
Van Bocxlaer B, Hunt G (2013). Morphological stasis in an ongoing
gastropod radiation from Lake Malawi. PNAS. 110(34): 13892-13897.
Voje KL (2016). Tempo does not correlate with mode in the fossil record.
Evolution. 70(12):2678-2689.
Weyrich A, Lenz D, Jeschek M, Chung TH, Rübensam K, Göritz F, Jewgenow
K, Fickel J (2016). Paternal intergenerational epigenetic response to
heat exposure in male Wild guinea pigs. Mol. Ecol. 25(8): 1729-1740.
Whitmore J (2013a). Temporal Patterns in 'Living Fossils'. In: 4th Annual
Research and Scholarship Symposium. Cedarville, OH. Anais...
Cedarville, OH: Cedarville University. Disponível em:
http://digitalcommons.cedarville.edu/research_scholarship_symposiu
m/2013/poster_presentations/22/
Whitmore J (2013b). What about living fossils? Capítulo 12, pp.143-150.
In: Ham K (Ed.). The New Answers Book, v. 4. Green Forest: Master
Books.
Williamson PG (1981). Morphological Stasis and Developmental
Constraint: Real Problems for Neo-Darwinism. Nature. 294: 214-215.
Wilmer JW, Murray L, Elkin C, Wilcox C, Niejalke D, Possingham H (2011).
Catastrophic Floods May Pave the Way for Increased Genetic Diversity
in Endemic Artesian Spring Snail Populations. PLoS One. 6(12): e28645.
Wilson G (2010). Classic Multidimensional Scaling isn’t the Sine Qua Non
of Baraminology. Answers in Genesis. Disponível em:
https://answersingenesis.org/creation-science/baraminology/classic-
multidimensional-scaling-and-baraminology/
Wise KP (1990). Baraminology: a young-earth creation biosystematic
method. In: Walsh RE (Ed.). Proceedings of the Second International
Conference on Creationism. Volume II, Technical Symposium. Creation
Science Fellowship. pp. 345–360.
Wise KP (1992). Practical baraminology. Creation ex Nihilo Technical J.
6(2): 122–137.
Wood TC (2001). BDIST software, v. 1.0. Center for Origins Research and
Education, Bryan College. Distributed by the author.
Wood TC (2002). A baraminology tutorial with examples from the grasses
(Poaceae). J. Creation. 16(1):15–25.
Wood TC (2005). Visualizing baraminic distances using classical
multidimensional scaling. Origins. 57: 9-29.
Wood TC (2010). Baraminological Analysis Places Homo habilis, Homo
rudolfensis, and Australopithecus sediba in the Human Holobaramin.
Answers Res. J. 3: 71–90.
Wood TC (2011). Using creation science to demonstrate evolution? Cite this article as:
Senter’s strategy revisited. J. Evol. Biol. 24(4): 914–918.
Wood TC, Cavanaugh DP (2001). A baraminological analysis of subtribe
Neto SG, Alves EF, Almeida MC (2017). Speciation in
Flaveriinae (Asteraceae: Helenieae) and the origin of biological
complexity. Origins. 52: 7-27. real time and historical-archaeological and its
Wood TC, Wise KP, Sanders R, Doran N (2003). A Refined Baramin absence in geological time. Acad. J. Sci. Res. 5(7): 188-
Concept. Occas. Papers of the BSG. 3: 1-14. 196.
Woodmorappe J (2000). The Karoo vertebrate nonproblem: 800 billion
fossils or not. CEN Technical Journal. 14(2):47-49. Submit your manuscript at
Woodruff DS (1980). Evolution: The Paleobiological View. Science. http://www.academiapublishing.org/ajsr
208(4445): 716-717.
Zimmerman EC (1960). Possible evidence of rapid evolution in Hawaiian
moths. Evolution. 14: 137-138.